While technically GRE Sentence Completions don’t require outside knowledge (except for grammar and language knowledge, of course), they do occasionally rely on some common sense. What do you need to know in order to answer this question of the day?

 Loading ...

The GRE will only use this kind of test if there is legitimately only a single choice that could possibly be correct. You won’t be expected to have advanced knowledge of any particular subject matter, beyond of course “common” sense.

Sometimes a sentence may use subtle clues to indicate a change of direction or contrast within its context. What are some of the clues that you can identify in the following example that affect the direction of the blank?

 Loading ...

It’s not easy to spot the contrast indicator in this question – the best clue that points to a contrast here is the term “much simpler”, which implies that the foreign exchange students regard the American version as the opposite of that, or “complex” or “difficult to understand” (enigmatic).

Every sentence must have distinct and obvious clues about the blanks in question. What are the two words that are most important to answer the following question?

 Loading ...

“Puritanical disciplinarian” is the most important term in this sentence for determining the meaning of the blank. Keeping it in mind, “mercilessly” is far and away the best choice possible out of the five answers.

How does the following sentence use analogy and/or description to portray contrast?

 Loading ...

By describing amazement regarding their friendship, the author has directly established a framework for expressing contrast. Contrast isn’t always expressed through explicit trigger words such as “however” or “yet”; sometimes situational clues can be used to determine logical relationships in sentences like this.