Sentence Completion
Introduction:
the sentence completion question is meant to gauge your level of expertise in utilizing vocabulary in a manner appropriate to sentence structure. You need to know more than the dictionary definitions of the words involved. You need to know how the words fit together to make logical and stylistic sense.
Sentence completion questions help you prepare for the reading comprehension questions as well. If you have the ability to figure out how one portion of the sentence impact the other, you should do well at choosing the answer that provides a clear, logical statement of fact. The ability to recognize irony and hum or will also stand you in good stead. As will the ability to recognize figurative language and to distinguish between formal and informal levels of speech.
Because the sentence completion questions contain many clues that help you to answer them correctly (Far more clues than the antonyms provide for example), and because analysing them helps you warm up for the reading comprehension passages later on in the test, answer them before the passages.
What make the hard question hard?
Vocabulary Level.
Sentence contain words like harangue, germane, abstruse, answers include words like jejune, bombastic, and esoteric, questions employ unfamiliar secondary meaning of words – brook as a verb, economy with the meaning of restraint.
Grammatical complexity.
Sentences utilize a wide variety of grammatical possibilities in a complex manner. The more complex the sentence, the more difficult it is for you to pot the key words that can unlock its meaning.
Tone.
Sentences reflect the writer’s attitude toward the subject matter, it is simple to comprehend material that is presented normally. It is far more difficult to comprehend material that is ironic, condescending, playful, or otherwise complex in tone.
Style.
In a sentence the story may be presented in various different ways – ornately or sparely, poetically, or prosaically, formally or informally, journalistically or academically originally or imitatively. An author’s style depends on such details as word choice, imagery, repetition, rhythm, sentence structure and length, many of the most difficult questions hinge on questions of style.