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Unit 09
Closest in Meaning (Restatement)
questions 68–71
What These Questions Test
You must find the sentence that expresses the same meaning as the given sentence using different words or structures. These questions test your knowledge of paraphrasing: equivalent structures, synonyms and the exact degree of meaning (certain vs. possible, all vs. most).
Equivalent Structures
| Original | Same meaning |
|---|---|
| Hardly anyone came. | Very few people came. |
| It is unlikely that he will win. | He probably won't win. |
| No sooner had I arrived than it started to rain. | As soon as I arrived, it started to rain. |
| The box was too heavy to lift. | The box was so heavy that nobody could lift it. |
| The new model is not as fast as the old one. | The new model is slower than the old one. |
| It took me two hours to finish. | I spent two hours finishing it. |
| Had I known, I would have helped. | I didn't help because I didn't know. |
| Unless you hurry, you'll miss the bus. | If you don't hurry, you'll miss the bus. |
Common Traps
- Degree of certainty: certain ≠ likely ≠ possible.
- Quantity: most ≠ all; few (az) ≠ a few (birkaç).
- Reversed cause and effect or reversed comparison (A is bigger than B → B is bigger than A).
- Changed time: a finished action (took three years) is not the same as an unfinished one (has been doing for three years).