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The Low Down on Sentence Completion Qs

Sentence completion questions make up around a quarter of the content on the critical reading section of the SAT. Although it may seem easy to literally fill in the blanks, these questions require knowledge of vocabulary, quality as well as depth of thought. Who ever thought all that could be measured in a multiple choice question?

So, in this lesson, we'll cover strategies in which you can use to improve your ability to critically read and analyze the given sentence to choice the correct answer.


Photo 2848Format of the Question

You'll be given a sentence with one or two blanks in it. It is then your job to fill in those blanks with the best possible vocabulary word provided below in the multiple choice. Oftentimes the words used will not be too familiar, so you must use your known vocabulary knowledge as well as logic to figure out the answer.

Before we get to strategy, let's first look at an example question from about.com to get our barrings on what the questions you'll be dealing with look like.

Her style of clothing is best described as ------: her leopard-print jackets and gold stilettos, combined with her boisterous attitude, always make her the center of attention.

A. demure
B. self-effacing
C. confident
D. grand
E. flamboyant


A is for Answer

As you can see, the words given in the multiple choice all have a distinct set of definitions that would possibly make them a fit for this sentence. The best way for your to not be stuck in a rut while coming across these words is to practice, practice, practice your vocabulary. You can do this by taking a vocabulary test or working on some trivia within this very community; you can even improve your vocabulary by just reading! Read whenever and wherever you can. Even if it's just scanning a newspaper, a website, a novel or a magazine, you'll be improving your vocabulary.

Knowing a basic definition of a base of words will provide a great resource. Since many of these words overlap as synonyms they can cover a lot of ground as far as the SAT sentence completions section goes.


Strategy

Now I'll take you through some simple steps to answer these sentence completion questions easily and with accuracy.

Read the sentence ignoring the blanked out word. Most likely an image or visual will come into your head about the sentence you've just read. Photo 2847

  • Taking for example our lady in the leopard-print jacket and stilettos. We can see her laughing it up. Maybe you see this person as loud, obnoxious or over-the-top. Without even looking at the available answers, we've started a list of possibilities!

Now look at the answer options. What words match with your image? Do a couple possibilities stick out? Do the words you've listed in the first step make up a couple synonyms for your possible word choice?

  • With our leopard-clad lady's "boisterous attitude" along with her flashy clothing, we've come up with words like over-the-top, obnoxious and loud. Out of the list of options we've been given, the best choices in my mind would be "grand" and "flamboyant". Now we have to limit our choices once more.

Process of Elimination.When we have a couple words we think would work, we must put one against the other to see what each word denotates (the dictionary type definition of the word) as well as connotates (outside suggestions and what the word makes us think of or relates to).

  • GRAND: A proper denotation of the word off the top of my head (which is also a great way to test whether you need to practice up on your vocab or not) would be something that is awesome, wonderful and positive. A connotative definition might be associations like "a grand banquet" or "that was quite grand". Both of these definitions indicate that the word is positively charged which doesn't really match with her being boisterous as this is a negative characteristic.
  • FLAMBOYANT: A denotation would be someone who goes overboard, over-the-top. And a connotation of the word would be something loud, outgoing and has a negative association to it. In connection to our list of words and images, I think we have a winner!
Double Check. Just to make sure, test out the word in the sentence. Does it sound correct? Does it fit with you image? If it does, great! Block off the answer and you're free to move onto the next!


Tricks of the Trade

Read Clearly: make sure you don't miss any important parts of the sentence that may help you determine the right answer

Watch the Time: you should probably spend around just under a minute per question, so make sure you budget your time accordingly

Practice your Vocab: knowing the words will make it really easy for you to pick out the correct word

Double Check your Markings: make sure you've filled in the right answer on your answer sheet

Don't Panic: If you come across a question you can't answer, skip it and come back to it. With a better trained mind after a few more questions it will probably come back to you. Just don't forget about the unfilled questions!


With the format, strategy and tricks of the trade under your belt, you'll be able to approach any question with ease and those blanks will become correct words in no time!!
Astha
  • Authority 297
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Astha said:

All this is great… but do we have all the time to do this because in the paper the recommended time for the sentence completions is about 5 minutes and thats not a lot!

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  • Posted 5 months ago.
acrosstheuniverse
  • Authority 633
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acrosstheuniverse said in response to:
Astha
Astha’s post:
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All this is great… but do we have all the time to do this because in the paper the recommended time for the sentence completions is about 5 minutes and thats not a lot!

You’re absolutely right, the pacing is pretty fast between the passage questions. But I would suggest going through the steps, even if you find you’re running through them quickly. The process of elimination can be sped up depending on what you believe the answer could be after first skimming the question and passage. If you find you’re running out of time, spend more time reading clearly and skip the double check. If you’ve read clearly, the answer should come to you strongly and you can write in that answer. But as you say, watching the time is key!

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  • Posted 5 months ago.
oLahav
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oLahav said:

To expand on acrosstheuniverse’s response, don’t worry. The more you practice these things, the faster you’ll become at going through the process and finding the right answer. And the more you practice and read, the better your vocabulary will become, which means that on some question you’ll just the answer right away without even thinking, simply because you know the word.

So if you’ve practiced enough, it shouldn’t be a problem.

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  • Posted 5 months ago.
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