alt="Example"/> The CDC hasn’t been able to identify the pathogen that these people ingested before turning into zombies.
(A) person
(B) carrier
(C) event
(D) bacteria
Replace pathogen with person, carrier, event, and bacteria. (The word ingested is a big clue. The words person, carrier, and event just don’t make sense in the sentence.)
This strategy can work in conjunction with other strategies, too:
(A) helpful
(B) harmful
(C) erasing
(D) backward
Replace deleterious with each of the answer choices. Choice (B), harmful, is the only one that makes sense — especially because the sentence says, “Maria was worried,” which shows you that the correct answer won’t be something positive.
Say what? Parts of speech matter
When you see a Word Knowledge question that asks you to define a word in a sentence, you might be able to weed out one or two incorrect choices by knowing the parts of speech. Table 4-6 lists the eight parts of speech, notes what roles they play in sentences, and gives you some examples.
TABLE 4-6 Parts of Speech
| Part | Role | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | Names a person, place, thing, or idea | Mr. Hall, lawyer, United States, suffix |
| Verb | Expresses an action or state of being | to write, to read, to eat, to play, to be |
| Adjective | Describes a noun | green, sleepy, hungry, fast, beautiful |
| Adverb | Modifies a verb, adjective, or another adverb | tremendously, very, cautiously, dangerously, sneakily |
| Pronoun | Replaces a noun | he, she, they, it, this, I, you |
| Preposition | Relates a noun or pronoun to another word | in, on, around, after, under |
| Conjunction | Connects clauses to sentences | and, but, if |
| Interjection | Expresses emotions or feelings | cool, awesome, holy cow, uh-oh, eek |
Suffixes are usually only part of nouns, verbs, and adjectives. If the ASVAB asks you to define analogous, but you don’t know what it means, you can use your knowledge of the suffix to help you rule out answers that don’t make any sense. Because the suffix -ous typically modifies nouns and turns words into adjectives, you know that the correct answer probably won’t be a noun.
(A) inclusive.
(B) danger.
(C) write.
(D) comparable.
Of those answer choices, inclusive and comparable are the only adjectives. Danger is a noun, and write is a verb. You can rule out Choices (B) and (C) to make a more educated choice — and improve your chances of answering the question correctly — if you know that the suffix -ous usually refers to adjectives. Choice (D) is correct here; analogous means comparable in certain respects, especially when it clarifies the relationship between two things that are being compared (“The relationship between a drill sergeant and a new recruit is analogous to the relationship between a hungry fish and a worm on a hook”).
(A) succeed
(B) glowing
(C) reasonable
(D) life
The underlined word, viable, describes Cameron’s option; option is a noun in this sentence, so that makes viable an adjective. Look through the answer choices and figure out what part of speech each word is. Choice (A), succeed, is a verb because it describes an action (the action of succeeding). Choice (B), glowing, is an adjective because it modifies a noun (for example, “the glowing candle”), so that’s a possible answer. Choice (C), reasonable, is also an adjective because it modifies nouns (as in, “That’s a reasonable alternative”), so that’s another option. Choice (D), life, is a noun (and it wouldn’t make any sense in this sentence), so it’s off the table.
Choices (B) and (C) are the most likely of the four to be correct. If you haven’t tried it yet, replace viable with each choice. You’ll see that Choice (C), reasonable, makes the most sense in the sentence.
If all else fails, break your word
If you’re stumped on a Word Knowledge question, you can resort to breaking apart the word (read about that in “Deconstructing words” earlier in this chapter). Even taking off a prefix or suffix can point you in the right direction, especially if you’ve studied Tables 4-2 and 4-3 and the extensive lists in Appendix C.
Predict the meanings of these words to test your skills:
Desensitize
Decode
