Synonyms

Synonym questions will be the first 17 questions you see in the Verbal Reasoning section. These will simply present you with a word and you must match this word to its corresponding synonym (word that has the same meaning).

For Synonyms, you must know the definition of the word in all capital letters as well as the definition of each answer choice. Here’s what a typical Synonym question looks like:

1. MALEDICTION

(A) aberration
(B) curse
(C) formality
(D) outlier

With 17 capitalized words and 4 answer choices paired with each capitalized word, you must potentially define 80 vocabulary words on the Synonyms portion of the ISEE’s Verbal Reasoning section. You do not receive any context for these words.

Systematic Approach to Synonym Questions

1. Do I know the definition of the capitalized word? If not:
   1. Do you recognize any word parts? If so, mark them and make your best guess at the definition.
   2. Does the word have a positive or negative connotation to you? If so, make a note by writing "+" or "-"
2. Do I know the definition of the answer choices? If not:
   1. Do you recognize any word parts? If so, mark them and make your best guess at the definition.
   2. Does the word have a positive or negative connotation to you? If so, make a note by writing "+" or "-"
3. Can I eliminate any of the answer choices?
   1. If a word has the opposite connotation of the capitalized word, eliminate it.
   2. If there are two answer choices that mean the same thing, eliminate them – they can’t both be the answer!
   3. Use your own estimated definitions to make a best guess!

Reminders

• If you are very uncertain about your choice, circle or mark the question so you can come back to it if you have extra time.
• Do NOT spend too much time on any one question! You only get 30 seconds per question on average for Verbal Reasoning.

Understanding Connotation

It is important to note that a positive word does not necessarily mean “good”, and a negative word does not necessarily mean “bad”. Think about context. A positive word can be a word where the action is moving up, such as “ascend.” A negative word can be a word where the action is moving down, such as “descend.” In the same sense, entering a room is positive while exiting a room is negative.

Basically, a word is positive if it moves forward, up, or toward something, if it adds or increases, or if it complements something. A word is negative if it moves back, down, or away from something, if it takes away or decreases, or if it contrasts something. There are more aspects to positive and negative words, but you will get a better feeling for these aspects after studying more words.

Systematic Approach Example

Let’s look at how we might apply our systematic approach to Synonym questions to the sample question included above.

1. Review the capitalized word.

• I’m not sure what “malediction” means, but I do recognize some word parts:
  • “mal” = bad
  • “dict” = say or speak
• Because of the prefix “mal,” this word has a negative connotation. I’ll go ahead and mark it with a “−” to remind me of this.

2. Review the answer choices.

• aberration: I’m not sure what this word means, but I do recognize the prefix “ab” (away), which gives it a  negative connotation.
• curse: This one’s easy – a curse is something someone says to inflict harm or punishment on someone else. It can also refer to a swear word. It definitely has a negative connotation.
• formality: I’m not 100% sure what this means, but I do recognize the word “formal” here, which means “proper.”
• outlier: I remember hearing this in math. An outlier is something that doesn’t fit with the rest of a group. That would give it a negative connotation, too.

3. Eliminate what you can add choose your answer.

• “Formality” is the only choice that doesn’t seem to have a negative connotation. I can eliminate it.
• While “aberration” and “outlier” both have negative connotations, their prefixes are similar in meaning: “away” and “out.” They might mean the same thing, which would rule them both out.
• I’m pretty confident that “curse” is the right answer. After all, it’s a “bad” thing that you “say,” which matches “mal” and “dict.” I choose B!