Verbal Reasoning : Create a New Word (Type R)

The Create a New Word question type requires you to take letters from 2 separate words and use them to then create the new word. You will be provided with 2 groups of words and will have to create a rule based on what you see in Group 1 and then apply it to Group 2.

In Group 1 you will have 3 words, the middle word is a mix of the first and last words in the group. In order to create the middle word a rule has been followed.

Group 2 has only 2 words with a gap in the middle, you have to use the rule you work out from Group 1 and apply it to Group 2 in order to work out the middle word.

This question type is a bit more complex compared to the Form a New Word question type which just requires you to join or combine words together to get to an answer. Instead your focus will be split between the following objectives:

1. Reviewing the complete group (Group 1)
2. Establishing a rule as to how the middle word has been worked out
3. Applying that rule to Group 2

This is where your critical thinking and analysis skills come into play because the rule could be anything. You have to work through Group 1 systematically in order to breakdown or reverse-engineer what has already been done. Here are a few things to consider when reviewing Group 1:

• Letter position and movement
• Order of existing and new letters
• Carrying over or dropping of letters
• Focussing not on just the letter but the position

It is important to understand that to start thinking critically you really need to begin to understand the relationships between letters, positions and how things are moved or kept the same. By asking questions like this it will make it easier in discovering the rule but also stops you from falling in the trap of just looking at letters – which can be misleading and confusing.

Instead start looking at structure, form, combinations and pairs alongside letters to really begin to broaden your critical thinking skills. Here is a list of skills that will make answering this question type easier, remember without practise it is difficult to implement:

• Awareness of the English language but no need to be confident in definitions
• Working quickly under time pressure
• Ability to review new information
• Recognising rules and relationships from complete information
• Creation of rules based on the links and connections that you see
• Application of a rule to incomplete information
• Application of a rule to seemingly different information e.g. where word length is different
• Ability to look at structure, length, form, letters, positioning, order and movement
• Recognition of similarities and differences in words
• Trial and error skills
• Ability to openly consider and slowly eliminate possible answers

A question like this can become difficult very quickly so it is important to have a strong foundation in problem-solving skills. These skills will help carry you through the most confusing of questions. The more you look at the skills it becomes obvious that specific letters don’t matter in the big picture.

Instead you need to be able to piece a new word together based on placement, order and position whilst doing that all efficiently.

Remember to focus – focus on the letters that matter in Group 1 and ask yourself:

• How did they come to that arrangement?
• What moved and where in the new word did it move to?
• What changed and why?

What does the Create a New Word Question Type Look Like?

As you can see from the Gaggle example below the Create a New Word question type is in the following format:

• General example with instructions
• 2 groups of words
• Group 1 is complete – create your rule from here
• Group 2 is incomplete (missing middle word) – apply the rule here
• 1 mark per question
• Multiple choice options on the answer sheet

How do I answer this question?

The Create a New Word question type aims to test your critical thinking skills. This is about your thought process, how you see a question, break it down and recognise patterns and rules.

As mentioned before, having strong problem-solving skills will help you do much better, and with any question type, there is always a process you can learn, practise and follow which in most cases will lead you to the answer. So lets break down the process:

1. Identify Group 1 (complete set of 3 words) and then Group 2 (incomplete set of words)
2. Find the middle word which is the new word that has already been created with letters from the words on the left and the right
3. This is where you begin to create your rule(s)
   1. Look at the first letter in the Group 1 Middle Word – find it in either of the words on the left or the right
   2. Now write down the position of that letter e.g. is it the 3rd letter in the word on the left / right?
   3. If the letter exists in both left and right words – write both positions down and which side it is on e.g. left or right word
   4. Now go to the second letter in Group 1 Middle Word – find where that letter is in either left or right words and note its position
   5. Do the exact same process for the remaining letters of Group 1 Middle Word
4. Now you will have a list of possible positions for each letter in Group 1 Middle Word
5. Go to Group 2
6. Take your letter positions / rules and begin to pull them from each word on the left or the right of Group 2
7. Write down alternatives where it is unclear where the letter was taken from in Group 1
8. Go through each rule / position one by one in order, building the new word
9. Write out all the potential answers including the alternative solutions by mixing and matching letters
10. Check to see which potential answer makes sense

Working Example

Now that we have a process in place that we can follow lets apply it to an example and really test how it works:

Question 1.

ARISE (RAGE) GEARS

PASTE (____) MOANS

First of all I can tell Group 1 is this group because it has all the words:

ARISE (RAGE) GEARS

Now we know what the middle word is, lets break down the word and see where each letter comes from.

The first letter in the middle word is R. The word on the right has an R in Position 2 and the word on the left has R in Position 4.

The current rule will have to be that the first letter will be taken from Position 2 or Position 4 until we are sure which position it should be in.

The second letter in the word is A.

A is in Position 1 in the left word but Position 3 in the right word.

So the second letter rule is that it is taken from Position 1 from the word on the left OR Position 3 from the word on the right.

The third letter is G.

G is in Position 1 in the right word so the rule is that the third letter is taken from Position 1 in the right word.

Finally we have E, it is in Position 5 in the left word and Position 2 in the right word.

Lets compile all our possible rules:

1. The first letter will be taken from Position 2 on the left or Position 4 on the right until we are sure which position it should be in
2. The second letter will be taken from Position 1 in the left word or Position 3 in the right word
3. The third letter is taken from Position 1 in the right word
4. The fourth letter will be taken from Position 5 in the left word or Position 2 in the right word

Now that we have a set of position rules and have an understanding as to how to create the middle word, we can apply trial and error to Group 2 in order to find our answer. So lets do that, lets have a look at Group 2:

PASTE (__) MOANS

Lets go through and apply each rule one by one:

1. First letter is either A or N
2. Second letter is either P or A
3. Third letter is M
4. Fourth letter is either E or O

Now lets apply our problem solving skills by working out the alternative answers. We do this by mixing and matching letters:

1. APME
2. APMO
3. NPME
4. NPMO
5. NAME
6. NAMO

Straight away answer number 5 sticks out to us as it is the only real English word in the possible answers. So we can confidently say that the Middle Word for Group 2 using the rules from Group 1 is:

ANSWER : NAME