Sentence Completions: Off and Running

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Sentence CompletionsOff and Running

• Sense of Logic
• Negative/Positive
• Intro to Reading!

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Drill

• Gen
• ANDRO
• GYN
• SUPER
• IZE

• Post
• An/A
• Ante
• Im/In
• Caco
• Ben/Bon
• Ne/Mal
• Eu
• Ity
• Meta

• Ify
• Ist
• Ate
• Ous
• Illo/Ette
• De
• Cap/Cip/ Ceipt/Cept
• Son/phon

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What Does it Mean?

• TYPIFY
• ATYPICAL
• PRETENTIOUS
• ANDROGYNOUS
• EUPHONOUS

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Sentence Completions

• Sentence Completion make up about a third of the
  reading sections
• They test your sense of logic
• ETS presents you with a logical sentence, except
  one or two words are missing
• Your job is to find the missing words
• The underground guide to the SAT thinks these are
  the easiest points to rack up!

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Sample of using logic to find the answer What is
the logical answer?

• The man was smelly so I plugged my
• A. mouth
• B. ear
• C. nose
• D. eye
• E. belly button

Hey look over here! This is page 72.
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Each one fits. But

• Only one makes sense logically
• SAT questions are more complex, but the principal
  is the same
• Once you find the one that makes sense it is like
  riding a bike for the first time!

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So here are a few tactics to start

• Read the whole sentence first
• Read it again and this time guess the blanks with
  your own guess
• Compare your guesses with the answers
• Plug in the answer
• If it clearly makes sense go with it.
• If not, try another

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Determine Pos/Neg words

• Many times it is easy to figure out whether the
  word is negative or positive
• When going through such a sentence completion,
  mark the blank as positive or negative - if it
  is clear

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For Example

• Irving was so disgusting and annoying in class
  that when he asked Maria to the dance she
  ________ and _______ him.
• A. shriekedkissed
• B. yelledhugged
• C. slappedfollowed
• D. hitkicked
• E. punchedcalled out to

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Now a real one

• Until Florence Nightingale made nursing ________,
  it was considered a _________ profession .
• A. scientificpainstaking
• B. essentialdangerous
• C. noblelofty
• D. patrioticworthy
• E. respectabledegrading

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Trigger Words

• Besides predicting good and bad, there are
  trigger words.
• Trigger words tend to change the flow of a
  sentence.
• Here is a list of trigger words

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Traps and Tricks Connections

• The Nasty Connection Gremlins
• Although
• Because
• Nonetheless
• But for
• However
• And
• But
• Or
• Despite
• While
• Therefore

OPP
SAME and CAUSE/EFFECT
OPP
OPP
OPP
SAME
OPP
OPP
OPP
OPP
SAME and CAUSE/EFFECT
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How they Work

• As mentioned, trigger words can help alert you to
  a shift in the meaning of a sentence completion.
  For instance, take a look at the next sentence
• Although they are ______ by traps, poison and
  shotguns, predators _________ to feast on flocks
  of sheep.
• A. luredrefuse
• B. destroyedcease
• C. impededcontinue
• D. encouragedattempt
• E. harmedhesitate

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The Minority Report!

• In past efforts to make the SAT equal and nice
  (and politically correct) to all underrepresented
  groups, they never ever say anything bad about
  any minority group.
• Although an effort to be equitable, this really
  just helps all people predict the answer.

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For instance

• Although few in number, women in congress have
  had ________ impact on a variety of issues.
• A. an arbitrary
• B. a negligible
• C. a substantial
• D. a minor
• E. an inadvertent

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Lastly A word about easy and hard

• Simply putremember that easy questions have easy
  answers
• And hard questions have hard answers

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Hard or Easy?

• A. Pulchritudinous
• B. Ridiculous
• C. Funny
• D. Reticent
• E. Nadir
• So if this is an easy questionwhat are the
  possible answers above?

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Easy Question

• Just as congestion plagues every important
  highway, so it ________ the streets of every
  city.
• A. delimits
• B. delays
• C. clogs
• D. obviates
• E. destroys

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Sentence Completion Review

• First Tactics
• What is the logic?
• Read the whole Sentence
• Read it again
• Negative, Positive
• Trigger wordssuch as?
• Hard Questions have ________
• Easy Questions have________

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COMPETITION!