• Acrimonious: The word ‘acrimonious’ suggests something that is acrid in taste. Acrid is being bitter and caustic. Acrimonious is usually used to suggest the way in which a speech is made. An acrimonious speech is a bitter, harsh and sarcastic speech. The word is even applicable to written form of communication.
• Scurrilous: A ‘scurrilous’ comment is a deeply vituperative/abusive/biting comment on someone. The word again is used mostly in spoken and written communication.

• Esoteric: Have you read the poems of Metaphysical poets? If you have read then you understand that their poems are full of esoteric allusions. The word ‘esoteric’ means something that is comprehensible only by a select few. A few high frequency synonyms of the word are impenetrable, recondite, mysterious, cryptic and arcane.
• Decadent: Decadent is anything that is immoral in quality. ‘He led a decadent life’…means his life had no morals or he was an immoral person.
• Lugubrious: Lugubrious is a word that suggests sadness and melancholia. A narrative style could be lugubrious. It is something that generates a gloomy and lachrymose environment around.
• Iconoclastic: Icon is a symbol. The root ‘clast’ means to break something. Hence iconoclastic is suggestive of breaking established norms and conventions. I hope the word now settles indelibly in your memory.
• Magniloquent: The root ‘loq’ has got to do with expression. Look at the words eloquent, grandiloquent. They all relate to speech style. ‘Magnum’ again in Greek means great, grand and big. Hence magniloquent is a bombastic, pompous and boastful expression.
• Terse: Terse is an expression that is precise. It is something that is abrupt and accurate
• Fatuous: Fatuous means idiotic, stupid and silly. A fatuous comment is a comment that is ridiculous and dim-witted.
• Incisive: Incisive is sharp. A sharp and that too a razor sharp comment is an incisive comment. An incisive comment can cause an incision on the mind and the soul. An incision is a cut a laceration.

Things that I suggest time and again!!

Act on these words. Passive reading doesn’t help whatsoever!! You have to work on them effectively. Jot them down in a note book, pull out your dictionary from the shelf, look for the meaning, understand the words and use them in sentences. Date all these words rather. Spend some substantial time with them. They are really extraordinary and interesting. Try to recollect many visuals that relate to a specific word from the above list. Believe me, these are the words that keep appearing in GRE’s (Graduate Record Examination) Verbal Ability Section. (Antonyms, Analogies and Sentence Completion).

Some essential GRE Aerobics:

Do not just read but work on these words. Use a notebook to jot them down and a dictionary to understand the meaning and the context better. As I always tell: Utter the words aloud- each word five times!!

Obligatory things to do:

1. Work with the word.

2. Expand its meaning into a suitable context.

3. Relate it to the person or situation you know.

4. Share the word with your friends, colleagues

5. Try to pronounce the word aloud at least five times

These high energy and high frequency words will keep you motivated for a lifetime. What you just need to do is to trust their beauty and keep remembering them every now and then. Do get back to us with queries in case you have any.

Wishing you all, success!!

Regards,

Anu Veluri

Manager- learnwordlist.com

You can now master GRE Vocabulary in no time!! Learning Vocabulary for GRE is no longer an arduous task. We can now learn new words daily and commit them to our memory forever by using these simple yet very effective techniques. These Vocabulary Learning Strategies stated underneath will help you remember the high frequency words of GRE.

Predicting Meanings

<!–[if !supportLists]–>• <!–[endif]–>When you read the title of a passage try to predict at least 10 words that you might find in it. These exercises focus your attention on either new or known vocabulary and at the same time stimulate your desire to find out what is actually in the text.

Where else do they fit?

Choose a passage and list 10 words from it which can be contextualized in other fields. Some words as examples:

• Suit

• ball Hitch

• rough space

• gear reckon

• automatically

• Then prepare three-word sets of other words to indicate particular field

Give the opposites

• Whenever you read a passage underline all the words you find tough to comprehend. Try to know the meanings of those words and then provide a set of antonyms for each word underlined in the passage.

A Memory game

• Read a passage casually for a few minutes. Then recollect the number of adjectives and verbs they came across in the passage.

Once the recollected words are ready, then more synonyms and antonyms can be discussed.

Patchwork Text

• Select a passage from newspapers or magazines and delete some important verbs and then substitute the blanks.

• For example : Much awaited monsoons —- disappointed —— farmers —– water scarcity —– government —- alternatives —–

Brain storming around a given word

• Select a word and then choose as many words as possible that complement the given word

For example take the word ‘Shopping’

selection special occasions discounts branded things local made sales friends choice fashions expensive budget

selected outlets in thing outdated readymade tailored

colors etc

Word Picture:

• Make a list of words from this picture which talks about science and progress and man’s role in it.

.

<!–[endif]–>

Word Sets

Try to group words that belong to a particular set.

For example words related to Feelings: elated, sulk, determined etc

. Role assignments

• Qualities of a good politician

• Journalist

• film maker etc

• Adjectives describing their roles can be listed down.

Sentence Completion

Try completing a few incomplete sentences using appropriate words

• English is ——-

• English as an International Language ——–

• It is difficult ————–

At least seven different completions are required.

From word to word

One base word is taken and you can add on words which may continue the paragraph in a logical sense.

Country - government – party - elections – manifesto – promises – welfare schemes – vote – term – etc

These methods suggested by experts will make vocabulary learning a fun filled process. If you know any interesting technique please share it here or post it on the forum.

Do read these techniques more than once and jot them down in your note book. Practice them and I am sure you will benefit immensely.

We are awaiting your responses/queries/comments on this blog.

Wishing you Success!!

Regards,

Anu Veluri

Manager- learnwordlist.com

]]> http://learnwordlist.com/blog/best-vocabulary-learning-techniques-experts-say/2010/01/gre-word-list-test-blog-barrons-vocabulary/feed 48 http://learnwordlist.com/blog/some-secret-gre-words-revealed-%e2%80%98only-to-you%e2%80%99/2009/12/gre-word-list-test-blog-barrons-vocabulary http://learnwordlist.com/blog/some-secret-gre-words-revealed-%e2%80%98only-to-you%e2%80%99/2009/12/gre-word-list-test-blog-barrons-vocabulary#comments Fri, 11 Dec 2009 09:42:11 +0000 Admin http://learnwordlist.com/blog/?p=329 Hi there to all! Underneath are words that appear for sure in the Verbal Ability segment of GRE. If you miss memorizing them you had it in the GRE test. So let us now see how to commit them permanently to our memory and crack GRE (with flying colors). We will use the word with some contexts and examples to make it a permanent resident in our brain. Is that fine?

• Engender: Engender is a very very energetic word. It means to produce, cause, create etc. Dictionary.com gives a beautiful context for the word: Hatred engenders violence. Means Hatred creates Violence, produces violence. Can you also come up with a beautiful sentence like this? You can suggest it right underneath this article.

• Harry: This word has nothing to do with the fictional character Harry Potter. Harry means to harass, intimidate. It could also mean to worry. He was harried by his colleague’s constant doubts. It means his colleague’s querulous nature annoyed him!! Are you harried by anyone too?? Just think, think and think.
• Catapult: To catapult is to hurl, throw. The name is actually derived from war machines that are used to hurl stones, arrows at the enemy troops. Catapult can be used both as a verb and Noun!
• Obtrude: To obtrude is to thrust forth, intrude into a person’s privacy and so on. When you want to make a person follow your ideas you are obtruding him/her. It means you are forcing, enforcing him/her rather to follow what is ideal to you. Is that a right course of action? Ahem, certainly not!
• Transfix: Getting transfixed is when you are unable to cast off your vision from something. Well in simpler words it is getting engrossed, mesmerized, spellbound and hypnotized. Well an example like this will help you remember the word better. The original painting of Monalisa got him transfixed.
• Efface: Efface is a high energy word. It means to wipe out completely. Other synonyms for the word are obliterate, eradicate etc. A sentence like this helps remember this word better: It is better to efface pessimistic (negative) thoughts. It means it is better to wipe out negative thoughts.
• Appropriate: Appropriate when used as verb means to set apart, to authorize. It also means to take possession of or to steal (petty theft though). He appropriated the welfare funds for himself. It means he kept the funds to his gratification illegally.
• Accentuate: Accentuate is to stress or intensify. It also means to emphasize. ‘enacted sweeping land-reform plans that accentuated the already chaotic pattern of landholding” (James Fallows).’ (dictionary.com)
• Epitomize: Epitomize is to serve as a typical example, it also means to typify. For example ‘ Mother Teresa epitomizes the concept of philanthropy’
• Burgeon: To burgeon is to increase in great numbers. It means to multiply, to proliferate, and to prosper. Can you use the word in a sentence of your own? I throw a small challenge to you.
• Imbue: To imbue is to become inspired. For example you can get imbued with the teachings of some great Scholar like Ralph Waldo Emerson, Rabindranath Tagore etc etc.
• Galvanize: Galvanize is both energetic and powerful a word! Galvanize is to animate, electrify, rouse and fire up. High energy word I could say.
• Mitigate: To mitigate is to lessen the force of. It means to make something less severe. Other interesting and high frequency synonyms of the word are appease, mollify, placate and assuage. I suggest remember them all with the word mitigate!

Act on these words. Passive reading doesn’t help whatsoever. You have to work on them effectively. Jot them down in a note book, pull out your dictionary from the shelf, look for the meaning, understand the words and use it in a sentence. Date all these words rather. Spend some substantial time with them. They are really extraordinary and interesting. Try to recollect many visuals that relate to a specific word from the above list. Believe me, these are the words that keep appearing in GRE’s (Graduate Record Examination) Verbal Ability Section. (Antonyms, Analogies and Sentence Completion).

Some essential GRE Aerobics:

Do not just read but work on these words. Use a notebook to jot them down and a dictionary to understand the meaning and the context better. As I always tell: Utter the words aloud- each word five times!!

Obligatory things to do:

1. Work with the word.

2. Expand its meaning into a suitable context.

3. Relate it to the person or situation you know.

4. Share the word with your friends, colleagues

5. Try to pronounce the word aloud at least five times

These high energy and high frequency words will keep you motivated for a lifetime. What you just need to do is to trust their beauty and keep remembering them every now and then. Do get back to us with queries in case you have any.

Wishing you all, success!!

Regards,

Anu Veluri

Manager- learnwordlist.com

What is the inspiration of your life? Why have you pursued a sixteen years of formal education, day and night? Have you undertaken all the academic projects of your life with some purpose or just like that to keep your parents happy? Do you have any idea/goal/objective to carve a niche for yourself in your chosen domain? If you have pertinent answers to all these questions, then I am sure you have a glorious future ahead.

We all know by now that the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) is taken by millions of students across the globe to join a University in the United States of America and pursue Higher Education (Usually a Master’s Program in the Subject that triggers their interest). We also know that GRE is a forerunner to all your academic ambitions.

A good score in GRE assures a good University in the University and an assiduous academic grill in the world’s noted educational edifices. All these efforts will embellish your future in a way that words cannot describe.

You would now love to see what is the essential gear (equipment) that you need to carry all through your GRE stint, until the day of your exam. Won’t you?

The GRE Gear:

1. Your interest: Half interest is poisonous! When you have decided to pursue a Master’s Program in the US and you know GRE helps land you in the University of your choice, you need to dedicate yourself to the exam unconditionally. You should not let your interest waver and flag.

On the contrary you should fortify your interest toward the exam, intensify it into passion and work with single minded devotion and dedication. Your interest will help you come out with flying colors in GRE. A half-interested approach will certainly yield negative and bitter results.

1. Motive behind taking GRE: Hey you all should ask yourself this question: Why should I take GRE? If you have gotten concrete answers to this question I know you have a goal that has to be realized. If not whatever you are doing becomes a wild goose chase!

Why should I take GRE?..Some possible answers to this question can be:

I want to take GRE, because

1. I want to pursue a Master’s Program in one of the best Universities of the world!
2. I want to have a compelling academic career
3. I want to be a part of some commendable academic projects of the world
4. I want to be a student in the University that molded diligent students into Nobel Laureates
5. I want to have a cross-cultural exposure in the US, that will equip me with confidence to take over life’s challenges
6. I am in love with the quality education offered in America

You can have your own answers though)

1. Self-assessment: Did you ever evaluate your own abilities? How important is this! Before aspiring for an exam like GRE, you need to do something called a thorough self-analysis.

This you need to do keeping in front of you a model GRE paper. What and how is the exam? Which segments am I comfortable answering and vice-versa. As I keep telling do not wait for ready-made packages. Such things do not exist. They never existed and will never. You have to plough the field thoroughly to sow the seeds. NO short cut to that!

1. Don’t take GRE: Yes this is some valuable advice. If you haven’t prepared adequately for the exam just do not take it. You can book a slot when you feel ‘Yes, I am prepared now!’ Why do you want to waste your time and money and also the examiners’? Be prudent and wise.

The GRE Day!

1. Stress Free State: The day you have been waiting for finally arrives. What I suggest all the diligent aspirants out there is to have some good sleep just the night before the exam. Don’t carry anxiety in your tummy and frustration in your eyes and brows. Just relax, think nothing about GRE. Give yourself to some pleasant and relaxing sleep.
2. A few minutes before GRE: Do something you like doing most. Well, it could be having a glassful of refreshing lemonade or listening to Celine Dion on your mobile. Do anything that gets you into a wonderful mood. A lovely and pleasant mood. Don’t think of any negative aspects then.
3. Belief: Finally have loads and tons of faith and belief in yourself. Love yourself for all the hard work you put in. Do not get depressed while taking the exam. Be confident and carry the tempo through out the exam. Success is yours!

I am sure you are now carrying the GRE Gear. Hold it until you enroll for your Master’s program in US. Share it with your friends and other aspirants. And if you want to add some more important aspects to this you can do it right away. (Either here by commenting or starting a new topic in the forum. Registration in forum is a matter of few seconds and absolutely free!)

Wishing you all, success!!

Regards,

Anu Veluri

Manager- learnwordlist.com

• Exculpate: To exculpate is to set a person free from blame. It also means to clear charges cast against a person, to declare that the person is innocent and free from the accusation made against him. Can you think of any such situation wherein a person was initially charged for a crime and later exculpated? Please do think on this and share with us. Either here or the forums.

• Deprecate: To deprecate is to censure something. Did not get it? OK it means to criticize something severely and giving out the reasons for the criticism too. It usually happens during elections in any democratic country, where in political parties denounce each other to highlight their own position. Well, the other synonyms for the word are deplore, denigrate etc.

• Carp: Do you know nitpicking? It is all about nagging, taunting, grumbling. When a person carps he/she tries to find faults unreasonably. A person who does that becomes a pain in others’ neck. People usually avoid people who carp.

• Extol: To extol is to praise in an excessive way. To extol the beauty of Tintern Abbey is to praise the beauty of Tintern Abbey in an excessive way. The other synonyms of the word are praise, commend, eulogize and worship.

• Aggrandize: Aggrandize is a beautiful word. You can in fact deduce the meaning of it intelligently, in case you do not know the right meaning. It’s like this: Grand means something that is majestic and imposing. Ag -a prefix means to strengthen, magnify something. –ize- a suffix, shows the process involved. I guess now you will never forget the word. Aggrandize is to increase the intensity of something. It also means to strengthen, magnify and exalt something to greater heights.

• Extricate: Extricate is to set something free. It means to disentangle something, also untangle. It’s also liberating a gas from a combination of chemicals. For example: The process extricates Hydrogen Sulphide. It means the process liberates that particular gas. Hope you all got it right.

• Filch: To filch is to steal something that has a minor value. Something like filching spoons and forks in small restaurants, filching ashtrays in coffee shops etc. The word ‘filch’ has some interesting synonyms. They are purloin, pilfer, pinch, snaffle, lift, swipe etc.

• Badger: To badger is to urge a person over something persistently. It might be something close to vexing, pester, and nag. Some other synonyms of this word that usually appear in GRE are chagrin, vexation, mortification etc.

These words are to be worked on. Spend some qualitative time with them imagining various situations wherein you can apply them effectively. Share all those situations with us. Use them in the form of meaningful sentences. These words certainly and frequently keep appearing in GRE (Antonyms, Analogies and Sentence Completion). Try to recollect or conjure many visuals that relate to a specific word from the above list.

Some GRE Vocabulary Aerobics:

Do not just read but work on these words. Use a notebook to jot them down and a dictionary to understand the meaning and the context better. As I always tell: Utter the words aloud- each word five times!!

Things you should never forget:

1. Work with the word.

2. Expand its meaning into a suitable context.

3. Relate it to the person or situation you know.

4. Share the word with your friends, colleagues

5. Try to pronounce the word aloud at least five times

These words help you make or break GRE. It all depends on your level of interest. If you dream bigger and louder you will learn them with a lot of commitment and passion, or you will fall a prey to some ineffective, lackluster techniques. The choice is obviously yours, for the future is yours, Do get back to us with queries in case you have any. And do share with us some high frequency GRE words that you know.

Wishing you all, success!!

Regards,

Anu Veluri

Manager- learnwordlist.com

Well, I guess you all belong to the group 1. Underneath are enumerated some proven high-voltage techniques that will help you escalate your performance in GRE drastically.

Technique no 1: Hey do you all know the in and out of GRE exam? The sections, the type of questions, the scoring pattern and all. Ahem! I guess you are rather depending on some second hand information. Do some work, pull up your socks, go out there and know the exam you are taking. Knowing alone is not important, knowing it thoroughly is.

Technique no 2: Do you have great career goals and ambitions? Are you passionate about becoming highly successful as a professional? Do you want to study in one of the best Universities of the world? A University that will give you an edge over others? A name that shimmers in your Resume?? Then what are you waiting for? Become passionate about GRE! In simpler words fall deeply in love with it!!

Technique no 3: You have now gotten into the right gear. It’s now the right time for you to know the pros and cons of the exam. It is simple. Just shut yourself from the world for a while. Consider a few GRE Model Papers. Scan, skim one paper thoroughly.

Analyze your strengths and weaknesses. After jotting down your strengths and weaknesses, concentrate more on your negatives. I will now whisper a secret mantra: ‘Convert all your weaknesses into strengths’. Success will be yours.

Technique no 4: Practice, practice and practice! This alone will see you navigate through the ocean of tasks effortlessly. Please do not wait for miracles to happen. They will not! Unless you practice a lot many papers and get a hang of GRE, you will never be able to get a decent score.

Technique no 5: We all know GRE is a Computer Adaptive Test. Although there are a few paper based tests conducted around the world in some centers, majority of the student community go for the Computer based GRE.

Get used to working on the keyboard. Practicing this is equally important. See for yourself how a Computer Adaptive Test works. If you do not do this and appear for the exam for the first time, you will have to blame yourself for many things and for nothing!

Technique no 6: Have faith in yourself only then can you crack GRE. If you constantly fall a prey to apprehensions and worries you will gain nothing. Positive thinking gives you the necessary impetus to pass through the examination both mellifluously and successfully.

Technique no 7: Don’t become an island. This is very very important. Isolated preparation will never make you realize where you stand in the competition. It is very important to form study groups and discuss all the matters pertaining to the exam. In fact brainstorm! This way you might sometimes stop by information that is immensely useful to you. Make some study groups and make it a point to interact with them at least once a week!

Technique no 8: Don’t feel shy. Not knowing something is not a sin. Get your doubts clarified by experts in the subject. Holding a doubt could be disastrous for your GRE preparation. Have it clarified then and there.

Technique no 9: Give yourself some effective auto-suggestions. Well…like: I am confident, I take GRE in my stride, I get a wonderful score in GRE and so on. Give yourself these suggestions at least until the day you take GRE. Become both confident and optimistic by all means. You can see the results for yourself!

Technique no 10: Do some intelligent guessing. Yes, sometimes despite all the diligent effort and enterprise, you may not get an answer to a specific question. In a Computer Adaptive Test you cannot skip a specific question and go to the next one. You cannot go back too.

So if you find yourself stuck, do some intelligent guess work. In a catch-22 like this, you can in the verbal segment think perhaps about similar sounding words, roots, prefixes and suffixes in order to guess the meaning of a particular word.

I am sure practicing these techniques and bearing them in mind all the time until you appear for GRE will give you rich results. If you know some more techniques please do share with us. In fact you can put them all here. You can also post some effective learning techniques you follow in our GRE Discussion Forum.

It is an interactive, learning forum exclusively designed for diligent students like you. Register now and start posting all your doubts, experiences there. I am sure we all will get to gain some rich knowledge.

Wishing you success!!

Anu Veluri

Manager- learnwordlist.com

• Lacerate: Did you ever see a barbed wire or a sharp object tear the skin of a person? Rip it apart? Oh, I am sorry to hurt you psychologically. But you did see such a thing. Lacerate is just that. To lacerate is to wound deeply. It also means to distress somebody deeply, emotionally. You can usually find this word in the ‘Analogy’ segment of GRE.

• Ravage: How it looks the second day on a battle field? You see warriors/soldiers walking around, introspecting the damages incurred. Hmm a very bad visual indeed! Ravage as a noun means ‘havoc’, ‘damage’. As a verb it means to do ruinous damage. Is that now clear?

• Decimate: Did you hear about epidemics like swine flu, bird flu, and plague. These horrendous epidemics are the diseases that are not permanent, neither specific to a place. Nevertheless they have a potential to wipe away a substantial part of the population. Gruesome! Aren’t they? The verb decimates means to destroy a substantial part. If you look at the word closely you have the root ‘deci’ which means the tenth part. So to decimate is to kill the tenth person. Can you now imagine the loss?

• Subvert: To subvert is to corrupt, to overthrow, to destroy, to ruin. History offers rich examples for a verb like this. Can you think of ‘fall of Roman, Mughal dynasties’ owing to subverters (noun)?

An illustration explains better:

“Schemes to subvert the liberties of a great community” (Alexander Hamilton)

(dictionary.com)

• Extort: Now I will take you all into the wonderful world of imagination. Visualize a rich heiress being surrounded by perpetrators holding guns and asking her to sign on documents against her will. Did you visualize a scene like that? And now when the heiress rejects signing, the perpetrators hold the gun against her head and thrust it even more violently. Well, well, well this is extortion (noun). To extort is to force a person to do something against his/her wish.

• Sabotage: Well some people want to foil the plans of others in an intelligent way. Ahem, at the same time they do not want to become unpopular. Sabotage is any underhand interference with work/production. Hmm let me think of some candid illustration. How many of you watched the movie Gladiator?? Russell Crowe as General Maximus stole the show didn’t he? Just recollect the last scene; the surreptitious and immoral Caesar injects poison into General Maximus just before the deadly duel. The craven Caesar wants to win the duel. I am sure you all understood. An act like that is nothing but sabotage.

• Jeopardize: How many of us seriously watch birds and animals. We hardly do that, do we? Most of the time we are bothered with thoughts on carving a niche for ourselves either in the academic or the professional world. But when we read journals pertaining to Zoology we realize that there are numerous species already extinct or at the verge of extinction. How sad?! Now jeopardize is this, when something is at the verge of extinction. It also means when the existence of some thing, could be anything, is endangered, means at risk. Could you now research for a day or two on some animals/birds that are jeopardized, i.e. animals/birds that are at the brink of extinction? You can spend a Sunday doing this, some interesting project work to all my students here. Well, do not forget sharing the names of ‘jeopardized’ species with us here.

I suggest you all to spend a little time with these words. Date them rather. They are really extraordinary and interesting. Try to recollect many visuals that relate to a specific word from the above list. Believe me, these are the words that keep appearing in GRE’s (Graduate Record Examination) Verbal Ability Section. (Antonyms, Analogies and Sentence Completion).

Some important advice:

Do not just read but work on these words. Use a notebook to jot them down and a dictionary to understand the meaning and the context better. As I always tell: Utter the words aloud- each word five times!!

Things you should never forget:

1. Work with the word.

2. Expand its meaning into a suitable context.

3. Relate it to the person or situation you know.

4. Share the word with your friends, colleagues

5. Try to pronounce the word aloud at least five times

Read this blog on extraordinary words more than once to comprehend its essence thoroughly. Do get back to us with queries in case you have any.

Wishing you all, success!!

Regards,

Anu Veluri

Manager- learnwordlist.com

Examples of problematic friendships. Note the Prepositions

Javed has been disloyal to me on a number of occasions. (unfaithful, treacherous)

Jane is always critical of her friends. I do not like that. (serious, grave etc)

OK, I was dishonest with you. I’m sorry, but I didn’t want to hurt you. (lying, untruthful, fraudulent)

Breakdowns: Expressions and Collocations

Relationships can break down due to genuine misunderstandings

A rift (serious disagreement that divides people) can develop between two people

There’s been a lot of discord (disagreement and discontent) in the office lately

My father and I don’t see eye to eye (have different opinions) on most things

His relation with Mary has turned sour (become bad). I think they will split up (separate)

Our marriage has had its ups and downs (had good and bad moments), but basically we are OK

Some more phrases and their meanings:

A bumpy relationship (up and down like a car on road with bumps)

A broken home (a family split up by divorce)

A family feud (quarrel in a family causing bad feeling for many years)

Reading these words/phrases alone is not enough. Practicing them is equally important. Try to relate these words/phrases to the persons and situations you know. Share them with your friends. And of course, you must try to use them in your day to day conversation.

Please do share some other words/phrases that comment on negative aspects of relationships. Doing this we can add a lot many words to our conversation list, in order to make our conversations even more effective.

I am eagerly waiting for your responses on this.

Regards,

Anu Veluri

Manager- learnwordlist.com

(Inspiration drawn from English Vocabulary in Use by McCarthy and Felicity O’ Dell)

]]> http://learnwordlist.com/blog/phrases-words-that-speak-about-negative-aspects-of-relationships/2009/10/gre-word-list-test-blog-barrons-vocabulary/feed 81 http://learnwordlist.com/blog/gre-analogy-questions/2009/09/gre-word-list-test-blog-barrons-vocabulary http://learnwordlist.com/blog/gre-analogy-questions/2009/09/gre-word-list-test-blog-barrons-vocabulary#comments Sat, 26 Sep 2009 14:40:50 +0000 Admin http://learnwordlist.com/blog/?p=129 “The key to analogy success is being able to express the relationship between the words in a pair.”

An Introduction:

The Analogies Segment of GRE is one very challenging. Unlike the antonyms segment this segment doesn’t allow the student do some intelligent guessing. The student has to perfectly establish the relationship between the word pair given as the question, and select an answer that confirms a similar relationship.

You will have around 7 analogy questions on the CAT. The more questions you answer correctly, the harder the questions become.

What’s an Analogy?

Many types of relationships are possible in GRE analogies. The stem words may be related as above.

Analogy is the study of similarity existing between a word pair. For example there exists a similarity between a human hand and a whale’s flipper, a pump and a heart. A study of such similarity is Analogy.

Once you establish the similarity or understand the relationship between the word pair, identifying an answer choice showing an identical relationship is not a tough task at all. The only impediment for the student is to establish and understand an authentic relationship of the word pair given as the question. As any other GRE segment, the Analogy segment too has nine questions and each question is followed by five answer options.

Let us deal with the GRE Analogy questions and learn the way to crack them effectively in the subsequent blog. Let us for now comprehend a few very important Analogy types.

Types of Analogies and their relationships

As I already suggested that there are a few established word pair relations that will help us navigate through and succeed in the Analogy segment effortlessly. The only challenge for you is to commit these Analogy types to your memory infallibly. Once you do this, the Analogy segment no longer remains a tough nut to crack.

Definition

An Analogy type like this focuses on the definition of a particular word. Mostly a word that you are aware of or you at least came across once in your sixteen years of academic sojourn. For example:

Metamorphosis: Transforms

By definition, Metamorphosis is a scientific process that transforms the shape of an organism. This is how we establish a relationship between a word pair.

Defining the Character

An Analogy type like this focuses on the personality trait of an animal/man. For example

Lamb: Herbivorous

The character of Lamb is that it is mild and herbivorous (plant-eating). So now your challenge lies in identifying the option, a word pair that establishes a similar relationship. An ideal answer choice could be Tiger: Carnivorous (flesh-eating).

Class and Member

This is an easier relationship to identify. For example:

Amphibia: Frog

A frog (member) belongs to the phylum Amphibia (class)

You have to select a word pair confirming similar relationship. It could be

Aves: Bird

Antonym Relationship

The easiest of all Analogy types is the Antonym relationship

The question pair appears like this:

Loquacious: Taciturn

Obviously the opposite of the word loquacious (talkative) is taciturn (reserved). You need to identify a similar antonymous pair from the given options. It could be

Extravagant: Parsimonious

Synonym Relationship:

Once again it is the simplest of Analogy types. In this Analogy type there exists a synonymous relationship between the words. It means the second word in the word pair is the meaning of the first word. An illustration will make the explanation simpler:

Loquacious: Talkative

Talkative is the meaning of the word loquacious. You just need to identify an option that also has a synonymous relationship of words. Something like:

Opulent: Wealthy

Degree of intensity

This Analogy type has a word pair showing relationship between a more intense and less intense word or vice versa

For example:

Plead: Request

‘Plead’ is a more intense form of ‘Request’.

Part to Whole:

This is an Analogy type that shows a relationship between a part of a thing and its relation with the whole.

Stanza: Poem

Stanza is just a part of the whole Poem.

Function

An Analogy type like this shows the relationship between a person and a process/place. For example:

Rehabilitation: Addict

Asylum: Refugee

(An addict undergoes rehabilitation; a refugee seeks shelter in an asylum)

Manner

An Analogy type such as this suggests on the manner of speech, gait or any other thing.

Stammer: Talk

Fumble: Walk

Action and its importance

This is an interesting Analogy type. The first word in the word pair shows the effect caused by the second word. For example

Grimace: Pain (Grimace is facial distortion caused due to extreme pain)

Worker and Article Created

This is an Analogy type that shows the relationship between the worker and his/her creation.

Example: Ode: Poet (An Ode is the creation of a Poet)

Worker and Tool

Sculptor: Chisel

A sculptor (worker) uses a chisel (tool)

Worker and Workplace

Actor: Theater

An actor (worker) performs in a theater (workplace)

Tool and its Action

Drill: Bore

A drill is a tool used to bore holes.

These are the major Analogy types that you encounter in GRE (Graduate Record Examination). Besides these, there are some miscellaneous word pair relations too. I quickly enumerate them underneath.

Cause and Effect

Eg: Rain (cause): Dampness (effect)

Gender

Eg: Horse (male): Mare (female)

Age

Eg: Calf (the little one): Cow (the adult form)

Symbol and its meaning

Eg: Mace (symbol): Authority (meaning)

Read this blog pertaining to Analogies more than once. One reading will not help! Jot down all the Analogy types and try to comprehend them, imbibe their essence thoroughly. Underneath each Analogy type, try framing at least five word pairs having a similar relationship. You are suggested to share your Analogy types with us and all the other students who follow this blog. We all will be benefited immensely.

We are awaiting meaningful responses from you.

Wishing you Success!!

Anu Veluri
Manager- learnwordlist.com

Hi everybody!! First and foremost let me thank you all for the very good support you have been offering. Your participation in the earlier tests was amazing! I stand motivated. Owing to that I come up with another small exercise for you. The exercise is similar to the earlier one that you had taken and performed convincingly. You will now find a set of 25 words. You need to suggest the ‘opposite’ of the word beginning with ‘G’ The only difference is, you have to now begin your word (opposite) with ‘G’. Earlier it was a synonym or meaning beginning with ‘P’. All you need to do is ‘think’ for a while and I am sure you will find the right answer. Besides thinking, I also suggest you having a scribbling pad, a dictionary (Oxford Advanced Learner’s preferably), and an Oxford Thesaurus (A thesaurus helps you find out the synonyms and antonyms of a given word!!).

Vocabulary learning tips

Many students keep asking me whether it is better to learn words by heart or to write, scribble and then put it in contextual usage and memorize it. I always suggest them the latter method. Words are like relatives, a mere Hi! Hello! will not bring them closer to you. When you spend substantial time with them, remember they will never betray you. A mere ‘mug up’ business will land you nowhere. On the contrary you will find yourself exactly at the point you started your journey of vocabulary learning. Is that not a sheer waste of time and resources?! So please bear in mind that there is no shortcut to success. You need to slog and put in all your mental and physical energy to see yourself reaching the coveted goal!!

The test

Dear aspirants, here goes the list. I want you to give me the opposites of these words beginning with the letter ‘G’. I display the answers of the first two words to make you understand how it works. I wish you all the best!

Important: Every answer (opposite) must start with the letter G.

1. lose ( answer: gain, get, garner, grab, grasp)
2. midget ( answer: giant)
3. special
4. lady
5. take
6. moron
7. sad
8. boy
9. happy
10. plain
11. hello
12. here
13. bad
14. ugly
15. stingy
16. awkward
17. little
18. rough
19. bride
20. ripe
21. generous
22. unprotected
23. experienced
24. scarcity
25. unappreciative

Please do not rush to answer. As I suggested ‘think’ and work on a particular word, savor its beauty and treasure it in your memory forever. I am sure you will come up with ‘all right answers’ this time around.

Remember- you can increase your vocabulary faster and more easily than you may realize.

Wishing you success!

Regards,

Anu Veluri

Learnwordlist.com

Answer Keys of the Test