Before you consider any answer choice, determine what kind of word each blank needs — positive or negative, and how it relates logically to the rest of the sentence. Every GRE sentence is held together by signal words that tell you whether the blank continues an idea, reverses it, or results from it.
| Relationship | Signal words | What the blank does |
|---|---|---|
| Continuation | and, indeed, moreover, in fact, similarly, ; (semicolon) | Extends or restates a nearby idea — the blank matches the surrounding tone |
| Contrast | although, but, yet, however, despite, far from, rather than, on the contrary, paradoxically | Reverses a nearby idea — the blank opposes the surrounding tone |
| Cause / effect | thus, because, since, consequently, therefore, so, as a result | The blank is the logical product of a stated cause |
Example of continuation (semicolon):
The report was admirably ______; it stated its conclusions plainly and wasted not a single word.
The semicolon signals continuation. "Stated its conclusions plainly … not a single word" defines the blank: concise (perhaps succinct or laconic). Predict "brief and clear" before looking.
Example of contrast ("although"):
Although her colleagues found the proposal ______, the director praised it as the most original idea she had seen in years.
"Although" reverses the two halves. If the director found it original, the colleagues found it the opposite: unoriginal (perhaps derivative or hackneyed).
On two- and three-blank questions, the blanks are interdependent — but they are rarely equally constrained. One blank almost always has a stronger context clue than the others. Attack that one first, lock it in, and use it to constrain the rest.
The scientist's public persona was one of serene confidence, but her private notebooks reveal a mind riddled with (i)______ — she second-guessed even her most celebrated results, treating each success as a (ii)______ awaiting refutation.
Start with blank (ii): "second-guessed … each success … awaiting refutation" tells you a success is treated as something merely tentative or provisional — a conjecture or hypothesis. That locks the theme as doubt. Now blank (i) must name what the mind is "riddled with": misgivings or self-doubt (perhaps diffidence or qualms). Because you solved the strongly-cued blank first, the weaker one falls into place.
A wrong choice often fits the clause it sits in but contradicts the sentence as a whole. Always test against the entire passage, especially past the nearest comma or semicolon. If a word "sounds right" but you have not verified it against the controlling signal word, you have not finished the question.