Verbal Reasoning
The Verbal Reasoning subtest measures how precisely you handle English words - not how many big words you know, but whether you can see the relationship between two words, follow a paragraph's logic, and spot the grammar error that changes meaning.
What appears
- Analogies in the format A : B :: C : ___, testing tool–user, part–whole, synonym, antonym, degree, and function relationships.
- Vocabulary in context: a word's meaning as used in a sentence, including second meanings (sanction, cleave, novel).
- Word classification odd-one-out items.
- Reading comprehension: main idea, specific detail, inference, author's tone, and "EXCEPT/NOT" items.
- Grammar and paragraph organization: subject–verb agreement, pronoun reference, modifier placement, sentence order.
Worked example
Surgeon : scalpel :: carpenter : ___ (A) wood (B) hammer (C) house (D) nail Build the bridge: a surgeon uses a scalpel as the defining tool of the trade, so the answer must be a carpenter's characteristic tool → (B) hammer. Wood and nail are related to carpentry but are material and fastener, not the professional's defining tool; house is the product. Check that both pairs share the same relationship and the same part of speech.
Traps that cost marks
- Choosing an associated word instead of a matching relationship.
- Mismatched parts of speech (noun : verb against noun : noun).
- Ignoring "NOT" or "EXCEPT" in the stem.
- Using outside opinion on inference items instead of evidence in the passage.
- Splitting a paragraph at a pronoun whose referent lies in the next sentence.