Verbal reasoning involves understanding the full meaning of words and drawing logical conclusions from sentences and paragraphs. It is important for accurately evaluating written information in work situations. Verbal ability tests also assess language mechanics such as spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
Verbal reasoning refers to how a person works with words to get their full meaning. A good aptitude in this area is demonstrated by the ability to draw reasonable conclusions from sentences and paragraphs. Often included in intelligence quotient (IQ) tests, verbal reasoning is also expected in some work situations to accurately evaluate and interpret written information.
For example, a doctor reading a chart of a patient’s symptoms and/or lab test results cannot simply jump to a conclusion about whether or not they have a certain condition or disease. All information must be analyzed and all missing information must be considered. One way that verbal reasoning tests help measure the candidate’s ability to determine the best logical possibility is by having them provide the missing word. For example, a question like “football is to feet what wave is to ______” might have word choices to choose from such as fingers, toes, hand, hands, arm, or arms.
The correct answer to the above, based on logical reasoning, is “hands” as they are the closest match to wave like feet are about to kick. “Hand” would not be correct since it is the singular choice that would correspond to “foot”, not the plural “feet”. The “fingers” are only a part of the hand and would correspond to the “fingers”, while the choice “arms” logically corresponds to “legs”.
Reading comprehension and critical thinking are both necessary for verbal reasoning. To get an accurate answer to a verbal reasoning test question, the reader must understand not only the main meaning of the sentence, but also the details. This type of reasoning should not be confused with general verbal ability, which is also tested in IQ and professional ability.
In addition to reading comprehension and reasoning, the general verbal ability test also includes the mechanics of language. Correct sentence structure, spelling, vocabulary, punctuation and grammar are tested. For example, the candidate may be given a paragraph of text not to analyze and interpret the meaning, but rather to add the correct punctuation. Another common method used in this type of test is to list different variations of how a word can look to make the candidate choose the correct spelling. Verbal ability test takers may also need to write sentences or paragraphs to demonstrate their use of linguistic mechanisms such as grammar, spelling, punctuation and vocabulary, although they may also need to do so in conjunction with a question designed to test reading comprehension.
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