Intro to Text Completion
Transcript
Okay, welcome to the first module, first video for the new GRE verbal section. In this video, we are going to meet the text completion and we are going to learn some basic strategies that apply to one-blank, two-blank, and three-blank sentence completions. Indeed, the basic strategies we're about to learn even work for sentence equivalence questions.
So listen up, this is some important stuff. So first off, let's meet what looks like a text completion. Amongst her friends, she was the most, blank. So what should I do? Well, I should try to come up with the word here that goes in the blank. So come up with the word for the blank.
Well, her friends are kinda boring, I'm guessing, so she was the most fun. Well, maybe her friends were actually the fun ones and she was the most boring. Or perhaps it has nothing to do with fun or boring, maybe she's just really sad. Or, wait a second, I could go on forever because she could be anything, that is, any word could go in the blank. And this is not a text completion, this is not a GRE question at all.
So God, why? Well, GRE text completions will always have a part of the sentence that tells you what the blank is about, such as, voila!. After the comma, starting with often, we now can learn a little bit more about the she. Often walking over to a group of people she had never met before and introducing herself.
So we've read now the entire sentence, and we're gonna come up with our own word here once we have found what I call the clue. And the clue is the part of the sentence, it could be a word, it could be a phrase, that tells us about the blank. And I'm underlining the parts that are important. She'd never talked to these people before, but yet she would go up to a group of people and she would introduce herself.
Wow, what sort of person would that be? Well, you're gonna have to come up with your own word. What, really? Yes, you do not want to go down to the answer choices. Here in these words are the trap or herein lies the traps. Because if you do not think through the sentence yourself, and you simply start plugging in the answers into the blank, you can convince yourself of quite a lot of things.
And that's why we come up with our own word for the blank. And so we know she is likely to go up and talk to anyone and introduce herself, so she is the most friendly. Maybe your word is outgoing, it doesn't matter, as long as you come up with one word and then you match that word with the answer choices. So let's start with A, selective.
If you're friendly, by definition, are you selective? No, if you're friendly, if you're outgoing, are you sociable? Yes, those words are synonyms. And there we have an answer, but it's a good idea to look at the other words. What does churlish mean? Well, maybe you don't know.
What does inhibited me? Inhibited is a little bit more common of a word in churlish, inhibited means that you're shy. We know she's anything but shy. And then we have satisfied. You could be friendly, but you're not necessarily satisfied, the two words quite relate.
Sociable works perfectly, and there is our answer. Churlish, by the way, the difficult word here, isn't necessarily the answer because we've already found an answer. Churlish means rude and ill-mannered, doesn't work here. But we've followed these basic steps. Again, read the entire sentence, find the clue.
Those are these key words or phrases that tell you what the blank is about. Then you come up with your own word, and you match that word with the answer choices. So those are the important basic steps for you to follow. And these strategies apply to two-blank and three-blank text completions as well. So this is important stuff to know.
Read full transcriptSo listen up, this is some important stuff. So first off, let's meet what looks like a text completion. Amongst her friends, she was the most, blank. So what should I do? Well, I should try to come up with the word here that goes in the blank. So come up with the word for the blank.
Well, her friends are kinda boring, I'm guessing, so she was the most fun. Well, maybe her friends were actually the fun ones and she was the most boring. Or perhaps it has nothing to do with fun or boring, maybe she's just really sad. Or, wait a second, I could go on forever because she could be anything, that is, any word could go in the blank. And this is not a text completion, this is not a GRE question at all.
So God, why? Well, GRE text completions will always have a part of the sentence that tells you what the blank is about, such as, voila!. After the comma, starting with often, we now can learn a little bit more about the she. Often walking over to a group of people she had never met before and introducing herself.
So we've read now the entire sentence, and we're gonna come up with our own word here once we have found what I call the clue. And the clue is the part of the sentence, it could be a word, it could be a phrase, that tells us about the blank. And I'm underlining the parts that are important. She'd never talked to these people before, but yet she would go up to a group of people and she would introduce herself.
Wow, what sort of person would that be? Well, you're gonna have to come up with your own word. What, really? Yes, you do not want to go down to the answer choices. Here in these words are the trap or herein lies the traps. Because if you do not think through the sentence yourself, and you simply start plugging in the answers into the blank, you can convince yourself of quite a lot of things.
And that's why we come up with our own word for the blank. And so we know she is likely to go up and talk to anyone and introduce herself, so she is the most friendly. Maybe your word is outgoing, it doesn't matter, as long as you come up with one word and then you match that word with the answer choices. So let's start with A, selective.
If you're friendly, by definition, are you selective? No, if you're friendly, if you're outgoing, are you sociable? Yes, those words are synonyms. And there we have an answer, but it's a good idea to look at the other words. What does churlish mean? Well, maybe you don't know.
What does inhibited me? Inhibited is a little bit more common of a word in churlish, inhibited means that you're shy. We know she's anything but shy. And then we have satisfied. You could be friendly, but you're not necessarily satisfied, the two words quite relate.
Sociable works perfectly, and there is our answer. Churlish, by the way, the difficult word here, isn't necessarily the answer because we've already found an answer. Churlish means rude and ill-mannered, doesn't work here. But we've followed these basic steps. Again, read the entire sentence, find the clue.
Those are these key words or phrases that tell you what the blank is about. Then you come up with your own word, and you match that word with the answer choices. So those are the important basic steps for you to follow. And these strategies apply to two-blank and three-blank text completions as well. So this is important stuff to know.
