{"id":13760,"date":"2019-08-24T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-08-24T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/grockit.com\/gre\/?p=163"},"modified":"2020-09-11T20:41:19","modified_gmt":"2020-09-11T20:41:19","slug":"two-blank-sentences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/gre\/two-blank-sentences\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Steps for GRE Two-Blank Text Completion Questions"},"content":{"rendered":"

GRE Text Completion\u00a0questions contain one, two, or three blanks. To find the correct answer, you will need to understand both the meaning of the sentence\/s as a whole and be able to identify the clues in the sentence. Here are four steps for how to conquer GRE Verbal Text Completion questions on\u00a0test day.
\nFor most two-blank sentence completions, you must go through the problem one blank at a time. <\/em>First, treat the problem as if it were a one-blank sentence completion. Read the sentence, identify clue words to help you predict a blank, and make a prediction for one<\/em> of the blanks first. That second blank might demand a bit more brain power, but you can use two-blank problems to your advantage. In fact, you can even increase your chances of getting the right answer. Let\u2019s check out an example:
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\nEven when the recession was ostensibly over, and jobs were becoming increasingly —–, the fear of another economic collapse still ——-.
\nA. Available\u2026dwindled
\nB. Accessible\u2026evolved
\nC. Plentiful\u2026persisted
\nD. Safe\u2026disappeared
\nE. Open\u2026diminished<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>
\nWhen you first read a two-blank question like the one above, you should determine what type of two-blank sentence it is. The main question is \u201care the blanks semantically independent from one another?\u201d In other words, do you have to determine a relationship between the blanks before you answer, or can you isolate the meaning of each of the blanks first? The latter is more common and is often easier to answer. In the above question, you can isolate the meaning of each blank. Your strategy with these question types is almost identical to the one-blank sentences, but we must predict and eliminate twice.
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STEP 1: Find Clue Words and Trigger Words<\/h4>
<\/div><\/div><\/div>
\nAs you read the sentence, you will be on the lookout for keywords, words that describe the blank or relate to the overall flow of the sentence (transition words). Once you find them, write them down. It may seem redundant, but the act of writing them down will slow down your impulses and force your brain to think critically. What do the words tell you about the blank? Below are the keywords you could pick out from the example above.
\nEven when<\/em> the recession was ostensibly over<\/strong>, and<\/em> jobs<\/strong> were becoming<\/strong> increasingly —–, the fear<\/strong> of another economic collapse<\/strong> still<\/em> ——-.
\nOur clue words <\/strong>include the phrase \u201crecession was ostensibly over,\u201d \u201cjobs becoming\u2026,\u201d and \u201cfear\u2026economic collapse.\u201d Even from these clue words alone, we can see contrasting directions of the sentence. First, the sentence describes a hopeful economic climate emerging from a crisis (recession was over), but, it soon returns to the negativity characteristic of the initial crisis (fear of economic collapse).
\nOur trigger words<\/em> more clearly reveal the contradictory relation between each clause. \u201cEven when\u201d functions like \u201ceven though,\u201d \u201calthough,\u201d or \u201cwhile.\u201d \u201cStill\u201d tells us that, despite the improvement of the economic climate, fear still <\/em>looms. \u201cAnd\u201d lets us know that the clause \u201cjobs were becoming increasingly _____\u201d follows the same logic of the first clause.
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STEP 2: Write down a prediction for the easiest blank.<\/h4>
<\/div><\/div><\/div>
\nOnce you\u2019ve analyzed the keywords and punctuation of a sentence, you can come up with a prediction for the blank which seems the most straightforward to you. It doesn\u2019t have to be a great prediction, but make sure you do write something down. Even a simple prediction like, \u201ca negative word\u201d or \u201csomething like sad\u201d is a good prediction. Don\u2019t let yourself read the answer choices without a written-down prediction. If you don\u2019t write it down, you will likely forget it as you read the answer choices.
\nNow eliminate answer choices based on that prediction. Instead of scanning the answers quickly looking for the correct one, carefully move through the choices from A to F, eliminating the answer choices that could not possible match your prediction. Only worry about scanning the column for the blank you predicted for \u2013 don\u2019t even read the other words.
\nIn the first half of the sentence, the example is talking about an improvement in the economic climate; thus, jobs should be increasingly \u201cavailable\u201d or \u201cabundant.\u201d The\u00a0first step is to eliminate those answer choices in which the first blank does not fit my prediction.
\nA. Available\u2026dwindled
\nB. Accessible\u2026evolved
\nC. Plentiful\u2026persisted
\nD. Safe\u2026disappeared
\nE. Open\u2026diminished
\nThis should be simple. \u201cAvailable\u201d works, since it is exactly one of the\u00a0predictions. \u201cAccessible\u201d works, too, because it communicates the idea that there are more jobs. \u201cPlentiful\u201d also works, as it communicates the abundance of jobs in the\u00a0prediction. \u201cSafe\u201d does not quite work. Perhaps job security becomes safer, but jobs themselves becoming safer has nothing to do with the sentence. \u201cOpen\u201d makes for an awkward, almost confusing phrasing, but it\u2019s close enough to the\u00a0desired meaning, so let\u2019s keep it.
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STEP 3: Predict and evaluate the remaining blank.<\/h4>
<\/div><\/div><\/div>
\nUnfortunately, you may not be able to eliminate many answer choices based on your\u00a0first prediction. If this happens, don\u2019t let it discourage you. When you move on to your second prediction and elimination, you should have crossed out those you eliminated from round one.
\nA. Available\u2026dwindled
\nB. Accessible\u2026evolved
\nC. Plentiful\u2026persisted
\nD. Safe\u2026disappeared<\/span>
\nE. Open\u2026diminished
\nLet\u2019s predict the\u00a0second blank.
\nEven when<\/em> the recession was ostensibly over<\/strong>, and<\/em> jobs<\/strong> were becoming<\/strong> increasingly —–, the fear<\/strong> of another economic collapse<\/strong> still<\/em> ——-.
\nRemember, the second half of the sentence contradicts the first half. While the recession was over, the fear of economic collapse still \u201clingered,\u201d \u201cendured,\u201d or simply, \u201cwas present.\u201d As long as the word suggests the presence of this fear, the word fulfills its role in the sentence. \u201cDwindled\u201d suggests a decrease of fear, which is the opposite of what the sentence\u00a0need. \u201cEvolved\u201d is not quite the opposite of what you\u00a0want, but it certainly detracts from our desired meaning. You\u00a0do not want to suggest that the fear has changed in some way–only that it has endured. \u201cPersisted\u201d is perfect; it is synonymous with \u201cendured.\u201d \u201cDiminished,\u201d like \u201cdwindled,\u201d suggests the opposite of our desired meaning.
\nC is our answer.
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STEP 4: Plug in for the remaining blank, if necessary.<\/h4>
<\/div><\/div><\/div>
\nIf you have more than two answer choices left after eliminating, then plug them into the sentence to see which ones are correct.
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<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div><\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

GRE Text Completion\u00a0questions contain one, two, or three blanks. To find the correct answer, you will need to understand both the meaning of the sentence\/s as a whole and be able to identify the clues in the sentence. Here are four steps for how to conquer GRE Verbal Text Completion questions on\u00a0test day. For most […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27115,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[68],"tags":[69,283],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13760"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13760"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13760\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34809,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13760\/revisions\/34809"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}