Word meanings

Pick the option whose meaning is nearest to the given word

提示Two of the answers might share a topic — you want the one that could swap in for it.

为什么A word from the same topic is the trap: "teacher" and "school" go together, but they do not mean the same thing. Test each choice by swapping it into a sentence in place of the question word.

An option that means the same as the question word

提示It is the reverse trap — a rushed reader picks a synonym by mistake.

为什么The answer is the option that means the reverse of the given word, so slow down and check the direction: "generous" sits near "kind", but its opposite is "mean" or "selfish".

Take each word out in turn and see if the other three still make a tight group

提示Remove one at a time — the odd one leaves a happy family behind.

为什么Three of the four words are close in meaning. The odd one may still be on the same topic — what matters is whether it shares the meaning, not the subject.

Work out how the first two words are related

提示The opening pair sets the pattern — same meaning, or opposites?

为什么The first pair might mean the same or be opposites. Whatever links them, the answer must go with the third word in exactly the same way.

Vast

提示Think of the open sea, or space — stretching further than you can see.

为什么Vast is the writer’s word for enormous size or extent: a vast desert, a vast crowd. In a closest-meaning question it sits beside huge, enormous and immense.

Attempt

提示You make one when you have a go at something difficult.

为什么You can attempt a question, or make an attempt at a record — the same word works as a doing word and a naming word, which is why it appears so often.

Cease

提示When the rain does this, it stops falling.

为什么Cease means to stop or come to an end: a bell may cease ringing. Papers love it because children meet it far less often than "stop".

Purchase

提示The formal word a shop receipt might print at the top.

为什么Purchasing something means getting it by paying for it. Formal words like this one are exactly the vocabulary the meaning questions reach for.

Repair

提示What a garage does to a broken-down car.

为什么You mend a sock and a garage repairs an engine — the meaning is the same, but one word is homely and one is formal. Meaning questions often pair them.

Error

提示A computer message often reports one when something goes wrong.

为什么An error is a mistake — in spelling, in sums, in a machine. "Fault" lives in the same family, so expect all three to appear together as options.

Gradual

提示A slope that rises gently, little by little.

为什么A gradual change creeps up in small steps; a sudden one arrives all at once. Opposite-meaning questions like this pair because both words describe how quickly things happen.

Deny

提示To say firmly that you did not do it.

为什么Admitting something means agreeing it is true; denying means saying it is not. Watch the trap option "confess", which means nearly the SAME as admit.

Let the four choices show you which sense is being tested

提示A word like "light" can mean not heavy, or not dark — the answers decide.

为什么"Fair" can mean just, or light-coloured, or a funfair. Read all four choices before you settle on a sense: whichever meaning most of them circle around is the one the paper has in mind.

Pick the one that reverses it completely, not just partly

提示Ask how far along the scale each choice travels — all the way, or only a little?

为什么"Cool" sits partway from "hot", but "cold" goes the whole distance. Opposite-meaning questions reward the far end of the scale, not the halfway step.

Belonging to a topic and sharing a meaning are different tests

提示Bread, butter and jam sit together at breakfast — that does not make them the same.

为什么Three of the words could swap places in a sentence without changing much; the fourth could not. Test by swapping, not by asking which ones go together.

topic and meaning

提示One answer merely sits nearby; the other could take the word’s place in a sentence.

为什么Papers plant a choice from the same subject area on purpose, because it feels related. Swap each choice into a sentence in place of the given word: only one of them leaves the sentence saying the same thing.

Assist

提示What a lifeguard does for a swimmer in trouble.

为什么A nurse assists a surgeon, and the person whose job it is becomes an assistant. Expect the everyday word in the question and the formal one among the choices.

Construct

提示The word an engineer would use about a bridge or a tunnel.

为什么You construct a bridge, a sentence or an argument — the word reaches well beyond bricks, which is why papers like it. Its naming-word partner is "construction".

Obligation

提示Something you are bound to do, whether you feel like it or not.

为什么You are under one because you promised, or because the job demands it. This is one of the longer words the meaning questions use to stretch a strong reader.

Propose

提示To put an idea forward for other people to think about.

为什么You can propose a plan, a change or a toast. Watch the near neighbours: "insist" and "demand" are far stronger, so they sit at the wrong end of the scale.

Select

提示What you do when you pick one item from a list on a screen.

为什么Picking out one from several is exactly what this word covers. The team a coach picks is the selected side, and the naming word is "selection" — a family worth learning whole.

Whisper

提示The quietest way to speak, close to someone’s ear.

为什么It carries almost no voice at all. Beware the trap option "yell", which means nearly the same as shout rather than the reverse of it.

Minimum

提示The smallest amount a rule will allow.

为什么Maximum names the largest amount permitted and its opposite names the least. Both turn up in maths as well as in reasoning papers, so the pair earns its place twice over.

Specific

提示It names exactly which one you mean, leaving no room for doubt.

为什么A general remark covers everything loosely; its opposite names the very thing. The pair appears in reading questions too, where you are asked for one precise detail.