Instruction 1-4

Etymology of Significant Terms | Greek, Latin, and Anglo-Saxon Roots and Affixes | Greek, Roman, and Norse Mythology | Analogies | Literal and Figurative Meaning of Words | Denotative and Connotative Meaning | Summary

Now that you’ve learned something about where words come from, it’s time to learn a little about how words work. This Instruction (and the next two after it) will talk about how words relate to one other, about different figures of speech and about how the same word can have several different meanings.

In this Instruction -- which is about analogy -- we’re going to talk about how words relate to one another. Because what analogy is (for test purposes, at least) is the comparison of two pairs of words which have the same relationship. In tests, you are usually given the first pair of words and asked to complete the second pair. For example, you might be asked:

“puppy is to dog as kitten is to __________.”

You would probably answer “cat” and you would be right. A puppy is an infant dog, while a kitten is an infant cat. Or you might be asked:

“Monday is to Tuesday as Wednesday is to _________.”

The right answer, of course, is “Thursday,” since this is a “time sequence” comparison: Monday comes before Tuesday, while Wednesday comes before Thursday.

The key to answering analogy questions is figuring out the relationship between the first pair of words so that you can match the second pair correctly. It isn’t easy, because there are a lot of different ways words can relate to each other -- but here are a few of the main relationships you are likely to encounter:

Cause and Effect -- for example, “moon is to light as eclipse is to darkness.” This means that the moon causes or gives light while an eclipse causes or creates darkness.

Parts and Wholes -- “individual is to crowd as tree is to forest.” An individual is part of a crowd while a tree is part of a forest.

Synonyms (words that mean similar things) -- “cohesive is to united as efficient is to optimized” or “opulence is to wealth as opaque is to cloudy.”

Antonyms (words that mean opposite things) -- “skillful is to clumsy as beautiful is to ugly.”

Tools -- “pen is to author as brush is to artist.” This is rather out of date, since most authors today write on computers; but you get the idea.

Degree of Intensity -- “joy is to bliss as hot is to boiling” or “berate is to criticize as patronize is to ‘care about’.” Sometimes the more intense word is put first and sometimes it’s the less intense one.

Usage (where things are used or what they are used for) -- “chalk is to blackboard as gas is to car.” Chalk is used on the blackboard while gas is used in a car.

Units of Measurement -- “decibel is to sound as calorie is to heat.” A decibel is a measurement of sound while a calorie is a measurement of heat.

Adjective/Noun -- “suggestive is to undertone as kinetic is to movement.” Suggestive is an adjective which means “tending to suggest or hint at something” rather than to come right out with it: in other words, an undertone in a conversation or document; kinetic is the adjective associated with the noun movement.

Another example of an adjective-noun relationship would be “virtuous is to integrity as ignominious is to disgrace.” Virtuous is an adjective used to describe someone who has integrity, while ignominious is an adjective used to describe someone who is in disgrace.

Association (one word being associated with another) -- “Devil is to bad as cardiologist is to heart.” This simply means that the Devil is associated with badness or evil, while a cardiologist (heart doctor) is associated with care of the heart.

Condensation or Distillation – “mission statement is to purpose as motto is to beliefs.” A mission statement is a written distillation (a short condensed version) of a group or person’s stated purpose, while a motto is a short condensed version of a group or person’s beliefs.

Parts of Speech – sometimes the relationship between two words is that they are both the same part of speech. That means that both words might be nouns or adjectives or adverbs and so on. For example, “gaudy is to cluttered as sufficient is to appropriate.” Gaudy, cluttered, sufficient and appropriate are all adjectives.

Analogies are intended to teach you how words (and things) relate to one another. But they can be used unfairly in testing – to try and trip you up. And since words have different meanings to different people (you’ll be learning more about that later), this sort of testing can result in some rather heated arguments.

In fact, the SAT, the test that often determines whether or not you get into college, is not going to include any analogies after 2005. But until then, it’s a good idea to practice up on them. There are some web sites which can help you – they can even make it fun, like a game or puzzle.

http://vocabulary.com/VUwordanalogy.html

Now let's do Practice Exercise 1-4 (top)

Next Page:  Literal and Figurative Meaning of Words (top)