Determining Meaning from Type of Relationship - SSAT Middle Level Verbal

"Amity" is a word that means a feeling of friendship, so just as friends feel amity, we need to pick out a word that represents the people who might feel rivalry toward one another. While "competitors" and "teammates" are all words representing people, "competitors" is the best answer, because "competitor" is synonymous with rival, so competitors feel rivalry toward one another.

Because floods can be caused by too much rain, we're looking for a word that describes something that can be caused by too much heat. While "inundation" may look like a good answer, "inundation" is a noun meaning "flood," so it can't be the correct answer. "Fire" and "dry" may both look like good answers, but "dry" can't be the correct answer because it is an adjective and there were no adjectives in our model pair of words. Since too much heat can cause a fire, just like too much rain can cause a flood, "fire" is the correct answer.

Someone who is ill might sneeze, so we need to pick out another word that represents the state of someone who might snore. While "tired" and "sleeping" might both look like good options, one only snores if they are sleeping, not if they are tired, so "sleeping" is the correct answer.

If something is cluttered, someone might organize it, so we need to find another verb that describes something someone might do if something is ripped. "Mend" and "torn" are the only two answer choices that are present-tense verbs like "organize," so we need to pick between them. It doesn't make much sense to tear something that is already ripped, and if "tear" were the correct answer, we might expect our model words to have been something like "cluttered is to make messy" to convey that the verb needed to be something one would do to make the first adjective worse. However, since our model words were "cluttered is to organize" and you organize something to make it uncluttered, "mend" is the best answer, since you mend something torn to repair it.

Since "pacify" is a verb that means "to cause someone who is angry or upset to become calm or quiet," if you pacify someone, they become calm. So, we need to pick out a word that describes the emotional state of a person after they are provoked. While all of the answer choices represent emotional states, since "provoke" means "to cause a person or animal to become angry or violent," "angry" is the correct answer.

“Hush” is a verb that means “make (someone) be quiet or stop talking,” so if you hush someone, you want them to be quiet. So, we need to pick out an answer choice in which the first word is a verb that describes an action one would take if one wanted someone else to have the quality that the second word, an adjective, describes. While “sad is to depressed” and “cheer up is to happy” might each look like a potentially correct answer, “sad” is not a verb, and we need the first word to be a verb in the answer choice that we select. So, “sad is to depressed” cannot be the correct answer; however, when one cheers up someone, one expects that person to feel happy, just as when one hushes someone, one wants them to be quiet, so “cheer up is to happy” is the correct answer.

“Iterate” is a verb that means “perform or utter repeatedly,” and “redundant” an adjective that means either “not or no longer needed or useful,” or when referring to words or data, “able to be left out without loss of meaning.” So, if one iterates too much, one might be perceived as being redundant. So, we need to pick out an answer choice that describes how one might be perceived if one interrupts too much. “Interrupt” is a verb that means “stop the continuous progress” or “to stop someone speaking by saying or doing something.” So, one might logically be perceived as being “rude” (“offensively impolite or ill-mannered”) if one interrupts the conversations of others too much. So, because if one interrupts too much one might be perceived as rude, just as if iterates too much one might be perceived as redundant, “rude” is the correct answer.

When you are suffering with sickness you go to a doctor, so to solve this analogy you have to determine to whom you go when you are suffering from loneliness. The correct answer is “friend.” For clarification, "lonesome" means lonely; "defame" means speak negatively about, slander; "ecstatic" means very happy.

"Frostbite" is something negative that can afflict an individual in the height of "winter," so to solve this analogy, you have to determine which of the answer choices can afflict someone during "summer." The correct answer is “heatstroke.” For clarification, "saturated" means soaked, "emaciated" means very skinny and unhealthy, "whiplash" is a type of injury to the neck generally sustained in a car crash or some other collision, and "fortitude" means strength.

When you "accelerate," you go faster, and and when you "decelerate," you go slower. This question simply requires you to ignore the distracting references to words associated with acceleration and focus on the relationship between the four words.

The relationship in "evaporation is to sunlight" is effect to cause. Evaporation is caused by sunlight warming water. The best choice is "ring is to phonecall" as a phonecall will cause a telephone to ring. None of the other choices share this relationship of effect and cause and are inappropriate. One that might seem similar is "car is to drive", but this is not a cause and effect. "Driving" is what you do with a car. In other words, "driving" is the car's use.

A grimace is most similar to a frown, but indicates a high level of distaste or disgust. As one smiles or grins when he/she feels happiness, one might grimace when he/she feels disgust. Delight is another emotion that would be signaled facially with a grin. All the other emotions could be signaled with facial expressions, but they would not be a grimace.

"Molten" means turned into "liquid" using heat. So, to solve this analogy you need to determine what it is that "evaporation" does. The correct answer is that to be "evaporated" is to be turned into "gas" using heat. Additionally, "fluid" is another word for "liquid"; an "atom" is a basic unit of matter, what everything is made of.

It is a quality of "failure" that it is "displeasing" (upsetting, not pleasing). So, to solve this analogy you need to determine which of these is a quality of "affection" (love, fondness, caring and liking). The correct answer is that it would usually be "comforting."

The correct answer is "rain is to flooding."

This analogy shows a cause/effect relationship. Studying is the cause of being on the honor roll (effect). Rain is the cause of flooding (effect).

When one is delighted, he/she often revels, or acts in a merry way. The correct answer will demonstrate a similar relationship between mood and action. When one is "sullen," meaning sad and gloomy, he/she might often "broods," or agonizes.

Since "deciduous" is a word that describes certain kinds of trees, we need to pick out a word that describes certain kinds of house cats. While "feline" and "long-haired" both seem to be potentially correct answers, "feline" describes all cats, not just certain kinds, so it can't be the correct answer. "Long-haired" is the correct answer because just as certain trees are deciduous, certain cats are long-haired.

A pear is an example of a fruit, so we need to pick out another answer choice in which the first word is a category and the second word is an item that falls into that category. While" fruitful is to ineffective" may look like a good answer choice because it uses the word "fruitful" and our first set of words included the word "fruit," "fruitful" and "ineffective" are antonyms, not a category and an item in that category, so "fruitful is to ineffective" cannot be the correct answer. Similarly, "apple is to orchard" may also sound like a good answer because like "fruit is to pear," it mentions fruit; however, "apple is to orchard" represents an item and a place where it is produced, not a category and an item in that category, so "apple is to orchard" is not the correct answer either. However, in the answer "planet is to Mars," Mars is an example of a planet, just like a pear is an example of a fruit, so "planet is to Mars" is the correct answer.

Since an orchid is a kind of flower, we need to pick out an answer choice that describes what red is a kind of. While "red" might look like a good answer because "ruby" can refer to a color that is a deep shade of red, we're not looking for a pair of synonyms, but a category into which "ruby" falls. Since a ruby is a kind of gemstone, "gemstone" is the correct answer.

A pterodactyl is a kind of dinosaur, so we need to pick out an answer choice that consists of a kind of dessert. While both "water" and "brownie" may look like potentially correct answer choices because each can be consumed by humans, "brownie" is the correct answer, because while "water" is not a kind of a desert, "brownie" is.