Pop Quiz: Guess the Connotation
Pop Quiz!
Because the GRE is a computer-adaptive test, chances are you’re going to see words you don’t know. When that happens, one useful strategy is to try to ferret out whether the unknown words have positive or negative connotations. You can do this using roots, your knowledge of similar words in English or Romance languages, or just your “gut” feeling.
Decide whether each word is positive, negative, or neutral, then click “more.”
MERETRICIOUS
CROTCHETY
MAGNANIMOUS
CAJOLE
TERRIGENOUS
DULCET
MERETRICIOUS is negative.
CROTCHETY is negative.
MAGNANIMOUS is positive.
CAJOLE is negative.
TERRIGENOUS is neutral.
SONOROUS is positive.
DULCET is positive. If you’ve ever had dulce de leche, you could’ve guessed this one.
Using positive and negative connotations is, of course, a backup plan, but since you have to answer every question on the GRE (you’re not allowed to leave anything blank), even a gut feeling is better than nothing. Of course, the best thing is to learn a plethora of words!