GED Language Arts Concept Review

Overview

This chapter covers the basic reading skills used with nonfiction: finding details the passage states outright, naming the main idea, summarizing, making inferences, and following sequence and cause and effect. GED Testing Service says about 75% of the passages on the test are informational texts, drawn from science, social studies, and workplace documents, so these skills come up again and again.

Start with what the text says directly. A stated detail can be found word for word or nearly word for word in the passage. The main idea is the point that covers the whole passage, not one interesting fact inside it. A good summary tells that main idea and the most important supporting points in a few words, without adding opinions.

An inference is a conclusion the passage supports but does not state outright. A good inference can be backed up by pointing to specific lines; if you need outside knowledge or a guess to defend it, it goes too far. Signal words help with structure: first, then, and after show sequence, while because, so, and as a result show cause and effect.

Workplace and community documents such as memos, notices, job postings, and letters often hide the answer in a rule's limits or exceptions. Watch for words like only, never, still, except, and not part of this change, because test questions often turn on them.

Overview

This chapter covers reading short fiction: understanding the setting, following the plot, figuring out what characters feel and want, and naming the theme. GED Testing Service says about 25% of RLA passages are literary texts, and the questions focus more on understanding characters, events, and theme than on naming literary terms.

Stories rarely say outright how a character feels. Instead, they show feelings through actions, words, and small physical details, like shaking hands or a long silence. To answer a character question, find the detail and ask what it shows. Compare how a character acts at the beginning and at the end to see how the character changes.

The theme is a message about life that the story shows, such as the value of working together. It is different from the plot, which is simply what happens. A good theme statement works as a general lesson that could fit other stories too. Small objects or gestures, like a shared drink or a jar of soil, often carry the story's meaning.

Overview

This chapter covers how words and organization shape meaning. You will practice finding the meaning of a word in context, telling apart words with similar meanings but different feelings, recognizing figurative language, naming an author's tone, and understanding how a sentence, paragraph, or transition word fits into the whole passage.

Many words have more than one meaning, and the test asks which meaning fits the sentence. Read the words around the target word and try each choice in its place. Words can also carry a feeling, called connotation: blunt and harsh both describe direct speech, but harsh sounds more negative. Replacing one word with another can change the tone of a whole sentence.

Figurative language says something in a non-literal way. A simile compares using like or as, a metaphor compares directly, and hyperbole exaggerates for effect. Tone is the author's attitude, shown through word choice; sarcasm, for example, says the opposite of what is meant in order to criticize.

Structure questions ask what job a part of the text does. Transition words are clues: however and still signal contrast, therefore and consequently signal a result, for example signals an example, and in addition adds a point. Whole passages also follow patterns, such as problem and solution, cause and effect, time order, or question and answer.

Overview

This chapter covers reading arguments with a critical eye. You will identify an author's purpose and point of view, separate the main claim from the evidence, judge whether evidence is relevant and strong enough, spot faulty reasoning, find unstated assumptions, and compare two texts or a text and a table. These skills are also the core of the GED essay, in which you decide which of two arguments is better supported.

An author's purpose is usually to inform, to persuade, or to entertain. In an argument, the claim is what the author wants you to believe, and evidence is the facts, data, examples, or expert findings offered to support it. Evidence that names a source, a number, or a specific case is stronger than vague statements like studies have shown.

Strong writers also answer the other side. A counterclaim is an opposing view; a writer may name it and then respond with reasons or evidence. Weak arguments often use faulty reasoning, such as the bandwagon appeal (everyone does it), a celebrity endorsement presented as proof, or a hasty generalization from one example.

Every argument rests on assumptions, ideas the author takes for granted without stating them. To weaken an argument, attack the link between the evidence and the claim; to strengthen it, support that link. When a text comes with a table or a second passage, ask whether the extra information supports, contradicts, or simply adds to the claim, and remember that a change happening at the same time does not prove one thing caused the other.

Overview

This chapter covers the grammar and usage rules tested in GED editing questions. In these questions, words or phrases inside a short workplace or community document appear in drop-down menus, and you choose the correct option. The rules include commonly confused words, subject-verb agreement, pronoun use, and formal usage. Keeping verb tenses consistent is also part of clear writing.

Confused words sound alike but mean different things: its and it's, their, there, and they're, affect and effect. A quick test is to expand a contraction: if it is (or it has) or they are does not fit the sentence, the contraction is wrong.

For subject-verb agreement, first find the real subject. Phrases between the subject and the verb, such as of safety rules or along with her assistants, do not change it. Words like each and one are singular, and with neither and nor the verb agrees with the nearer subject. The number of is singular, while a number of means many and is plural.

For pronouns, test the pronoun alone: Ms. Patel asked me, not asked I. Use object pronouns (me, him, them) after words like to and with. A pronoun must clearly point to one noun; if she could mean two people, replace it with the name. In formal writing, use standard forms such as try to instead of try and.

Overview

This chapter covers how sentences are built and how to make them clear. GED editing questions ask you to fix run-on sentences and fragments, move misplaced or dangling modifiers, keep lists parallel, join ideas with the right connecting word, cut wordiness, and pick transition words that fit the meaning.

A complete sentence has a subject and a verb and expresses a full thought. Two complete sentences joined with nothing between them form a run-on; joined with only a comma, they form a comma splice. Fix them with a period, a semicolon, or a comma plus a joining word such as and, but, or so. Words like however, otherwise, and then are not joining words, so a comma alone before them is not enough. A fragment, such as a clause that begins with because and stops, needs to be attached to a main clause.

A modifier is a word or phrase that describes something, and it should sit right next to what it describes. An opening phrase like walking into the office must be followed by the person who was walking. In a list, every item should take the same form, such as answers, schedules, and orders. When joining two ideas, choose a connector that matches the logic: although for contrast, because for cause, so for result. Finally, cut words that repeat an idea, like in my personal opinion, I think.

Overview

This chapter covers capital letters and punctuation in GED editing questions: capitalizing proper nouns and titles, using apostrophes to show ownership, placing commas in lists and around extra information, and choosing the right end marks, colons, and semicolons.

Capitalize the names of specific people, places, companies, schools, days, months, and languages, along with titles used as part of a name, such as Ms. Rivera. Do not capitalize general words like manager, office, or store, seasons like fall, or school subjects like biology unless they are languages, such as Spanish.

To show that one owner has something, add an apostrophe and s (the customer's order). For a plural that already ends in s, add only an apostrophe (the students' coats). For a plural that does not end in s, add an apostrophe and s (the children's party). Its, the possessive of it, never takes an apostrophe.

Use commas to separate three or more items in a list, after an introductory clause, and around extra information such as an appositive (Mr. Lopez, our new safety director, will lead) or a which clause (commas on both sides when it is in the middle of the sentence). A colon can introduce a list after a complete sentence. A semicolon joins two complete sentences, often before however. Questions end with a question mark.