Word Usage and Word Swap
Two related question types: pick the sentence that uses a given word correctly, and spot the two words in a sentence that have been interchanged. Both turn on the exact sense of a word and the company it keeps.
What you will be able to do
- Test a word against each sentence for part of speech, exact sense and collocation.
- Separate commonly confused pairs by a one-line rule.
- Find the two swapped words in a sentence by locating the two clauses that read as nonsense.
- Confirm a swap by checking that exchanging the pair fixes both places at once.
What is inside this lesson
- 1The two formats
- 2Word usage: the check
- 3Pairs that are tested again and again
- 4Word swap: the check
- 5Worked example: one of each
- 6Common mistakes
- 7Quick revision
- 8Practice
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The two formats
Word usage. You are given a word and three or four sentences. Pick the sentence — sometimes the sentences — where the word is used correctly. The wrong sentences put the word in the wrong part of speech, the wrong sense, or a phrase it does not belong in.
Word swap. A sentence has two words that have been exchanged, so two places read oddly. Identify the pair. Putting them back in each other's positions must fix both places at once.
Both types reward knowing a word's exact meaning and the words it normally travels with.
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