Verbal analogies provide excellent training in seeing relationships between concepts. From a practical standpoint, verbal analogies always appear on standardized tests (like the SAT, the GRE, and other professional exams). Increasingly, too, employers may use these word comparisons on personnel and screening tests to determine an applicant’s quickness and verbal acuity. So it is worth your while to master this skill, and besides, they’re fun to do.

The student portion of the Web site contains three analogy exercises of varying levels. You can do them alone, either with or without a dictionary, or with friends. Before you begin, however, study the information on this page so that you see the many possible relationships suggested in each pair of words. If you wish to practice with other samples, your instructor can give you additional exercises on the instructor portion of this Web site.

How to "Read" Analogies

The symbol ( : ) means "is to" and the symbol ( : : ) means "as." Thus, the analogy, "aspirin : headache : : nap : fatigue," should be read "aspirin is to headache as nap is to fatigue." Stated another way, the relationship between aspirin and headache is the same as the relationship between nap and fatigue.

Tips for Doing Analogies

• Try to determine the relationship between the first pair of words.
• Eliminate any pairs in your answer choices that don’t have the same relationship.
• Try putting the first pair into a sentence: "Aspirin relieves a headache." Therefore, a nap relieves fatigue.
• Sometimes paying attention to the words’ parts of speech helps. For example "knife" (noun) : "cut" (verb) : : "pen" (also a noun) : "write" (also a verb).

Common Relationships Between Word Pairs

1.	Sameness (synonyms)	boring : monotonous
	wealthy : affluent : : indigent : poverty-stricken
2.	Oppositeness (antonyms)	genuine : phony
	zenith : nadir : : pinnacle : valley
3.	Classification Order (general - specific)	food : fruit : peach
	orange : fruit : : beet : vegetable
4.	Difference of Degree (or Connotative Values)	cool : cold : frozen
	slender : skinny
	clever : crafty : : modest : prim
5.	Person Related to Tool, Major Trait, Skill, or Interest	writer : novel
	entomologist : insects : : philosopher : ideas
6.	Part and Whole	wheels : bicycle
	eraser : pencil : : tooth : comb
7.	Steps in a Process	birth : life : death
	cooking : serving : : word processing : printing
8.	Cause and Effect (or Typical Result)	poison : death
	fire : scorch : : blizzard : freeze
9.	Thing and Its Function	shovel : dig
	scissors : cut : : pen : write
10.	Qualities or Characteristics	gold : valuable
	aluminum : lightweight : : thread : fragile
11.	Substance Related to End Product	cow : milk
	silk : scarf : : wool : sweater
12.	Implied Relationships	light : knowledge
	clouds : sun : : hypocrisy : truth
13.	Thing and What It Lacks	spinster : husband
	atheist : belief : : indigent : money
14.	Symbol and What It Represents	Uncle Sam : U. S.
	dove : peace : : four-leaf clover : luck