Verbal Reasoning: Text Completion Strategy

What you'll learn

Describe the Text Completion format, including its one-to-three-blank structure and all-or-nothing scoring
Apply a strategy of predicting your own word for each blank before evaluating the answer choices
Recognize how signal words like 'however' or 'therefore' indicate the logical relationship around a blank

Explanation

Text Completion questions present a sentence or short passage with one, two, or three blanks. Each blank has its own set of answer choices (typically three per blank, or five when there is only one blank), and you must fill every blank correctly to receive credit -- there is no partial credit for getting some but not all blanks right on a multi-blank question.

The most reliable strategy is to read the entire sentence first and predict your own word or idea for each blank based purely on the surrounding context, before you even look at the answer choices. Then scan the choices for the one that most closely matches your prediction. This order matters: looking at the choices first often causes test-takers to be pulled toward a tempting-sounding word that doesn't actually fit the sentence's logic.

Pay close attention to signal words, since they tell you the logical relationship the blank must complete. Contrast words -- "however," "although," "despite," "yet" -- signal that the blank should oppose or contrast with an idea stated elsewhere in the sentence. Continuation words -- "therefore," "moreover," "similarly," "since" -- signal that the blank should align with or reinforce that idea instead. Spotting these words quickly narrows your prediction considerably.

Consider this original practice sentence: "Although the committee had initially seemed ________ to the proposal, its members grew increasingly receptive after hearing the revised budget figures." The word "Although" signals a contrast with "receptive," so the blank needs a word meaning something like resistant or opposed -- the opposite of how the committee later became.

Common mistakes

Reading only the words immediately next to the blank instead of the whole sentence's logic and signal words.
Choosing an answer that sounds sophisticated or unfamiliar rather than one that actually matches the logic signaled by words like 'although' or 'therefore'.
On multi-blank questions, filling in blanks independently without checking that the whole sentence still makes coherent sense once all blanks are filled together.

Knowledge check

1. In the sentence 'Although the committee had initially seemed ________ to the proposal, its members grew increasingly receptive after hearing the revised budget figures,' what kind of word best fits the blank?

A word meaning enthusiasticA word meaning resistant or opposed, since 'although' signals a contrast with 'receptive'A word meaning irrelevant to the topicA word describing an early meeting time

2. For a Text Completion question with two blanks, how much credit do you earn if you fill in only one of the two blanks correctly?

Half credit for the one correct blankNo credit -- every blank in the question must be correct togetherFull credit, since one correct answer is enoughIt depends on which of the two blanks you got right

3. Which type of signal word indicates that a blank should reinforce or continue an idea stated earlier in the sentence, rather than oppose it?

Contrast words like 'however' or 'despite'Continuation words like 'therefore' or 'moreover'Question words like 'why' or 'how'Time markers like 'yesterday' or 'soon'

Takeaway

Predict your own word for each blank from context and signal words before looking at the answer choices, and remember multi-blank questions require every blank correct for credit.

Summary

Text Completion tests vocabulary-in-context across one to three blanks, scored all-or-nothing. Predicting your own answer first and reading signal words like 'although' or 'therefore' are the two highest-leverage habits.

References

ETS GRE Verbal Reasoning

Your notes

Private notes for this lesson

Notes save automatically.