{"id":10552,"date":"2017-08-17T14:33:10","date_gmt":"2017-08-17T14:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/?p=10552"},"modified":"2019-08-30T16:38:38","modified_gmt":"2019-08-30T16:38:38","slug":"multi-meaning-sentences-gre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/blog\/multi-meaning-sentences-gre\/","title":{"rendered":"Making the Most of Your Mnemonic: Multi-Meaning Sentences"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Manhattan<\/p>\n

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Why am I thinking about an old spiritual guru, sitting on top of a mountain, eating steaks? It\u2019s because I\u2019m trying to remember the word <\/span>rarefied<\/span><\/i>. Sure, there are more mundane ways to remember this word, but I have my reasons. Namely, I\u2019m trying to tie several meanings of \u201crarefied\u201d into a single mnemonic sentence.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cRarefy<\/a>\u201d<\/span> is a word that comes up in the first week of our GRE course. When students go to make their first batch of flash cards, they encounter a few words\u2014like rarefied\u2014that have multiple definitions. This one in particular encompasses about 5 distinct meanings. <\/span>\u201cRarefied<\/a>\u201d<\/span> can refer to \u201cthin\u201d or it can refer to \u201cexclusive.\u201d To rarefy can mean \u201cto purify,\u201d \u201cto make less dense,\u201d or \u201cspiritually refine.\u201d It\u2019s a peculiar word that many reach their adult life without ever learning. If you encounter it for the first time on a vocabulary list, it also bombards you with several hazily-connected definitions all at once. <\/span><\/p>\n

Do You Need to Know All the Definitions?<\/b><\/h4>\n

In the interest of saving time in the quest to master 1,000 vocabulary words, many students elect to choose one definition at the expense of the others. They <\/span>rarefy <\/span><\/i>the list of definitions a little, if you know what I mean. Surely, it\u2019s a good idea to snip off the extraneous definitions and focus only on the most common meaning, right? \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Think again. GRE vocabulary is somewhat <\/span>abstruse<\/span><\/a>, but the definitions tested are often even more <\/span>esoteric<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

This even goes for words you think you know well. I thought I knew the meaning of the word \u201c<\/span>bizarre<\/span><\/a>.\u201d I\u2019d always thought it meant \u201ca little quirky.\u201d In my own GRE study, though, I missed a Sentence Equivalence question because of this word. I failed to pair \u201cbizarre\u201d with \u201cgrotesque.\u201d Apparently, it had a second shade of meaning I\u2019d never even considered.<\/span><\/p>\n

The GRE is full of questions and multi-meaning sentences that test subtle or secondary meanings. You\u2019ve heard of \u201cmeeting\u201d someone, but have you heard of <\/span>\u201cmeet<\/a>\u201d<\/span> behavior? You\u2019ve heard of \u201cpiquing someone\u2019s interest,\u201d but have you heard of \u201cfeeling <\/span>piqued<\/a> a<\/span>t someone?\u201d These are words with multiple definitions\u2014and those definitions have been tested on past exams.<\/span><\/p>\n

Memorizing multiple definitions has its obvious advantages:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. You\u2019re more likely to be able to pair your vocabulary word in Sentence Equivalence.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. You\u2019re more likely to know the definition relevant to the blank you\u2019re filling in.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    But also\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

    3. Memorizing multiple definitions is easier than memorizing any single one.<\/p>\n

    I\u2019m aware that this is a strange claim, so allow me to clarify. Your memory works through networks. You can think of sentences, mnemonics, quizzing apps, doodles, and other vocabulary memorization techniques as little points that hook a word into your memory. If it\u2019s only hooked in at a single location, it\u2019s much more difficult for your frantic little neurons to call it to mind at the drop of a hat. The more \u201chooks\u201d the vocabulary word has, though, the more likely it is to be conjured from the depths of your memory when you need it most. For this reason, it can actually be easier to memorize all of the definitions of a word like \u201crarefy\u201d than to memorize only a single one.<\/span><\/p>\n

    A Few Examples of Multi-Meaning Sentences<\/b><\/h4>\n

    For familiar words, place emphasis on meanings you don\u2019t know, but tie those meanings into what you do know. This is particularly important if the meanings are obvious and easy. Take \u201c<\/span>precipitate<\/span><\/a>,\u201d for example. You may know that this word refers to wet stuff falling out of the sky\u2014snow, rain, and other such meteorological phenomena. Maybe you have even heard it used in chemistry class to refer to making solids come out of solutions. But \u201cprecipitate\u201d can also mean \u201cto cause\u201d or \u201cto hurl.\u201d It can even be used as an adjective: a \u201cprecipitate action\u201d is one done in a \u201chasty\u201d or \u201creckless\u201d way. These definitions would be very tough to memorize if you came up with distinct sentences to practice each one:<\/span><\/p>\n