Verbal Reasoning 11+
A typical Verbal reasoning tests a child’s English language skills usually in 50 minutes test. The test may include questions on:
- Based on A comprehension exercise of a two-page piece of prose (18).
- Meaning of vocabulary words (4)
- To identify the grammatical type of words used – nouns, verbs, prepositions etc. (3)
- To identify spelling errors in sentences (8)
- To identify errors in the use of capital letters and punctuation (8)
- To choose the best word from a list to complete a sentence (8)
Other types of paper usually feature some (or all) of the following tasks:
- Ordering words to make a sentence
- Punctuating sentences with capital letters, full stops and question marks
- Placing words in alphabetical order
- Use of capital letters, full stops & question marks
- The odd words out
- Opposites
- Rhyming words
- Ordering sentences to make a story
- Simple compound words
- A ‘Cloze’ exercise, requiring the child to fill the gaps in a sentence
- Write an essay/short story within a limited time frame
| TYPES OF VERBAL REASONING 11 + | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TYPES | QUESTION TYPE | ILLUSTRATION | EXAMPLE | ANSWER |
Type:1 | INSERT A LETTER | In these questions the same letter must fit into both sets of brackets, to complete the word in front of the brackets and begin the word after the brackets. | Choose the correct missing letter tea (?) ill fil (?) alt | M |
| Type:2 | RELATED WORDS | Related words are about finding a match by using the alphabet. You need to work out a different code for each question. Sometimes you will have to find a match for a word by moving forward a number of spaces in the alphabet, and sometimes by moving backward | A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z . If the code for CHUM is CLUQ, what does FESX mean? | FAST |
| Type:3 | WORD-LETTER CODES | sort out the list of words into alphabetical order by inserting your Answer . | ||
| Type:4 | CLOSEST MEANING | Find 2 words, from the given group of 5words that are the CLOSEST in meaning. | pup, baby, caterpillar, cub, young | |
Type:5 | HIDDEN WORD | a FOUR letter word is hidden between two words. The two words will always be next to each other. Find the pair of words and select the correct answer | My father drinks too much coffee. | fatHER Drinks |
| Type:6 | MISSING WORD | Add the missing letters to the word in order for it to make sense. The word in capitals has had THREE consecutive letters removed. Without changing the order of these letters they will make one correctly spelled word. The sentence must make sense. | Find the three letters that have been removed from the word in capitals below. If the missing letters are put back into the word, the sentence will make sense. She WED the windows each Saturday. | ASH |
| Type:7 | LETTERS FOR NUMBERS | letters stand for numbers. Work out the correct answer to each sum and choose the correct answer. | What is the answer to the sum, written as a letter? B = 6, C = 12, R = 18, V = 2 C x V - B = | R |
| Type:8 | 08 – MOVE A LETTER | Move a letter to make two new words. one letter from the word on the left can be moved to the word on the right, to make TWO new words. The letters must not be rearranged | Which letter from the word on the left can be moved to the word on the right, to make TWO new words? The letters must not be rearranged. string, camp | r; sting, cRamp |
| Type:9 | 09 – LETTER SERIES | you will be given a sequence of letters and you have to find the next group in the series. There will always be two letters in the pattern, and always five sets of two letters in the question. : Deal with letters separately – the pattern is rarely dependent on seeing the two letters of the pairs together. Deal with the first letters of the pairs and find their connection. Afterwards, look for the connection between the second letters of each pair. | A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z. Find the next letters in the series. AB EG IL MQ (?) | Firstly we should have a look at the first letters in the pairs. :A E I M (?)(+4 movement).The second letters in each pair form the following sequence: From B to G is +5. From G to F is -1. From F to K is +5 again. |
Type:10  | 10 – WORD CONNECTIONS | Words can be connected : might be two opposites, two synonyms, or two words that share another characteristic-nouns, or verbs etc , you have to find TWO words, ONE from each set in brackets that will complete the sentence in the most sensible way. | Find TWO words, ONE from each set in brackets below that will complete the sentence in the most sensible way. Ugly is to (beautiful pretty attractive) as old is to (young aged ancient). | beautiful young 4, 16, 5, 25, 6, (?) |
| Type:11 | 11 – NUMBER SERIES | below? Replace the question mark with a number and select the correct answer from the four choices available. ? | ||
| Type:12 | 12 – COMPOUND WORDS | To find one word from each group of words in brackets that together makes one correctly spelled compund word. | (book band brick) (mink main mark) | book mark |
| Type:13 | 13 – MAKE A WORD | To make a word, you'll be doing some counting, you have to find the word that completes group b. in the same way as the word in brackets completes group a You will find a pattern between the two words in the first group, like the 1st letter from the 1st word being followed by the same numbered letter from the 2nd word.. | Find the word that completes group b. in the SAME way as the word in brackets completes group a. a. quad (quit) bite b. spun (?) redo | sped |
| Type:14 | LETTER CONNECTIONS | you will be given three pairs of letters. You have to find the relationship between the first two pairs to work out the fourth pair. | A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z NN is to HO as JM is to ? | DN |
Type:15 | READING INFORMATION | Reading information questions are like riddles to solve . Read the following statement, then choose the correct answer | Read the following statement, then choose the correct answer from the four choices available. It takes James half as long to cycle to the shops as it takes Jessica. Taylor takes 2 minutes less than Ling. Ling takes 4 minutes longer than Jessica to get there. Jessica takes 6 minutes to get from her house to the shops. All the children leave their homes at the same time. Using this information decide which of the following statements is true. | Ling arrives last |
| Type:16 | OPPOSITE MEANING (ANTONYMS) | Opposite Meaning requires you to find the difference between words.you have to find TWO words, one from each group, that are the most OPPOSITE in meaning | Choose the pair of words which are MOST opposite to each other, taking one word from each group of three. (noticeable perhaps evident) is MOST opposite to (visible present unclear) | evident unclear |
| Type:17 | COMPLETE THE SUM | Find the number that will complete the sum correctly (using BIDMAS) | 56 x 2 = 127 - ? | 15 |
| Type:18 | RELATED NUMBERS | Related Numbers tests you on addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. the numbers in each group are related in the SAME way. Find the missing number[ ]. | Look at the relationship between the first and last number in each set of brackets, and use that relationship to find the missing number. Choose the correct answer from the four choices available. (81 [9] 9), (16 [4] 4), (27 [?] 9) | 3 |
| Type:19 | WORD-NUMBER CODES | Word-number codes will test you on matching letters to numbers. there are four words. Three of the words have been given a code. The codes are not written in the same order as the words. Work out the correct answers.A good way to work out these codes is to find two words which share the same letter, and then look for two number codes which share a number IN THE SAME POSITION AS THE SHARED LETTERS. | Look at the four words below. Three of the words have been given a code. The codes are not written in the same order as the words. Work out the answers and choose the correct answer from the four choices available. POUR RUDE TYPE DALE 1653 9761 5423 What is the code for ROPE? | 1973 |
Type:20 | COMPLETE THE WORD | The sentences contains a word from which a(3 letters) word is missing. | This process is far easier to deal with now that it's all been AUATED. | TOM |
| Type:21 | SAME MEANING [SYNONYMS] | you will find a word in CAPITALS and you need to select the Answer which offers a word with the same, or nearest, meaning. | Pick the Answer offering the closest meaning to the word in CAPITALS. Uncle Fred surely gets very BORED of sitting in committee meetings all day long. | Tired |
| Type:22 | MISSING LETTER | Write the missing letters in the brackets | A, Z, B, Y, C, ( ), ( ) | |
| Type:23 | Two Odd Ones Out | Find the two odd ones out that don't match with the others. three words are related, and two words do not belong with the others. Find the two words that do NOT go with these three and choose the correct one.The easiest way to do these quizzes is to look at the first word, and then compare the second. If they seem to go together, look at the third and compare it with the first two. If it doesn't match, go to the next word and compare it. | Choose the two words that do not belong in this group of five words: scarf, knot, necktie, hat, wear | knot, wear |
| Type:24 | A comprehension exercise | Read a passage answer the questions based on clues in the passage . | ||
Type:25 | A CLOZE vocabulary test | You will be given a passage of text with letters within words missing, the task is to use the context to find what the words are and fill in the missing letters. | ||
| Type:26 | A CLOZE use of English | You will be given a passage of text. In several places you will find a choice of three or four words to include. The task is to choose the correct one. (such as present/past/future tenses, common spelling mistakes, common mistakes made in use of English). | ||
| Type:27 | CLOZE synonyms / Antonyms | Choose the word closest /opposite in meaning & fill in the passage | ||
Type: 28  | Jumbled sentences / Anagrams / crosswords / core English issues | The words in sentences are mixed up and You could either be asked to order them correctly or you could be asked to identify one word which doesn’t belong in the sentence. |