Chapter 1-The Antonym/Synonym Question

CHAPTER 1—THE ANTONYM/SYNONYM QUESTION
Antonym questions (opposite meaning) and synonym questions

(similar meaning) are the most straightforward vocabulary questions on
the college entrance tests. You are given a word in English or Filipino and
must choose, from among the four or five choices that follow it, the best
antonym or synonym.
Here are the directions for antonym questions. The actual wordings
Directions: Each question below consists of a word in capital letters,
may differ slightly from test to test, but the basic instructions are the
followed by five lettered words or phrases. Choose the word or
same.
phrase that is most nearly opposite in meaning to the word in
capital letters. Since some of the questions require you to
distinguish fine shades of meaning, consider all the choices
before deciding which is best.
EXAMPLE: GOOD: (A) sour (B) bad (C) red (D) hot (E) ugly
SAMPLE ANSWER: A B C D E
○ ● ○ ○ ○
The directions for synonym questions are almost exactly the same,
except that the underlined word opposite is replaced by similar. These
words are underlined to call your attention to what is exactly being asked
for. In either case, an appropriate example is also provided. Make sure you
know at the outset whether you are asked for an antonym or a synonym.
Ignoring the instruction can be disastrous.
You won’t see anything quite as easy as the given example on the
college entrance tests, but this question illustrates a point you should
remember. The question asks for the BEST answer, not just a possible
answer. Any answer short of the best gets no credit.
Here are some tactics to help you improve your score in this section.
Tactic 1. If you don’t recognize the capitalized word right away,

try thinking of it in a context. Take a quick look at the word in capital
letters. If you don’t recollect its meaning right away, try to think of a
phrase or sentence in which you have seen or heard it used. The context
may help you come up with the word’s meaning. In some tests, the
vocabulary word is embedded in a phrase or a sentence. Use the context
provided to decipher its meaning.
Tactic 2. Use a word’s positive or negative connotation to help

you eliminate wrong answers. Suppose you are dealing with a partly
unfamiliar word, a word that you cannot define or use in a sentence but
that you think you have encountered before. What should you do? First,
try to remember the general context in which you saw or heard the word.
Did it have a positive feeling to it, or did it have a negative feel? If you are
sure the capitalized word has positive connotations, then, you know the
correct answer must have negative ones if you’re asked for an antonym,
and positive ones if you’re looking for a synonym. Then, you can toss out
any answer choices that don’t give the right feel and choose from among
the remaining ones.
Tactic 3. Before you look at the choices, think of antonyms (or

synonyms, as the case may be) for the capitalized word. This tactic will
help you even when you have to deal with unfamiliar words among your
answer choices. It doesn’t always happen that the antonym (or synonym)
you think of appear among the answer choices. Just the same, it is a good
starting point to arrive at the correct answer.
Tactic 4. Look at the answer choices to figure out the main word’s
part of speech. Words often exist in several forms. The college entrance
tests play on this confusion in testing your verbal ability. When you look
at a particular capitalized word, you may not know whether you are
dealing with a noun, a verb, or an adjective. What part of speech is it? If
you suspect that a capitalized word may have more than one part of
speech, don’t worry. In most vocabulary questions, all the answer choices
belong to the same part of speech. So look quickly at the answer choices
and see what part of speech they belong to. That part of speech will be the
capitalized word’s part of speech. In some cases, though, the answer
choices might belong to different parts of speech. Well and good! In such
cases, you can eliminate choices that don’t belong to the same part of
speech as the capitalized word.
Tactic 5. In analyzing an unfamiliar word, try changing its part of
speech. When you come up against an unfamiliar word, see whether it
looks more familiar if you change its part of speech. You can sometimes
use what you know to help you figure out what you don’t know.
Tactic 6. Consider secondary meanings of the capitalized word as

well as its primary meaning. If none of the answer choices seems right to
you, take another look at the capitalized word. It may have more than one
meaning. Test makers often construct questions that make use of
secondary, less well-known meanings of deceptively familiar words.
Tactic 7. Watch out for errors caused by eye-catchers and ear-

catchers. When you look at answer choices, do you find that certain ones
seem to leap right off the page? These are eye-catchers, words that
somehow remind you of the capitalized word. They’re related in a way;
they feel as if they belong to the same set of words, the same semantic field.
Or some choices may have a familiar ring—the “sounds like …” sort of
thing. But beware! You might fall for an answer choice set up to tempt the
unwary into guessing wrong.
Tactic 8. Break down unfamiliar words into recognizable parts.

When you come upon a totally unfamiliar word, don’t give up right away.
Break it down and see if you recognize any of its parts. Pay particular
attention to prefixes, infixes, and suffixes—word parts added to the
beginning, the middle, and the end of a word, respectively—and to roots,
the building blocks of a language. More than half of the words in the
English language are derived from Latin and Greek. If you have studied
Latin or Greek, you have a built-in advantage when you take standard
vocabulary tests. Knowing Latin and Greek word parts helps you figure
out the meanings of new words you come across in English. But how about
Filipino? The Filipino language contains a slew of Hispanisms. To the
extent that Filipino has loaned words from Spanish, a daughter language of
Latin, it is still possible to use one’s knowledge of Latin to get a handle of
the meaning of Filipino words. As for the rest, familiarity with Filipino
root words and affixes should help.
Tactic 9. When stumped, try working backwards; think of

antonyms (or synonyms, as the case may be) for each answer choice.
Suppose you haven’t a clue what the capitalized word means. You still
have a chance to get the right answer by looking over the answer choices
and using them to jog your memory. Eliminate unlikely answer choices
along the way.
Tactic 10. Read all the choices before you decide which is best. On
the test, you are working under time pressure. You may be tempted to
mark down the first answer that feels right and ignore the other choices
given. Don’t! Consider each answer. Only in this way can you be sure to
distinguish between two close answers and come up with the best answer
for the question.
Long-Range Strategies
Read … Read … Read …
The key to building a strong working vocabulary can be summed up

in one word: Read! Read widely, read deeply, read daily. If you do, your
vocabulary will grow. If you don’t, it won’t.
Reading widely, however, may not always help you remember the
words you read. You may have the words in your passive vocabulary and
be able to recognize them when you see them in a context. Yet, you may be
unable to define them clearly or think of synonyms or antonyms for them.
Moreover, unless you have already begun to upgrade your reading to the
college level, reading widely also may not acquaint you most efficiently
with college-level words.
To upgrade your vocabulary to college level, use the vocabulary and

word parts list in the LIBRARY SECTION of this manual. They are excellent
vocabulary-building tools.
The Basic Word List
The word lists (LIBRARY SECTION/ENGLISH) are arranged in strict

alphabetical order. In each word list, High-Frequency Words are marked
with a square bullet (■). Look over these words in the 3,500 Basic Word
List and check off those you think you know. Pay particular attention to
the words you thought you knew.
Create flash cards for the words you want to master. Work up
memory tricks to help yourself remember them. Classic memory aids like
“sounds like …”, mind pictures, and cue words can help you build strong
associations between unfamiliar vocabulary and things you already know.
At least once a day, take the test that follows each list after you’ve
studied the words. In this way, you will be able to check your ability to
remember what you’ve studied. If you can answer 10 of the 15 questions
in the test, you may proceed to the next list; otherwise, restudy the list.
The Basic Word Parts
You can also build your vocabulary by mastering the Basic Word
Parts—prefixes, roots or stems, and suffixes (LIBRARY
SECTION/ENGLISH). Learning these word parts will help you unlock the
meaning of thousands of unfamiliar words you are likely to encounter in
your readings and in the college entrance tests.
Each entry in the basic word parts is accompanied by a number of

illustrations. Try to add your own illustrations, particularly to the roots or
stems list, using words from your working vocabulary. This way, you are
able to build up families of related words, which will later on help you
make the necessary associations to recall their meanings.
The Word Families List
The Word Families List (LIBRARY SECTION/ENGLISH) puts together

words that are related, one way or another, much like what a thesaurus
does. Instead of learning these words singly, it is better to learn them
together as a family. In this way, you get them at a bargain—many words
for the price of one clue.
The Filipino Word List
The Filipino Word List (LIBRARY SECTION/FILIPINO) is a

compilation of elegant words found in Filipino Literature, Academic
Papers, and College Entrance Test Reviewers. Unlike the English
compilation, this list does not constitute a Basic Word List. Just the same,
it pays to learn the words included in this list not only as a preparation for
the College Entrance Tests, but also as a way of upgrading your vocabulary
for writing college level papers.

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CHAPTER 1—THE ANTONYM/SYNONYM QUESTION

Antonym questions (opposite meaning) and synonym questions

Tactic 1. If you don’t recognize the capitalized word right away,

Tactic 2. Use a word’s positive or negative connotation to help

Tactic 3. Before you look at the choices, think of antonyms (or

Tactic 6. Consider secondary meanings of the capitalized word as

Tactic 7. Watch out for errors caused by eye-catchers and ear-

Tactic 8. Break down unfamiliar words into recognizable parts.

Tactic 9. When stumped, try working backwards; think of

Read … Read … Read …

The key to building a strong working vocabulary can be summed up

To upgrade your vocabulary to college level, use the vocabulary and

The Basic Word List

The word lists (LIBRARY SECTION/ENGLISH) are arranged in strict

Each entry in the basic word parts is accompanied by a number of

The Word Families List

The Word Families List (LIBRARY SECTION/ENGLISH) puts together

The Filipino Word List

The Filipino Word List (LIBRARY SECTION/FILIPINO) is a

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