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Example Question
Although my uncle is usually a generous person, yesterday he gave_____ to a woman soliciting for a popular charity.
(A) money
(B) advice
(C) thanks
(D) nothing
(E) food
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What Word Fits Best?
What word best fits the blank in the sentence above? The correct answer is choice (D) nothing. "Although my uncle is usually a generous person, yesterday he gave nothing to a woman soliciting for a popular charity".
Did You Figure It Out?
Were you able to guess what word fit the blank even before looking at the choices? If you could, that was a great way to answer the question.
But that's something you can do on only the easiest sentence completion questions.
Let's look at another strategy you can try
Although my uncle is usually a generous person, yesterday he gave_____ to a woman soliciting for a popular charity.
(A) money
(B) advice
(C) thanks
(D) nothing
(E) food
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Identify Flag Words
Certain words — called flag words — give important information about the "direction" of a sentence. For example, in the sentence above, the flag word is "although". "Although my uncle is usually a generous person, yesterday he gave nothing . . .".
Although my uncle is usually a generous person, yesterday he gave_____ to a woman soliciting for a popular charity.
(A) money
(B) advice
(C) thanks
(D) nothing
(E) food
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Reversing Sentence Direction
The first part of the sentence describes the uncle as generous, but in the second part he isn't generous at all. The word "although" reversed the direction of the sentence, signaling that the correct completion will be the opposite of generous.
A Different Flag Word
Now suppose that instead of "although," the flag word was "since." Try completing this sentence:
"Since my uncle is usually a generous person, yesterday he gave _____ to a woman soliciting for a popular charity."
In this sentence the word "money" would fit. The word "since" continues the direction of the sentence.
Types of Flag Words
The first part of this sentence says that the uncle is generous, and the second part continues that thought.
"Since my uncle is usually a generous person, yesterday he gave money to a woman soliciting for a popular charity."
There are two kinds of flag words, opposite and same.
Opposite Flags
Opposite flags are words and phrases that reverse the direction of a sentence.
Opposite flags include: although, despite, but, even though, instead of, nevertheless, contrary to, rather than, in spite of, and however
Same Flags
Same flags are words that continue the direction of the sentence.
Same flags include words like: since, thus, therefore, as, hence, because, for, for instance, and, moreover, so, due to, and a semi-colon (;), which also continues the thought of the sentence.
Another Example
Julia had spent the entire previous week studying; on her final examination, she encountered _____ difficulties.
(A) myriad
(B) frequent
(C) formidable
(D) few
(E) remarkable
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Finding the Flag
This sentence contains a semicolon, which is a same flag. It indicates that the same feeling or thought continues throughout the entire sentence. In the first part of the sentence, you learned that Julia spent quite some time studying, so the idea is that she's well prepared for the test. If she was prepared, Julia would find almost no difficulty on the test. The choice that gives that meaning is few.
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