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Frugal : miserly :: ...

  1. confident : arrogant
  2. courageous : pugnacious
  3. famous : aggressive
  4. rash : foolhardy
  5. quiet : timid

Option 1 (A) was the answer. Can someone explain the logic ?

Andrew Leach
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shrey
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  • First look up the terms in a dictionary, you should then see a pattern. If you cannot, edit your answer, share your research, and users will be more inclined to answer. P.S Not my downvote, but my comment helps to explain it. – Mari-Lou A Aug 16 '15 at 21:19
  • You're in luck. Someone answered. – Mari-Lou A Aug 16 '15 at 21:21
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    @shrey ELU is not a test-answering service. Although you have hints here about how to work out this question, you must show your own working in future questions. – Andrew Leach Aug 16 '15 at 21:42
  • Frugal and miserly literally mean the same thing, however the connotation is different, good and bad respectively. Of all the answers only A has words that also literally mean the same thing with differing connotations. – candied_orange Aug 17 '15 at 00:02
  • "Frugal" is a quality, while "Miserly" is a vice, the 2 terms referering to expenses.

    "Confident" is a quality, while "arrogant" is a vice both refering to "self-confidence".

    In the other pairs, you can't find this quality/vice association. –

     – Graffito Aug 17 '15 at 08:36

1 Answers1

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YASGQ (Yet another stupid GRE question -- theirs, not yours).

Frugality is a desire not to waste money, and behavior that accords with this desire; penny pinching in a virtuous sense. Miserly is stingy, frugality taken to an extreme, a character flaw.

Famous is not a character trait and can be eliminated. Rash: foolhardy are synonyms, the latter not a more extreme version of the former, both flaws. Eliminated.

Quiet: timid would work. Confident: arrogant would work.

Is there any difference between the two?

It comes down to how we understand "quiet". Is it a virtue?

She's quiet but not timid.

She's confident but not arrogant.

TimR
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