Some sentence equivalence and text completion problems are almost too straightforward - we call these mirror problems. Mirror sentences have the second part of the sentence almost precisely mirroring the first part, just written slightly differently. For instance:
The company almost lost all sales during the pandemic: the virus had severely ____ business operations.
In the first half of the sentence, we see that sales decreased because of the pandemic. The second half states that the virus does something to business operations. Business operations mirrors sales, the pandemic mirrors the virus, and almost lost all mirrors severely ____.
Now that we understand the mirror structure, and keeping in mind that we’re looking for something matching almost lost all, can you figure out the answer?
The company almost lost all sales during the pandemic: the virus had severely ____ business operations.
A. propelled
B. decreased
C. rocketed
D. audited
E. published
Take a guess and check the spoiler!
If you chose decreased, then you would be correct!
The options propelled and rocketed are positive words, so those aren’t good choices - we’re looking for something negative.
The options audited and published could potentially make sense, but they don’t mirror the meaning of almost lost all.
The only remaining option is the correct one: decreased.
When you’re solving mirror questions, remember to look for matching similar and opposite words to help you imagine what could go in the blanks!