MAT Language Comprehension Flashcards

24 sample cards from the Language Comprehension deck

Sampled from the end of the deck, so these are different cards from the ones shown on the syllabus page.

1. What does the idiom 'once in a blue moon' mean?

   Very rarely; something that happens only on rare occasions.

2. What is a phrasal verb? Give an example with its meaning.

   A phrasal verb is a verb combined with a preposition or adverb that creates a new meaning, e.g., 'put off' meaning to postpone.

3. What is a 'word root' and how does knowing roots help in vocabulary questions?

   A root is the base part of a word carrying its core meaning. Knowing roots lets you decode unfamiliar words by combining root meaning with prefixes and suffixes.

4. What do the roots 'bene' and 'mal' mean? Give one word from each.

   'Bene' means good/well (e.g., benevolent); 'mal' means bad/ill (e.g., malevolent, malfunction).

5. What does the prefix 'anti-' mean, and what does the prefix 'pre-' mean?

   'Anti-' means against or opposite (antibiotic, antithesis); 'pre-' means before (preview, predict).

6. What does the suffix '-phobia' indicate, and what does '-logy' indicate?

   '-phobia' indicates an irrational fear (claustrophobia); '-logy' indicates the study of a subject (biology, geology).

7. What do the roots 'chrono' and 'photo' mean?

   'Chrono' means time (chronology, chronic); 'photo' means light (photograph, photosynthesis).

8. In Sentence Correction, what is subject-verb agreement?

   The rule that a verb must agree in number with its subject: a singular subject takes a singular verb and a plural subject takes a plural verb.

9. In subject-verb agreement, what verb form do subjects joined by 'either...or' / 'neither...nor' take?

   The verb agrees with the nearer (closer) subject. ('Neither the manager nor the workers were present'; 'Neither the workers nor the manager was present.')

10. What is a 'misplaced modifier' and how is it corrected?

    A misplaced modifier is a word/phrase positioned so it appears to describe the wrong word. It is corrected by placing the modifier next to the word it actually modifies.

11. What is a 'dangling modifier'?

    A modifier (usually an introductory phrase) whose intended subject is missing from the sentence, so it seems to modify the wrong noun (e.g., 'Walking home, the rain started').

12. What is parallelism in sentence structure, and why does it matter in Sentence Correction?

    Parallelism requires items in a list or comparison to share the same grammatical form (e.g., 'reading, writing, and singing', not 'reading, writing, and to sing'). It ensures grammatical consistency.

13. What is the rule for choosing the correct tense in a sentence with a time clause introduced by 'when', 'after', or 'before'?

    Maintain logical tense sequence: use past perfect for the earlier of two past actions and simple past for the later one (e.g., 'After he had eaten, he left').

14. In Fill in the Blanks, what is the first step before choosing a word for a single-blank sentence?

    Identify whether the sentence's logic is continuing (positive/same direction) or contrasting (negative/opposite), using connectors like 'and', 'but', 'however', 'because', 'therefore'.

15. How do contrast words like 'although', 'despite', and 'but' guide a fill-in-the-blank answer?

    They signal that the blank should express an idea opposite or contrasting to the rest of the clause, so you choose a word that reverses the sentence's direction.

16. In a double-blank fill-in question, what is the efficient elimination strategy?

    Solve the blank you are more confident about first, eliminate options that fail it, then test the remaining options for the second blank; both words must fit for an option to be correct.

17. What is a Para Jumble question?

    A set of jumbled sentences that must be rearranged into a coherent, logically ordered paragraph.

18. What is the typical first step in solving a Para Jumble?

    Identify the opening sentence: it introduces the topic independently, contains no pronoun/connector referring to earlier text, and does not begin with words like 'this', 'it', 'however', or 'therefore'.

19. What are 'mandatory pairs' in Para Jumbles and how do they help?

    Mandatory pairs are two sentences that must come consecutively because of links like pronoun reference, cause-effect, or continuing examples; fixing such pairs quickly eliminates wrong sequences.

20. Which clue words signal that a sentence is likely NOT the opening sentence of a paragraph?

    Pronouns (it, this, these, they), and connectors such as 'however', 'therefore', 'also', 'thus', 'on the other hand' that refer back to a previous idea.

21. What does a Sentence Completion question test, and what is the key technique?

    It tests your ability to complete a sentence so it is logically and grammatically coherent. The key is predicting the missing idea from the sentence's logic/connectors before checking options.

22. What is an analogy question, and what must you identify first to solve it?

    An analogy presents a pair of related words and asks for another pair with the same relationship. First identify the exact relationship in the given pair (e.g., synonym, part-to-whole, cause-effect).

23. Name four common relationship types tested in verbal analogies.

    Synonym/antonym, part-to-whole, cause-and-effect, worker-to-tool (or worker-to-product), and category-to-example.

24. In the analogy 'Doctor : Hospital :: Teacher : ?', what is the relationship and the answer?

    The relationship is worker-to-workplace; the answer is 'School'.

What this deck covers

Language Comprehension flashcards FAQ