‘Magnify’ is related to ‘Expand’ in the same way as ‘Curtail’ is related to ‘________’.

Correct — A.
The trigger is that Magnify and Expand are synonyms — both mean to make something larger. The relation is sameness of meaning, not opposition.

Curtail means to cut short or reduce. Applying the same relation, its partner must be a word that also means to cut back or hold down.

Restrict — to keep within limits — is that word, so option (a) completes the analogy.

Why the others are wrong

• (b)
  Measure — Measure is what you do to find a quantity, not a way of reducing one. Magnify and Expand both change size, so the second pair has to as well.
• (c)
  Big — Big is an adjective naming a size. The given pair joins two verbs, and Curtail is a verb, so its partner must be one too.
• (d)
  Small — Small points in the right direction but is again an adjective, and it names a state rather than the act of cutting back. Curtail needs a verb such as Restrict.

A word analogy has two steps and candidates skip the first. Name the relation inside the given pair before you look at the blank.

The common relations are synonym, antonym, part to whole, worker to tool, and cause to effect. Here Magnify to Expand is plainly a synonym pair, which immediately kills any option chosen for being an opposite.

Part of speech is the second filter. If the given pair is verb to verb, the answer is a verb, and two of the options here fail on that ground alone.

Key facts

• Magnify and Expand are synonyms, both meaning to increase in size or extent.
• Curtail means to cut short or reduce.
• Restrict means to keep within limits.
• The given pair is verb to verb, so the answer has to be a verb.

Common traps

• Reading Magnify and Expand as opposites and picking Small
• Choosing a word with the right meaning but the wrong word class

No directly related past PYQ was found.