Two-Blank Sentence Completions

1) A Sample Sentence Completion

We'll use the following question to talk about Two-Blank Sentence Completion strategy:

Weighing over seventy tons, Brachiosaurus was ------- creature, yet its brain was quite -------.

1. an intelligent . . enormous
2. a gargantuan . . small
3. a minute . . tiny
4. a prodigious . . fossilized
5. an extinct . . extant

2) Six Steps to Successful Two-Blank Sentence Completions

1. Read the sentence all the way through. Don't just stop at the blank and start looking for the answer.
2. Diagram the main ideas of the sentence.
   • Underline the key to the sentence.
     It will be about half of the sentence and will indicate what type of word you need for one of the blanks.
     What is the key to the practice question above?
   • Circle any change-up words.
     Change-ups are words like but, however, although, even though, or yet. They change the definition of the sentence.
     What are the change up words in the practice question above?
3. Make up your own word or concept for only one of the blanks. Don't try to do both blanks at once. First work with the blank that you know more about.
   • Which blank would you start with on the question above?
   • What word would you make up for that blank?
4. Eliminate any answers that don't work for the one blank you chose to work with.
   • Which answers definitely don't work?
5. Plug in the answers that are left over.
6. Choose the best answer. Remember the dictionary!

3) You can only deal with what you know

It's not worth your time to think about answers that you don't know. Don't eliminate words you don't know. But don't make up definitions for words you don't know either.

4) What would Merriam Webster Do?

The dictionary definition of the right answer must fit the sentence exactly. It's not enough to think that an answer might fit or could fit. You cannot envision a scenario in which the word would fit. The right answer's definition either works for the sentence 100% or not at all! Ask yourself the hard question - "Is this word right or not?"

5) Pay attention to punctuation

Marks of punctuation break up the logic of a sentence. Take note of any punctuation (commas, colons, and semi-colons) in the sentence, because the important information is probably nearby. If there is a colon or semi-colon in the sentence, the key will come after it every time.

6) Relationship-Based Sentence Completions

Some sentence completion questions won't have a very good clue for either blank, but the relationship between the blanks will be all you need to get the right answer.

For every two-blanker, ask this question: are the blanks similar to or different from each other?
If there is a change-up (but, however, etc.) between the blanks they're probably opposites.
If there is a word like and, even, or because between the blanks, they're probably more similar than different.

Practice: Try the following questions

Since the mid-eighteenth century, there has been much ------- between the cultures of France and Germany despite the frequent ------- between those two countries.

1. communication . . alliances
2. hatred . . opposition
3. interaction . . enmity
4. antagonism . . misunderstanding
5. hostility . . alienation

In order to answer this question, ask yourself:

1. What is the relationship between the two blanks in the sentence: similar or different?
2. Which answer choices have the wrong relationship? Cross these off!
3. What's left over?