Choosing One Element

Does anyone remember playing the association game as kids, where one person would speak out the name of a certain thing, and other children would have to keep up the chain by connecting dots by speaking out connected terms to the original word? The adult version of this game would be the Verbal analogy exercise used to test the knowledge of a person. 

While Choosing one Element of a Similarly related pair type questions are usually found in the competitive exams, the method is also widely used in the field of psychology where it is a part of an exercise used on the patients to help them cope and deal with issues that might be bothering them.

What is meant by questions where we are Choosing one Element of a Similarly related pair?

The verbal analogy method is very easy to understand. In these types of questions, the person attempting  is given a pair of words that are related to each other in some capacity. 

They might be attributes or characteristics of an object, measurement terms for fluids and solids or any such equation, and the person needs to understand the relationship shared by these two and then proceed to select from multiple choices provided the pair that share the same relationship as the two given words. 

In other words, it is the opposite of finding the odd one out and more like matching the following with their respective matches. Let’s take an in-depth look at the analogy questions and their use in our lives. All the necessary questions will be answered later in this article. 

Where do Choosing one Element of a Similarly related pair comes into use

Competitive exams and Psychology are two very different fields, and since the verbal analogy method is a mutual method used in both fields, here we will look at how their use differs in both segments. 

Competitive Exams 

Competitive exams are higher studies or branched subjects that are available to students across streams. Be it National or International level Olympiads at the school level or CFA, CS, UPSC exams, all of them are competitive exams that put people from all walks of life to the test. 

Since these exams carry the luxury of getting the person more than a decent job or a valuable certificate, the exams need to make sure that the person has good verbal skills along with other necessary skills required in their field, and so this is where Choosing one Element of a Similarly related pair type of questions to come into the picture.

Psychology

In mind therapy exercises, the verbal analogy is widely used in cases of personality delayed issues. The association game helps the doctor understand the patient’s thinking process and their idea of the world. 

The patient is given the word and told to reply with a word that would connect the dots for them, or they are asked to give a one-word characteristic of a one-word term that binds the two, and so the usage of this method is very different in the field of psychology than in exams, yet it remains equally useful and effective in both the cases.

A few examples of the Choosing one Element of a Similarly related pair type of question

Choosing one Element of a Similarly related pair example 1

• Ball: Sports:: Book:?

a) Studies

b) Hobby

c) Collecting

d) Reading

Choosing one Element of a Similarly related pair example 2

• Like pages to books, what is to a pen?

a) Cap

b) Ink

c) Nip

d) Grip

How can one become better at Choosing one Element of a Similarly related pair?

English is a very vast subject, and there are words that carry up to two to three meanings, and so the language can be confusing sometimes. But for the sake of answering such questions, the person needs to know the meaning of a lot of varied words because that can come handy in helping learn the relation between two given words and that can make solving the question easier. 

Thus, knowing tons of jargon and difficult words and understanding the many meanings that a word may carry are key to answering such kinds of questions.

Conclusion

Verbal analogies have been in use for quite a while now and have prominently been used in the competitive exams and field of Psychology. Being able to connect dots is the key to solving these questions. 

Choosing one Element of a Similarly related pair question may or may not be specifically about knowing English words and terms, but they always do have a common connection that the problem solver needs to identify before proceeding to find a similar kind of connection in the other pair of words. 

People can go to the internet and find such questions on various sites and take random tests to check their skills and test their knowledge. It really is great for mind exercise that can help keep the brain running and aware.