11+ Verbal Reasoning  

This question type requires your child to know lots of four letter words. They will probably know most of these words and their meanings.

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In this question type you are asked to find a four letter word that is hidden in a sentence. The hidden word will be spread over two consecutive words. 

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Look at this example and then we can work our way through the question until we get the answer: -

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Find the four letter word that is hidden in this sentence.

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After the third time and fourth time he gave up.

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(For ease of learning we have marked the important parts of this explanation in RED.)

The new word is spread over two words that are next to each other in the sentence so the most letters that can be in one of the words is THREE and the least number of letters is ONE letter. The word will begin at the end of one word and finish at the start of the next word.

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To begin working out the answer we take the LAST THREE letters in the first word and the FIRST letter of the second word:-

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Af TER T he third time and fourth time he gave up. – No proper word has been created.

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Then we take the LAST TWO letters in the first word and the FIRST TWO letters of the second word:-

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Aft ER TH e third time and fourth time he gave up. – No proper word has been created.

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Then we take the LAST letter in the first word and the FIRST THREE letters of the second word:-

Afte R THE third time and fourth time he gave up. – No proper word has been created.

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We continue with this method, moving along the sentence from left to right, until we find the hidden four letter word.

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After the third ti ME AN d fourth time he gave up. – We have now found our hidden four letter word which is the word MEAN.

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THINGS TO LOOK OUT FOR!!!!

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• Make sure that your hidden word contains four letters and not fewer or more than four letters.
   

• Make sure that your hidden word is spread over two words that are next to each other (consecutive words).
   

• Make sure that your hidden word is a proper word and that it is spelt correctly.
   

• Make sure that you have not changed the order of the letters in the sentence in order to create your hidden word.
   

• Make sure that you work systemically from left to right across the sentence starting with three letters in the first word and one letter from the second word as in the example above.
   

• Avoid guessing the answer.
   

• Using this method you should be able to find the hidden four letter word.

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NB When you are completing a Verbal Reasoning test in Multiple-Choice format the correct answer will always be one of the choices that you are given on your answer sheet. If your answer does not match one of the answers that you are given then your answer is wrong.