Verbal Reasoning Letter Analogies
The SHARP method in under five minutes — one real question, solved step by step.
A Letter Analogy reads "DF is to GH as MO is to ?", with the alphabet printed above to help. You find the letters that complete the sentence: work out how the first pair turns into the second, then do the same to the third pair.
The letters aren't there to spell words. This is counting. And a pair is two problems, not one: the two letters usually move by different amounts.
The video above and the worked example below take apart the same question. One thing is different: the video shows the five options in another order, so the answer, PQ, is lettered E in the video and may carry a different letter here. Same pair, different place in the line-up.
The method
Five steps: split it, hop-count each one, ask if it makes sense, run it on the third pair, prove both letters — and their first letters spell SHARP.
- Step 1 of 5
Split it
Picture the first letters on one line and the second letters underneath. Now each line is one job. - Step 2 of 5
Hop-count each one
Count each letter on its own, along the printed alphabet. Find the start letter, and don't count it: count only the letters you land on. Note which way it goes: on is plus, back is minus. Then start again from nothing for the second letters. - Step 3 of 5
Ask if it makes sense
Small jumps? Carry on. A jump of more than half the alphabet is the long way round. Count the other way instead, round the end: after Z comes A, and before A comes Z. - Step 4 of 5
Run it on the third pair
The first number on the first letter, the second number on the second letter, each the same way as before. - Step 5 of 5
Prove both letters
Check each one is right, and moved the right way. Half right is still wrong.
About 30 seconds each.
Rules to watch
- Two different numbers. In all seven of GL's practice questions, the two letters move by different amounts. In four, both go the same way, like plus three and plus two here. In three, one letter goes on while the other goes back. So never copy one letter's number onto the other.
Watch for these traps
We looked at all seven Letter Analogies questions in GL's practice papers, and at all 28 wrong answers.
- The right amount, the wrong way. It's the wrong answer you'll meet most often: 24 of GL's 28 move a letter the right number of places, but the wrong way. In CT is to GP as DM is to ?, the first letters go four on and the second letters go four back, so DM becomes HI. HQ gets the H. Q is four from M as well, but it's four on, not four back.
- Half right is still wrong. Half of GL's wrong answers get one letter right. In PB is to KG as YC is to ?, YC becomes TH. Every wrong answer, TG, SH, TI and UH, gets one of those letters right, but only TH gets both. Check both letters, every time.
- One letter out. Don't count the letter you start on. In nine of GL's wrong answers, a letter is one place out. In DG is to FH as MR is to ?, D to F is two: E is one, F is two. Count D as well and you'd get three, then land on PS, not OS.
- Run off the end? Loop round. Two of GL's seven need it, and so do some of our hardest practice questions. After Z comes A, and before A comes Z. In JR is to MP as XH is to ?, the first letters go three on. From X, Y is one, Z is two, and back round to A is three. The second letters go two back, so XH becomes AF.
Stuck? Count each hop again on the printed alphabet, one landing letter at a time, and check both letters. Never leave a blank.
Try these yourself
Now have a go yourself — tap the pair that completes the analogy.
Related
- The complete 11+ question-type guide
- VR: Letter Series — continue two letter strands running together
- VR: Letter Codes — letters standing in for each other, where every jump is counted on the same alphabet
- VR: Number Series — find the rule linking a row of numbers
All example questions come from the Brainblox question bank — practise this question type inside 25+ learning games, timed mock exams and focused practice. Brainblox is an independent app: not affiliated with, endorsed by or licensed by any exam board, school or assessment publisher, and it contains no past papers.