Usage of correct interjections in standardized exams like GRE TOEFL and GMAT   by Jagdish Khubchandani

Earlier I discussed prepositions and Idioms for standardized exams. In this article I will discuss a less important but unavoidable part of speech which you will see in abundance when you take your GRE / GMAT/ TOEFL. The sentence completion and reading comprehension questions which appear in the standardized exams require you to have a good knowledge of a variety of interjections. The problem here is that, you have a huge number of interjections in vogue but only a few will be tested. Lets see a few examples-

Ouch, that hurt!

Ouch, you stepped on my toe!

Oh no, I forgot that the exam was today.

Wow! That is a giant pumpkin!

Yippee! We won!

Whoa! Hold your horses!

Bravo, you did a great job!

Hey! Put that down!

I heard one guy say to another guy, "He has a new car, eh?"

I don't know about you but, good lord, I think taxes are too high!

For the first time when I was learning the concept of interjection usage, I could infer from my textbooks -

1. It's not wise to use interjections in professional, formal, academic texts.

2. Interjections are often used alone as a full sentence i.e. they stand by themselves, but they are a part of complex sentences used in routine conversations.

3. Interjections are words or phrases used to express sudden anger, joy or emotion of other kinds. They are used to exclaim or protest or command. They are used to react when events happen unexpectedly, painfully, surprisingly or in many other sudden ways.

4. It is not always correct to use an exclamatory sign for all interjections

5. If the emotion is powerful and solitary the interjection is mostly meaningful by itself and is to be followed with an exclamation mark.

*The most commonly used interjections in standardized exams are as follows -

oh

alas

ouch

Godspeed

we aye

aww

hey

yoo-hoo

Yuk

oh dear

Oh!

Gee!

Good grief

okey dokey

Ouch

ugh

wow

alas

eureka.

Uh

ouch

scat

Rah

Yay

Yikes

Ugh

come on

Ow

oops

Wow

Hurrah

Yippee

Shh

Mmm

ay

Tut-tut.

aye man

long time no see

my foot

Aha

aye

Woe

About the Author

Dr.Jagdish Khubchandani is A Research Assitant in the Department of Public Health at Western Kentucky University.He is the author of the famous Indian book "All In One- A comprehensive review of Internatioanl education and foreign exams". He has been nominated for inclusion in 2006 who's who international.