‘Ample’ is related to ‘Abundant’ in the same way as ‘Substantial’ is related to ‘________’. (The words must be considered as meaningful English words and must not be related to each other based on the number of letters/number of consonants/vowels in the word.)

Correct — A. Rule: the model pair agrees — it is a synonym pair.

Ample and abundant both mean plentiful, more than enough. Nothing is reversed and nothing is graded; the two simply say the same thing.

Substantial means large in amount, size or importance. The word that agrees with it is considerable, which means notably large.

The blank therefore takes considerable, option (a).

Why the others are wrong

• (b)
  Venerable — Venerable means commanding respect because of age or dignity. It speaks to standing rather than to amount, so it cannot pair with substantial.
• (c)
  Meager — Meager means lacking in quantity or quality. That reverses substantial, and the model pair agrees rather than opposes.
• (d)
  Scarce — Scarce means in short supply and hard to find. Like meager it flips the sense, which ample and abundant never do.

Fix the direction from the model pair before you read the options at all.

Ample and abundant are near identical in meaning, so the relation is agreement. That immediately discards meager and scarce, which reverse the sense, and venerable, which changes the subject from quantity to esteem.

What remains is the word that means the same thing. Substantial and considerable both describe an amount big enough to matter.

The bracketed note rules out matching on letter counts or on vowels, so the decision here is purely a matter of meaning.

Key facts

• Ample and abundant both mean plentiful or more than enough.
• Substantial means of considerable importance, size or worth.
• Meager means lacking in quantity and scarce means in short supply, so both reverse the sense.
• Venerable means accorded great respect, usually on account of age.

Common traps

• Choosing venerable because it sounds as formal as substantial
• Assuming the model pair opposes without testing whether it agrees

No directly related past PYQ was found.