HSPT Verbal : Cause and Effect

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for HSPT Verbal

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Example Questions

Example Question #95 : Analogies

"Camera" is to "images" as "microphone" is to __________.

Possible Answers:

sounds

music

programs

waves

recording

Correct answer:

sounds

Explanation:

A camera is said to “capture images.” The implication is that it takes pictures and stores them in some medium. For this reason, the implication of the analogy is that a microphone also captures something, namely sounds. While “waves” might be tempting, note that cameras also capture light waves. The analogy is speaking more of the representation that is recorded by the instrument—images, not merely waves. The waves could be recorded as a chart of scientific data if one so wished, and that would not be exactly the same as saying that an “image was captured.”

Example Question #96 : Analogies

Smugly is to smirk as exuberantly is to __________.

Possible Answers:

grin

amazing

energetic

maniacally

simper

Correct answer:

grin

Explanation:

When someone smirks, he or she smiles in a self-satisfied manner, generally because he or she is smug, that is, prideful in some accomplishment. The bridge sentence could be written, “As someone acting smugly would smirk, so would someone acting exuberantly X.” Exuberance is the state of having a great deal of energy, often in a cheerful manner. Such a state would likely lead one to grin.

Example Question #231 : Hspt Verbal Skills

Oscillating is to pendulum as swinging is to __________.

Possible Answers:

hinge

sway

alteration

flapping

tremble

Correct answer:

hinge

Explanation:

Something that is oscillating swings back and forth in a regular pattern. A pendulum does just this—as in the pendulum in a grandfather clock. The simple word “swinging” must therefore be paired with something that has a swinging movement (just as a pendulum has an oscillating movement). Among the options provided, only the word “hinge” denotes a “thing.” This alone weighs heavily in its favor. Likewise, the word does describe the small joint of a door that is the tiny origin of the swinging motion of the larger door surface.

Example Question #232 : Hspt Verbal Skills

Choose the word that best completes the comparison.

Advance is to forward as retreat is to __________.

Possible Answers:

defeat

soldiers

backwards

battle

victory

Correct answer:

backwards

Explanation:

One can "advance" in a "forward" direction, just as one can "retreat" in a "backwards" direction.

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