The Verbal Reasoning section of the GRE is intended to accentuate complex reasoning skills and your capacity to examine the connections amongst words and sentences as they are used in context. Vocabulary will be tested contextually, and the reading passages are both dense and written with a sophisticated level of diction. The aim of the test’s content and emphasis upon analytical skills is to show that you understand what you are reading and relate reasoning skills to the various questions types. Your proficiency in these skills will tell schools your ability to study at the graduate level.

The GRE contains two verbal reasoning sections with approximately 20 questions each. Each will last 30 minutes and be composed of the following question types:

• Text completion
• Reading comprehension
• Sentence equivalence

Since readers want to see more GRE verbal practice questions, I’ve taken the time to search for some of the best questions and make them available to you. The truth is, when it comes to studying for GRE Verbal, you can never get your hands on enough practice questions. I’ve broken down the questions by the types found in GRE Verbal Reasoning section. Each question comes along with an answer. Try to answer the questions yourself before checking for the explanations so as to have the best understanding of how each question will be seen on the exam.

Text Completion Practice Questions

Directions for text completion questions will appear as follows:

Each sentence below has one or more blanks, each blank indicating that something has been omitted. Beneath the sentence are five words for one-blank questions, and sets of three words for each blank for two-blanked and three- blanked questions. Choose the word or set of words for each blank that best fits the meaning of the sentence as a whole.

1. The young man always had to have the last word; he would rather be disliked than ___________.

A. gainsaid

B. selfish

C. remembered

D. praised

E. different

2. The (1) ____________ gave such an impassioned speech that the crowd seemed moved to (ii)__________.
[one_half_first]

3. The countless (i) ____________ days left everyone (ii) __________ for the sudden downpour; the deluge brought traffic to a halt as it (iii) ________ the roads.

Text completion questions are one type you will see on the GRE Verbal. They are fill-in-the-blank sentences questions that you may have seen before. However, with the recent GRE, the writers have really outdone themselves. Not only will there be one-blank sentences, in which you have to choose which word best fits the blank, but questions can also have as many as three blanks which can be all packed into one sentence or, more diabolically still, be spread out over an entire paragraph. You will find about six test completion questions in each verbal reasoning section.

GRE text completion questions may ask you to pick a choice for each blank from the corresponding pillar of choices. These questions are really straightforward and not necessarily hard if you study intelligently. This question type tests your ability to read critically, to recognize the point of the sentence and find the best word to fit this meaning. All you need is to find a road sign (a structural key word that signals the connection between ideas), then that clue word determines the direction. Let’s answer the questions.

Text Completion Answers

1. A

This question is one that you should have absolutely no trouble answering. If you do, then it’s obvious you’ve got a lot of work ahead of you. Do not panic, you still have time to learn. The semicolon between these clauses is the road sign. Since the blank is in the second clause, look to the first clause for direction. This person must always be right or have the last word in an argument. The second clause tells how much he needs the last word. He would rather be disliked than have what happen? A good fit would be a word that means “contradicted.”

Choice (A) gainsaid fits this prediction, but be sure to try other choices just to be sure if you picked the right option. When you look through other choices, you see that none of them mean “contradicted” and they don’t support the first part of the sentence, so even without knowing the meaning of the word gainsaid, one still can get the right answer.

2. A, F

This question is a bit different in that it has two blanks, but it still follows the same principle; all you need is to find the road sign. Always start with the blank with the easier prediction. The key phrase for the first blank is “impassioned speech;” blank one is about someone who can speak. Choices (B) and (C) are not excellent speakers, but choice (A) orators are.

The key word for the second blank is “impassioned” and “moved” which indicates that the speaker had a positive effect on the crowd. So, since choice (D) and (E) are negative, the answer is (F) ebullience.

3. A, E, G

Here the third blank can be easily predicted because grammatically it stands on its own. The key here is the word “deluge,” which you know means a major rainstorm. Therefore, you can eliminate both (H)soaked and (I)sprayed because they are much weaker word than(G)inundated.

For blank two, the key clue is “sudden.” If it was sudden, then you can assume people were not expecting it. Look for a word synonymous with “not expecting.” Choice (D) waiting and (F) anxious would both imply people were expecting the downpour, thus (E)unprepared is the right answer.

Finally, for the first blank, this word will be the reason that people were not expecting a sudden storm. Choice (C) humid does not match, but both (A) arid and (B) calm can work. You may need to pause for a moment here: choice (B) calm might work, but (A) arid is a better answer because it implies that the weather was specifically very dry–the antithesis of the wetness of the storm. Plugging in all right choices, you can see that everything agrees.

Reading Comprehension Practice Questions

Directions for reading comprehension questions will appear as follows:

The reading passage is accompanied by a set of questions based on the passage and any introductory material that is given. Answer the questions according to what is stated or implied in the passage.

Passage:

Criticisms of the automaticity model of reading acquisition include a lack of focus on comprehension as the ultimate goal of reading. Too much focus on fluency to the neglect of comprehension is a correlation criticism. Miscue analysis, tracking students’ errors or “miscues” has demonstrated that even early readers use prediction as well as translation into dialect as they read, thereby using tools outside of those described in the automaticity model. A third criticism is that dyslexic readers, because of the inherent decoding problems they face, necessarily have trouble following the model and sustaining the reading rates recommended for fluency.

1. This passage suggests that all the following are flaws in the automaticity model of reading acquisition EXCEPT

A. failure to consider all the methods commonly used by developing readers.

B. measure reading ability by fluency.

C. prioritizing efficiency in reading over understanding.

D. insufficient research.

E. basic assumption about the reader’s processing ability.

2. Based on the passage, which of the following would the author likely characterize as a sign of fluency?

A. The ability to translate the material into another language.

B. The ability to decode words quickly.

C. The ability to explain the plot or main idea in a text.

D. The ability to predict the main idea in unread text.

E .The ability to read material written in a wide variety of dialects.

Half of the test will comprise of questions that pertain to a specific reading passage. The GRE includes roughly ten reading passages spread between the two verbal reasoning sections of the test, many of which are one paragraph in length, although a few are longer (about 400 words). The passages are drawn from a variety of fields such as science, literary critique, social sciences, and more, and run the scope from relatively challenging to forbiddingly dense.

GRE reading comprehension can look so difficult from the first glance, but it is actually predictable. Each passage is followed by one to six questions that relates to that passage. The same types of questions are tested year after year by the test writers. Either way, come test day you will be face to face with a few questions of this standard, or even slightly more difficult. The thing about these reading comprehension questions is that you will see choices that all look right to you, and that is what makes them difficult. This section of the GRE verbal test is to test your ability to ascertain the author’s purpose and meaning, to consider what inferences can properly be drawn from the passage, to research details in the text, and to understand the meaning of words and the function of sentences in context.

Doing well in GRE reading comprehension involves reading the passage strategically, analyzing the question stem (knowing the key phrase), making predictions (predicting the answer even before looking at the answers), researching the relevant section in the text, reading through all the answers, and lastly evaluating the answers. Now let’s look at the questions.

Reading Comprehension Answers

1.D

Choice (D) is the correct answer when you read through the passage because there is no mention of the amount of research done or needed concerning the automaticity model. Research is out of scope. Choices (A), (B), and (C) are clearly stated in the passage while choice (E)can be derived from the third criticism about dyslexia.

2.B

Reading the passage strategically, you will be able to understand the second sentence where the author contrasts “fluency” with “comprehension.” Therefore choice (A) and (C) can be ruled out; both require comprehension of what one had read. (D) and (E) are examples of things not included in the automaticity model that prizes fluency, they are distortion or readers using prediction and translating texts into their own dialects. (B), which is in final sentence’s mention of “sustaining the reading rates recommended for fluency,” is the correct answer.

Sentence Equivalence Practice Questions

Directions for sentence equivalence questions will appear as follows:

Select the two answers choice that, when inserted into the sentence, fit the meaning of the sentence as a whole and yield complete sentences that are similar in meaning.

Easy-level Sentence Equivalence Practical Question

see answer

Moderate-level Sentence Equivalence Practical Question

see answer

Difficult-level Sentence Equivalence Practical Question

see answer

A modification of the text completion question is the sentence equivalence question. The good news is there will only be one sentence and one blank. The bad news is you must provide two correct words out of six answer choices to complete the sentence. Sorry, no partial credit. These choices when used individually must result in the same meaning for both sentences.

Approximately four sentence equivalence questions are present in each Verbal Reasoning section. This is to test your ability to figure out how a sentence should be completed by using the meaning of the entire sentence.

The GRE tests the same kind of word over and over again. Getting familiar with some of the GRE vocabulary can go a long way in helping you achieve that high score. Try using these words in context; this is the best way for your brain to remember the meaning of words.

Sometimes you might not be sure if a question is difficult or not–and you shouldn’t go jumping to another question just because a question is long. Every question is worth the same amount. That’s right, that easy text completion is worth the same number of points as that four-line reading comprehension question in which you spent three minutes reading. Use the “mark” and “review” buttons to your advantage while taking the actual test.

Let’s put everything into practice. Try GRE practice question:

Looking for more GRE practice?

You can find thousands of practice questions on Albert.io. Albert.io lets you customize your learning experience to target practice where you need the most help. We’ll give you challenging practice questions to help you achieve mastery of the GRE .

Start practicing on here.

Are you a teacher or administrator interested in boosting GRE student outcomes?

Learn more about our school licenses here.