The book is divided into four topics: Topic 1: Introduction to Reading Strategies This topic introduces readers to some common reading myths, such as "you always need a dictionary for ne
INTRODUCTION TO READING STRATEGIES
READING MYTHS
Facing increased workloads of reading course materials, you may have many reasons to find the job impossible Fortunately, many of the common beliefs about reading that terrify you are just not true Knowing the reading myths and understanding why they are wrong should be the first step closer to dealing with a large amount of reading with ease
Myth 1: You always have to read every word of a text
At beginner level, readers tend to read out loud every single word of a sentence, pondering the meaning of each word and determining what role it plays in the sentence structure However, once the readers proceed to the next level, reading on a word-by-word basis does more harm than good as it often slows down their reading speed or makes them stuck when encountering new words have a look at the following example to see whether you can understand the conveyed meaning in reduced versions of the original sentence
Original sentence: on where you live, you will not have the same health concerns as someone who lives in a different geographical
Reduced version 1: Depending where you live, you not have same health concerns someone who lives different geographical region
Reduced version 2: Depending where you live not same health concerns someone live different region
Reduced version 3: Depending where live not same health concerns
Figure 1.1: Example of understanding a sentence with several missing words
It is commonly known that in a sentence, besides content words which carry significant meaning of a sentence, there are also many function words that give readers limited or little information for their comprehension The more you practice, the more you realize that you can actually skip some words while you read without considerably affecting your comprehension In the example above, if you can basically understand the information communicated in the original sentence by paying attention to only the words in versions 1, 2 or 3, then why bother to read every word in the full sentence, right? Also, instead of spending ages scratching your head over what means (if it happens to be your unknown word), you can just ignore it and move on Being stuck with a new word is not worth it as you may have to give up on your reading eventually
Myth 2: You always have to go from the beginning to the end
Does this sound familiar to you? If you have never skipped any sentence of a paragraph, any paragraph of a passage or any page of a book when you read, we suggest you reconsider the pros and cons of that approach Whilst this ensures you never miss any information included in the text, you may be just wasting a great deal of time on the information you do not need In other words, being selective about which part of the text is worth reading can save you effort and time, especially if you are taking a timed test on reading comprehension
In order to do this, a good command of understanding about a organization, which will be presented in the next section of this unit, would be helpful For instance, if you read an argumentative essay, it is likely that you can find the position in the first and last paragraphs; if you read an email, the purpose of correspondence can be found at the beginning after the greeting; and if you want information on a cuisine in a travel book, the table of contents will tell you which chapter to read
In short, since different paragraphs in a passage and different chapters in a book give information on different main points, we should read only the relevant parts instead of taking the A-to-Z approach
Myth 3: You always need a dictionary for new words
Students often find that they can only read English comfortably with a dictionary within their reach When they encounter a new word, the first thing that springs to mind is looking it up in the dictionary However, little do they realize how relying on dictionaries may impede their reading fluency How can you read smoothly, easily and quickly while having to look up unfamiliar words all the time? As we have previously learned, sometimes ignoring some new words might not have a tremendous impact on your understanding as you may think
Another important reason for less dependence on dictionaries is that you can figure out an unfamiliar meaning using different techniques and strategies as you will be shown in Unit 2 The example below may give you the first glimpse into this approach
Example: The first thing they discovered is that music triggers the production of dopamine a chemical with a key role in setting moods by the neurons (nerve cells) in both the dorsal and ventral regions of the brain (Cambridge-ESOL, 2017)
Although there are many specialized words, it is totally possible for readers to make guesses about their meaning and get the general information contained in the sentence The definition of and are provided right after the words while and refer to different parts of the brain
Myth 4: Provided with a dictionary, you are supposed to read with ease
Another misconception concerning using dictionaries is that they can always help you with your reading comprehension In fact, you are possibly faced with the following problems when using a dictionary:
1 You do not get the exact meaning of a word as it may have various meanings and usages, so you have to decide which is the appropriate meaning depending on the particular context For instance, the word can be used as a noun, an adjective or a verb with different meanings Similarly, in the two simple examples below the word is used with different senses:
Example 1: Your essay is good but some sentences are too long and lengthy In this example, means group of words, usually containing a verb, that expresses a thought in the form of a statement, question, instruction, or exclamation and starts with a capital letter when (Walter, 2008)
Example 2: He is serving a life sentence for murder.This time, should be defined as punishment given by a judge in court to a person or organization after they have been found guilty of doing something (Walter, 2008)
2 You do not realize when you need to look up a whole phrase rather than a single word in that phrase This often happens when you encounter a new idiom or phrasal verb Take an arm and a or up as an example, hardly can you know what it means by considering the meanings of individual words separately It takes time before you learn to recognize such collocations and find out their meaning effortlessly by including the entire phrase at a time in the search box
3 It takes time for new words to officially enter the dictionary, which means not all new words used by native speakers in their everyday life can be looked up in dictionaries Every year we are seeing new terms referring to new concepts and ideas in the modern world such as or which eventually make their way to an established dictionary It was not until 2019 that the word was added to the Oxford English Dictionary (New Words List October 2019, 2019) while became a new sub-entry of it in 2022 (New Words List March 2022, 2022) after becoming ubiquitous expressions for a period of time This means the dictionary had scarcely been able to tell you what such words were in the previous years when you saw them in news articles
THE GENERAL READING STRATEGIES FOR A TEXT
What do you often do first when you read a new text? Do you go through the text very quickly to get an idea of what it is about or do you immediately dive into the first paragraph then move on to the next ones? Even though many of you would do the latter, the former is actually a better strategy The best thing about this strategy is it helps you get the organization of the text, which in turn allows better understanding of it Knowing how ideas in a text are organized also enables you to quickly locate the information you need The descriptions below of a typical structure of a paragraph, a passage, a chapter and a book would make this process easier for you
1.2.1.1 Getting the Big Picture of a Paragraph
There are three main types of sentences in a paragraph that you should be conscious of a Topic sentence
A topic sentence is one with a topic and a controlling idea, reflecting the main viewpoint which is presented and supported throughout the paragraph It can also be considered as a statement of the main notion of the whole paragraph The topic sentence can be found at the beginning of the paragraph, but sometimes it is also located at the end or in the middle b Supporting sentences
Supporting sentences are those that elaborate on the main idea given in the topic sentence by providing explanation, evidence, reasons, facts, quotations, statistics and/or examples To make the controlling idea fully developed and convincing, the author needs to support it with many supporting sentences c Concluding sentence
A concluding sentence is usually the last sentence of the paragraph, reminding the readers of the controlling idea and possibly making a relevant prediction or recommendation that might be connected with the next paragraph It is, however, worth noting that not all paragraphs include a concluding sentence
Below is an example of a typical paragraph with the introduced structure Nonetheless, there should be various modifications in the paragraphs you read throughout your academic life
Example: Managing a farm, including its workforce, is changing (Topic sentence) On the one hand, automation of existing processes and new technologies means that some workers will need to retrain or reskill as their jobs will become obsolete (Supporting sentence) On the other hand, as a farm increases capital per worker, particularly as many of the new technologies utilize automation, it is important to assess whether its employees have the right skills to fully take advantage of new technologies (Supporting sentence) Every job in the ecosystem is being redefined, and so are the skills and capabilities that are required to succeed in these professions (Concluding sentence) (Itzhaky, 2021)
1.2.1.2 Getting the Big Picture of a Reading Passage
A reading passage consists of many paragraphs on a general topic It is hard to identify exactly the pattern of organization in a passage because it varies significantly depending on the type of text (e.g narrative, descriptive or persuasive) and the style In general, there are four parts in a passage a Title
The title of the passage, if there is one, often summarizes what it is mainly about Sometimes the title is followed by a short text, offering a brief glance at what is ahead b Introduction
Normally, the first paragraph of a passage is its introduction This is the paragraph introducing the topic and also the main idea that the entire passage will revolve around It is possible sometimes that there is more than one paragraph making up the introduction c Body paragraphs
The paragraphs that follow the introduction are body paragraphs They give more arguments, explanations or descriptions for the given view on the topic presented earlier in the introduction Each paragraph with one main idea should play a role in the flow of ideas in the passage as a whole There are a wide array of patterns of organization for the body of the passage Some of them are listed below:
- Combination of different patterns d Concluding paragraph(s)
One or two paragraphs at the end of the passage can constitute the conclusion The concluding paragraph(s) may summarize the aforementioned main points and/or express some final thoughts on the topic
The example passage below is a typical one as described above taken from a test preparation book (Crosthwaite et al., 2017)
We have become so used to shopping in big supermarkets and chain stores, identical in every town, that we have forgotten about one important way to shop - markets Markets are found in every country in the world, but wherever you go they are different and reveal the local culture - and agriculture From farmers' markets selling fresh produce to craft and antique markets, they are the best place to find something unique at a great price
Food is at its cheapest and freshest in markets Farmers often sell direct to the consumer, without all the packaging, shipping and advertising that increases costs in shops and supermarkets You can often find unusual products and those that are not mass-produced Food markets vary hugely according to where they are in the world For example, the Kauppatori market in Helsinki, Finland sells moose, reindeer and bear salami Wherever you are, food will be locally produced and reasonably priced
Markets are also good places to buy clothes Some sell cheap new and second-hand clothes, while others specialise in vintage or ethically made clothes and original items The markets of London are some of the best in the world for those who want to create a unique look for themselves Many new designers start with a market stall, so if you are looking for a totally original item of clothing, you could get something really special at a bargain price at Brick Lane, Spitalfields or Portobello Road markets
Another type of market is a flea market This is a much more informal type of market, where second-hand products can be sold by anyone If you have unwanted items at home, you could take them to a flea market and sell them yourself There are also antiques and possibly local crafts at this kind of market In some parts of the world there may not even be stalls; rather, vendors lay out their goods on a sheet on the ground In other parts of the world, flea markets have developed into car boot sales, where people sell their unwanted items from their cars
In some places, markets are directed at visitors and tend to sell handicrafts typical of the region For many tourists, a visit to a nearby market to buy souvenirs is an important part of their holiday Guadalajara in Mexico has a huge range of traditional textiles, glassware, ceramics and art works and Seoul in Korea has some wonderful original designs of all kinds of products at affordable prices Countries in the Middle East usually have beautiful hand-made rugs and carpets, and Indian markets sell colourful handloom fabrics and beautiful silk scarves
MEANING OF WORDS
USING CONTEXT CLUES FOR UNFAMILIAR WORDS
Terminologies which are field-specific words or expressions used with particular meanings in a particular subject are unavoidable in certain types of text, especially in coursebooks used for teaching specialized knowledge at tertiary level Such words often look terrifying to students but not many of them know that their definitions can often be found nearby
Definition clue Synonym clue Antonym clue Example clue List or series Cause and effect clue General context of a sentence Clue from another sentence Prefixes
Example 1: In order to track temporal hours during the day, inventors created sundials, which indicate time by the length or direction of the shadow (Cambridge-ESOL, 2011, p 19)
It can be learned that are a type of device that can time by the length or direction of the Basically, the definition is given in the relative clause following the new word
Example 2: These made it possible for scientists to calculate that the creature was at least 90 metres in length The humerus (the bone of the upper arm), for example, is longer than an adult leg (Elliott et al., 2015, p 169)
In this example, is defined as bone of the upper
Example 3: Tyrannosaurus rex, the enormous meat-eating dinosaur, for example, seems to have got by with considerably fewer teeth (Elliott et al., 2015, p 169)
This time, the definition of is given between the commas Even though the words may sound complicated, they just refer to a species of dinosaur that eats meat
It can be seen from these examples that definitions or descriptions of unfamiliar words are provided in a relative clause, in parentheses or between two commas Besides, a dash or two dashes are also a common sign for definition clues
Sometimes, to help readers understand a new term easily, the author follows it with a synonym Similar to definition clues, synonym clues can often be found after a comma, a dash, in parentheses or in a relative clause However, unlike a definition clue, a synonym clue is shorter and more straightforward With synonym clues, the meaning of a new word is acquired through its more familiar equivalent(s)
Example 1: And what is the role of the shinbashira, the central pillar? The best way to understand the role is to watch a video made by Shuzo Ishida, a structural engineer at Kyoto Institute of Technology (Cambridge-ESOL, 2009, p 41) is simply central of a structure
Example 2: Orcas, also known as killer whales, are opportunistic feeders, which means they will take a variety of different prey species (Cambridge-ESOL, 2015, p 23)
Although and refer to the same species of animal, some readers may find more familiar, and hence, including this synonym after known would be definitely helpful
Unlike definition clues or synonym clues, antonym clues give us hints about a new meaning when we know the meaning of the opposite word or phrase What may signal antonym clues, also known as contrast clues, are words such as even the other or the
Example 1: An example of this is the Dodola, a for in the Balkans, which used to be widespread, but is now limited to the Roma (Crosthwaite et al.,
It can be inferred from the conjunction that what used to happen in the past should be very different now Hence, is highly likely to be an antonym of
Example 2: Only a few baby turtles survived; all the others died (Crosthwaite et al., 2017, p 146)
As you may guess, what happened to a few baby should be the opposite of what happened to the In other words, should mean the opposite of
It is also possible to determine an unfamiliar meaning by looking at the examples given to illustrate it In this case, words that signal the clue are those used to introduce an example such as or have a look at the example below:
Example: At degree level, companies have linked with universities to create specialised qualifications, such as the BA in Distribution run between Middlesex University and Asda Supermarket Such partnerships also exist at Masters and even doctorate level (Crosthwaite et al., 2017, p 48)
The example involves different educational levels, including and implying that holding some means having completed certain courses of study
When a new word is found in a list or series, it is easy to make guesses about its meaning based on the other word(s) in the same list Below is an example:
Example: A student can prepare for a career in resort management, engineering, interior design, accounting, music, law enforcement, you name it (Cambridge-ESOL,
A student may not understand what or exactly means, but he or she at least can figure out that it is a possible area for future career, similar to or
Basically, knowing only one word in the list is enough to have some understanding about the others
We learned that a meaning can be determined by contrasting it with a familiar in the case of antonym clues This section shows you that it is also feasible to learn a new meaning based on the cause and effect relationships The signal of context clues can be a or An example can be seen below:
Example: Too many people spend more than they can afford and go into debt as a result (Crosthwaite et al., 2018, 194)
With the context given, we know that is the result of people spending than they can and hence, understand roughly as the situation when one owes money that is not likely to be paid soon
It can be the case that you do not have any clear clue belonging to any of the types mentioned above, but you can still have a grasp of what a new term may refer to using the general sense of the sentence as well as your general knowledge and experience The example below taken from a text about business meetings illustrates this situation:
Example: Agendas can become overloaded and this can mean the time for constructive debate must necessarily be restricted in favour of getting through the business (Cambridge-ESOL, 2017, p 89)
Details such as and restricted for constructive suggest that mean things that need to be done and addressed in a limited amount of time This can be reaffirmed if the reader, with his general knowledge and experience, knows that in a meeting there is usually a list of things planned in advance to be discussed and implemented
Sometimes readers need to read across a few sentences, especially the preceding and following sentence(s), to have a better idea of what a new word or phrase means This illustrates the importance of being conscious of the connection between ideas in different sentences of a paragraph
ANALYSING WORD STRUCTURE FOR MEANING OF WORDS
Context clues are useful Yes, they are Unfortunately, they are not always available The good news, though, is we have another way to determine, or at least, make valuable guesses about the meaning of an unfamiliar word Instead of looking at the surrounding words, we can guess a new meaning by looking at the word itself, or to be more precise, we analyze its structure
An English word often consists of different parts combined, including a prefix, a root and a suffix These can be called morphemes, the smallest meaningful units of the language, with different origins such as Latin, Greek, Old English (Anglo-Saxon language) and Middle English (Word Morphology, n.d.) Interestingly, each part of a word often carries a certain meaning, which means by putting the meaning of each word part together we may figure out the meaning of the whole word take the word as an example:
Figure 2.2: An example of different word parts in a word
This means word structure analysis, together with context clues, can be a powerful tool for you to get the meaning of a new word They can be used separately or together while you read for the best result For a full list of word parts with their meanings, we suggest that you use the parts dictionary: Standard and reverse listings of prefixes, suffixes, roots and combining forms (3rd (Sheehan, 2021)
2.2.2 Using Word Structure for Meaning
2.2.2.1 Prefixes prefix is a syllable, group of syllables, or word united with or joined to the beginning of another word to alter its meaning or create a new (Sheehan,
Some common prefixes are presented below along with their meanings:
Prefix Meaning Example un-, non-, dis-, in-, im-, il-, ir- not / without / negative unrealistic, nonstop, dislike, inexpensive, impossible, illegal, irresponsible pro- forward / forth proceed, progress re- back / again / anew repeat, revisit sub- below / under subtitle, subway inter- between / among international, interpersonal tele- far / at a distance telecommunication, telesales trans- across / on the other side transfer, transmit pre- earlier / prior to / in front of prepare, precede mini- smaller/shorter than usual miniature, miniskirt mono- one / single / alone monotone, monoacid bi- having/every/using two bisexual, bilateral anti- against antibiotic, antivirus
Figure 2.3: Some prefixes with their meanings (Sheehan, 2021)
2.2.2.2 Root Words base is a stem or a root, a generally short letter combination that conveys a recurrent meaning all by itself without being involved in a compound word Prefixes and suffixes may be added to (Sheehan, 2021, p 3)
It would be worth noting that sometimes a part of the root is mistaken for a prefix For example, in should not be separated and misunderstood as the prefix of this word In fact, the whole word is one base word without a prefix In addition, the base word can be located at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of the word Many readers assume that the root must be in the middle, which is a misconception
Several common root words are given below along with their meanings:
Root Meaning Example dict say / speak / tell dictation, predict, contradiction tract pull / draw extract, attract, retraction authen credible / genuine authentic, authenticate pel push / drive propel, expel, repel init begin / enter initiate, initialize jud wisdom / law / justice judgement, judiciously perpet unceasing perpetual, perpetuate
Figure 2.4: Some root words with their meanings (Sheehan, 2021)
2.2.2.3 Suffixes suffix is a syllable, group of syllables, or word added at the end of a word or word base to change its meaning, give it grammatical form, or form a new
You may find some commonly used suffixes in English below together with their meanings:
-ness condition, quality of greatness, illness
-tion / -ation the act of, condition of being, the result of transition, position -ist practitioner, believer, person skilled in activist, scientist
-less without / lacking / incapable of being careless, cashless
-dom domain of, state of being freedom, kingdom
-ism doctrine, theory, principle of terrorism, perfectionism
Figure 2.5 Some suffixes with their meanings (Sheehan, 2021)
- It is impossible to avoid jargons or unfamiliar vocabulary when you read and you are not necessarily expected to know all of the words in a text in order to comprehend it
- Context clues (including definition clues, synonym clues, antonym clues, example clues, clues from a list or series, clues from the general sense of the sentence or another sentence) can be really helpful in determining a new meaning
- Understanding of English word structure can also give you hints about an unfamiliar meaning
- You can and you should combine different clues from the context and word structure to best figure out new meanings
Exercise 1 Determine or make guesses about the meaning of the underlined word(s) in each example below using different types of context clues Identify the context clue(s) that help(s) you
1 For an unusual holiday you can stay in an igloo, a house made of ice (Crosthwaite et al., 2017, p 26)
2 In California, in 2012, a BBC Planet Earth film crew filmed a group of humpback whales who were protecting migrating grey whales from attacks by orcas (killer whales) over a period of at least seven hours (Crosthwaite et al., 2017, p 147)
3 Then came the big day when they began to hatch, and the little hatchlings as the tiny baby turtles are called were ready to make their long trek to the water (Elliott et al., 2015, p 115)
4 Meanwhile, high amounts of sugar and sodium (one of the chemicals in salt and other ingredients of fast food) cause a huge surge in blood sugar, pushing it to unnatural levels (Crosthwaite et al., 2018, p 32)
5 This has given rise to a new form of superbacteria, a type which is able to fight off antibiotic treatment with ease (Crosthwaite et al., 2018, p 35)
6 Antibiotics are nowhere near as lucrative as the drugs that treat long-term disorders, such as diabetes or asthma (Crosthwaite et al., 2018, p 36)
7 In Asia, the Middle East, South America and Sub-Saharan Africa over 40% of children live in families with other adults such as aunts, uncles and grandparents in addition to their parents In South Africa, it is almost 70% On the other hand, in Europe, Australia and North America, less than 25% of children live in extended families (Crosthwaite et al., 2017, p 8)
8 The percentage of workers in energy companies plummeted by two thirds In contrast, the construction industry witnessed considerable growth by 30% over the period
9 Auroville aka City of claims on its website that it was planned and built to create the ultimate model of unity, peace and harmony that can be projected across all humanity (Crosthwaite et al., 2018, p 9)
10 What is rather more significant is the finding that the dopamine neurons in the caudate a region of the brain involved in learning stimulus-response associations, and in anticipating food and other stimuli were at their most active around 15 seconds before the favourite moments in the music (Cambridge-ESOL, 2017, p 66)
11 Elsa's mother was killed by a game warden, a person whose job was to protect wild animals (Crosthwaite et al., 2017, p 131)
12 Glass packaging is used for many products, many beverages are sold in glass, as are numerous foodstuffs, as well as medicines and cosmetics (Cambridge-ESOL,
13 A: having fried chicken and hamburgers for lunch Would you like to join us? B: Thanks but not really not really into processed foods and I would prefer something healthier today
TOPICS AND MAIN IDEAS
DISTINGUISH A TOPIC FROM A MAIN IDEA
A topic is known as a subject or a subject matter of a reading material It plays as a key for the most vital question: is this article/paragraph The appearance of a topic can be one word/phrase appearing throughout a text or a paragraph, or it may be more than one different word/phrase repeated all over an article
When you encounter any article or paragraph, you should ask yourself is it
In the paragraph above, you can easily find out is the answer since the word or appears several times in the entire paragraph, showing up at the first sentence to every sentence later in the section Additionally, every sentence spins around the topic to support and clarify the topic Therefore, as a reader we use these things as evidence to support our assumption about the topic
The first skateboard was created by a California surfer back in the 1950s He attached roller skate wheels to a piece of wood that resembled a small surfboard so that he could surf on land as well as on the ocean Since then, skateboarding has become a sport, an art form, and a speedy mode of transportation Today, many young people compete in skateboarding competitions, where they show off their skills and special tricks
Let's do a small practice of defining the topic of the paragraph below:
To an outsider, Istanbul may at first seem like a Western city The Western dress, the many new buildings, the traffic problems all make the city seem very modern But there is another side to this great city its rich past as the capital of the Ottoman Empire In the narrow back streets, the bazaars, and the mosques, this past seems very near and real And the spectacular mosques are evidence of the important role in history of Islam as well
What is the main idea?
The main idea is the so-called controlling idea or a central idea of a paragraph in which writers express their idea about the topic Unlike the topic, a main idea is written in a full sentence, including the topic and the chief point of the primary message, namely a - a statement sums up the main idea of a paragraph It can, thereby, form a formula for a topic sentence as follow:
Topic + main point = topic sentence
Below is an example indicating the difference between the topic and the main idea
People have always been interested in bees This interest may have begun with the honey bees make In fact, archaeologists have found evidence that people have been eating honey for many thousands of years In the more recent past, people were interested in the way bees made honey They admired the way bees seemed to work so hard Some languages even developed expressions about people working like bees In English, for example, we talk about a Now scientists have a new reason to be interested in bees They have discovered that bees are able to communicate with each other Research has revealed some surprising facts about this, but there are still many mysteries
As can be seen in the example, the topic is about and the main idea is interest in since the other following sentences clarify and bound back to the idea interest in If you reckoned the main idea relates to honey or/ and language used in expressing about bees, it would be good but not enough because they are just a part of the paragraph or in other words they do not fully state the expression Moreover, one thing you may notice here is that the first sentence is also the topic sentence since it inserts the topic and the main idea interest in at once
Here is a short paragraph for you to practice finding the topic and the main idea
Ask yourself: What is this paragraph about? What is the controlling idea of this paragraph?
HOW TO DETERMINE THE TOPIC
Figure 3.1 Strategies for determining the topic of a paragraph
Understanding ways to identify the topic of a paragraph is important Why? Because in some situations, you can catch the topic in just a glance; some, however, are hidden like a gem As mentioned earlier, the topic is the key subject; therefore, to know the topic of a paragraph is to answer the question is this paragraph or is this paragraph There are four strategies, in case you cannot easily answer these questions to search for the topic, presented in figure 1 that help you determine the topic of a paragraph
A heading or a title usually contains the keyword of the topic, and it gives a signal to readers of what the paragraph is about When you look at a paragraph, remember to look for the glue the writer provides you through headings or titles Let's take a look at the headings of paragraphs below, can you guess the topic?
Thomas Edison lived from 1847 to
1931 This American is considered by many the greatest inventor of all time
With only three months of formal schooling, Edison was able to patent more than 1,100 inventions He experimented in many fields and even predicted the use of atomic energy Among his incredible achievements, he is credited with changing the world forever by giving it the electric light He also invented one of the first successful motion picture devices, worked on the development of sound movies, and invented the phonograph, paving the way for the movies and music we enjoy today
Edison viewed his work not as genius but as tireless effort He defined genius as percent inspiration and 99 percent
Albert Einstein, a native of Germany but later an American citizen, lived from
1879 to 1955 He is considered one of the greatest scientists of all time As a youth he attended public school and then went on to study mathematics and physics at the Polytechnic Institute in Zurich, Switzerland After graduating in 1900, Einstein worked on several concepts as yet unknown to science He is best known by the public for his theory of relativity and his equation E=mcz, which became the cornerstone of the development of atomic energy This, and his other achievements, revolutionized the concepts of time, space, and matter
When it was suggested that only a handful of people in the world could understand and test his theory, Einstein insisted that anyone with a good grasp of higher mathematics could do so
Of the four strategies, the appearance of words in special print such as bold, italic or in different colours is not only to draw the attention to new concepts but also equip readers with hints to figure out the topic In the following paragraph you may notice some phrases printed in italic and bold types all this special printed aim for? Try to connect them to find out the topic of the paragraph It is about the Newbery Medal, it?
Perhaps you have read and enjoyed books such as Caddie Woodlawn, Island of the Blue Dolphins, and A Wrinkle in Time These, and others you may recognize, are among a select group of books to receive the prestigious honour known as the Newbery Medal The Newbery Medal is an award given to honour the most distinguished literature book published in the previous year by an American author It was first awarded in 1922 The award was established by Frederic Melcher, who at the time was chairman of the board of the publishers of the Library Journal and Weekly Melcher named the award after John Newbery, an 18th century English publisher and bookseller who is credited with being the first person to put literature in print
It is noteworthy as a matter of fact that not all of the words in special prints are connected to the topic Thus, you still need to read the whole paragraph to confirm what the paragraph refers to Here is a paragraph just in case you seek for more Can you guess the topic based on these hints? forget to read the whole passage to confirm your prediction
If you have ever walked along a rocky shoreline or a pier, you probably noticed a crusty looking coating on the rocks or wood of the pilings That is actually a congregation of animals called barnacles A barnacle is a small shellfish that, when it reaches adulthood, permanently attaches itself to some surface The only thing that moves for the rest of its life are its feathery tentacles, which it uses to draw in food Once attached, barnacles are practically impossible to remove They have been a nuisance to seamen since there have been ships A crust of barnacles can slow a ship down and affect its steering and machinery
It has been rightly said that repeated words or phrases in a paragraph relate certainly to the topic In the following paragraph, for instance, you may recognize the word appears in almost every sentence Yes, the topic is about
The giant panda bear is a favorite of children and animal-lovers throughout the world For many people, it also is symbolic of the sad situation for many other kinds of animals Though so well known and loved, the panda is slowly dying out At pre- sent, there are only about 1,230 wild pandas left in the world They all live in China, in the forests of the Sichuan and Shaanxi provinces Pandas used to be common in other areas However, as the human population increased and the forests shrank, panda territory gradually disappeared And so did the pandas Now the Chinese government has created a number of to protect the pandas Within these reserves, human settlement arid tree cutting will be limited
You should not forget either that sometimes these repeated words can be a particular word or a phrase or any words or phrases are used purposely as reference of the topic In the following paragraph, you do not have to look far to recognize the words and are connected to the topic because they all have the same meaning Therefore, there is a need to notice the repetition of words you encounter in any reading materials
Below is an example of identifying the topic via repeated words that you may want to practice with
In the past the homelss population in the United States consited primarily of unemployed, alcoholic men over 50 years of age The homless were less visible than they are today, living mainly in areas of large cities or hobo villages beside the train Nowadays the homeless population is more diverse About 46 percent are single women, 36.5 percent are families (usually mothers) with children, and 3.5 percent are children living on their home
3.2.4 Words that are Mentioned at the Beginning and
Referred to by Pronouns or Other Words
With regard to using different words or phrases related to the topic, one of the ways to detect the topic is by looking at words that appear both at the beginning of a paragraph and later in the paragraph in terms of pronouns or other words with the same meaning take a look at this paragraph:
The Shetland pony came from the Shetland Islands of Great Britain It is the smallest of all horses, standing only 32-46 inches high People originally used these stocky animals to pull coal carts Later, they were imported into the United States as pets They were later bred with the Hackney pony to produce a lighter, showier breed Though still kept as pets, they are intelligent animals and must be trained by experts to be suitable for children
HOW TO IDENTIFY THE STATED MAIN IDEA SENTENCE OF A PARAGRAPH?
You have learnt four strategies for determining the topic of a paragraph in the previous section Now you move to tactics of identifying the main idea For a quick recap, the main idea is different from the topic since it gives specific ideas of the author's expression about the topic Frankly speaking, you ask yourself the question is the paragraph to search for the topic while is the central idea about this is a more relevant question to ask when it comes to looking for the main idea The stated main idea sentence, namely the topic sentence, plays the sole important role as it embraces the writer chief point of the topic in a paragraph Figure 2 illustrates three common ways to identify the topic sentence, which are discussed deeply later
Figure 3.2 How to locate the main idea in a paragraph?
3.3.1 The Main Idea is in the First Sentence of a Paragraph
In a paragraph, it is common to have a topic sentence and other sentences holding the central idea and supporting ideas respectively Besides, you may find the topic sentence lying in the first sentence of the paragraph This paragraph, for example, demonstrates the idea of putting the topic sentence with its controlling idea at the beginning of the paragraph
The makeup work sounds simple, but more to it than making the lead actress look beautiful If the hero gets a cut on his face, the makeup artist must create that cut and ensure it looks exactly the same tomorrow and the day after Some movies may require actors to look older or younger, or like a monster or a space alien Putting on special makeup can sometimes take more time than the scene! For example, Jim makeup artist needed two and a half hours every day to transform him into his character for the movie, The Grinch The audience should notice the character, and not the makeup
Main idea: more than making the lead actress look beautiful
Topic sentence: The makeup work sounds simple, but there is more to it than making the lead actress look beautiful
Let's challenge yourself with another example Read the paragraph below and determine its topic sentence and point out the topic and main idea within the sentence
One important biological factor that helps women live longer is the difference in hormones between men and women Hormones are chemicals which are produced by the body to control various body functions Between the ages of about 12 and 50, women produce hormones that are involved in fertility These hormones also have a positive effect on the heart and the blood flow In fact, women are less likely to have high blood pressure or to die from heart attacks
3.3.2 The Main Idea is within a Paragraph
As a reader, bear in mind that the topic sentence is not always in the first sentence, but it may simply lie within the paragraph In other words, the topic sentences may be present in the middle or at any point in the paragraph as long as it relates to the topic and states the central idea of the entire paragraph
Let's grasp what you have learnt so far by reading the following example:
Does watching violence on TV make people more prone to violence themselves? Obviously, TV violence has some negative effects One study found that heavy TV watchers are more fearful of others They try to protect themselves with guns, alarm systems, and security locks on doors In the same study it was found that heavy TV watchers are less upset about real-life violence than are non-TV watchers All of the violence they see on TV makes them less sensitive to the real thing A recent study also found that TV violence increase aggressive behavior in kids and makes them more likely to select toy guns rather than other kinds of toys
It is easy to recognize the word or TV shows up repeatedly throughout the paragraph, but the phrase is the topic indeed Noticeably, the first sentence is not the topic sentence but the second sentence TV violence has some negative is the one Why? Because it includes the topic (TV violence) and the gist point (negative effects), and other sentences support the topic violence in the rest of the paragraph
In some cases, it might be even presented under the form of a question type The question is not the main idea but the answer itself
3.3.3 The Main Idea is at the End of a Paragraph
To avoid sleep problems, you should not drink alcoholic beverages or drinks with caffeine before bedtime Another way to avoid sleep problems is to not exercise within three hours of bedtime A final way to prevent sleep problems is to plan a sleep routine Every day, go to bed at the same time and get up at the same time As can be seen, sleep problems can be avoided by following the above simple guidelines
Instead of putting the main idea at the beginning of or within the paragraph, some writers prefer to come up with the controlling idea at the very end of the paragraph The reason is that they may want to provide readers with all the supporting information before giving the main idea Hence, the topic sentence ends up lying at the end of the paragraph to offer readers nothing less than a conclusion of its aforementioned supporting details
After reading the paragraph above, you may detect the structure of the paragraph looks like a nabla - an upside down triangle in which from the first sentence to the one right before the last sentence is used as supporters to clarify the topic sentence which exists at the end of the paragraph To be clearer, take a closer look The first, second and third sentences post ways to avoid probl while the fourth one emphasizes the importance of keeping in pace with a sleeping and waking time schedule Altogether leads to the central idea (simple guidelines) to avoid
SKIMMING
Skimming is a skill of looking over a text quickly to get the gist of the subject matter in any written reading materials When skimming, the readers move their eyes throughout the text fast to search for the pointers or clues providing general ideas of an article or a paragraph without reading sentences one by one It is considered one of the effective reading skills to save time In short, skimming skills enable a reader to be three to four times faster than normal reading speed in catching the main idea by moving their eyes quickly to catch the hints from the text
In reading, there are certain sentences called the topic sentence that actually hold the controlling idea of a paragraph while some are not really relating to the main idea As a reader, undoubtedly, we should not spend too much time reading unnecessary information or all details of a paragraph when we are under the pressure of an examination As a result, skimming is effective for readers to get the overview of the text speedily based on its various strategies There is much evidence that has been shown on the positive effect of skimming skill in enhancing comprehension as well
In other words, students should consider skimming skills as an effective reading tool in light of saving time and being able to identify the main idea of an article without reading the whole text or paragraph
Imagine being asked to read 20 research or 5 books in just a day to serve your assignment, or you have 15 minutes to read a 5-paragraph article and answer a bunch of questions how would you cope with it? Unless you knew how to conduct skimming, you would not be able to in the ocean of words, lines and ideas, to say the least Following are strategies that help you apply skimming skills efficiently
As people usually say but Skimming the titles and subheadings, these short and words or phrases would give you a general view about the text
The article below is a clear example of the benefits that titles and subheadings provide By looking at them quickly, the title brings out the topic and the headings hat is scrapbooking how did you get did you learn about new scrapbooking techniques and may give some hints about the topic and even the main idea of each paragraph
The dictionary defines a scrapbook as empty book for collecting and preserving photographs, newspaper articles, and other Today, scrapbooking is also a verb and a popular new hobby We talked with Diane Lucas, who runs a scrapbooking club
When I make a scrapbook page, I take a few of my family photos and put them into a which is page that uses fancy paper, stickers, drawings, and words to show the theme For example, working on a page about my son called Day at so a photo of him and one of his drawings, and I decorated it with alphabet stickers I use lots of things in my pages-ribbons, stickers, beads, and much more When you make a scrapbook, you put words and pictures together to show the important times in your life like a personal history
How did you get started?
When I was a child, I always saved bits of paper Things like movie tickets, vacation postcards, and even paper napkins I loved looking at them and remembering I made my first scrapbook ten years ago when my father died When I looked through his desk, I found the most wonderful things like my anniversary cards and photos from his army days I throw away anything, so
I made two scrapbooks, one for my brother and one for me
In some articles, writers may write introductory paragraphs right after the title or even without the title, there is still the presence of introduction It is because some writers want to draw your attention and give you some keys to what the article is about Let read the short introduction below
I tried the new puzzle craze I was told that it would be stimulating and relaxing What I expect is that it would be life-changing (and not in a good way)
When skimming the title mind you may come across as the topic, but do you notice that it pops up another idea, more specific, in your mind about the topic when you read that 3 short sentence introduction? You, then, have a feeling or you can make a prediction that the article would mention the negative impact of Sudoku Is your gut telling you that or the introduction itself gives you the hint?
You have, so far, learnt how to skim a reading text, an article in a newspaper It is time to skim something or you may say which is a book To comprehend the structure of a book is important because it paints a picture in your mind, or which content or section you may feel interested in Hence, skimming the table of content or the index is the thing you need in order to grab up main ideas but still save time in deciding what you want to read first By sliding your eyes through the content of the example below, you can partly understand the skeleton of the book and its highlights
In some books, the introduction is written at the beginning or on the back of the book to shed light on the general ideas of the book or to get an idea of the foundation of the book as well So, in this textbook which you are holding in your hands, let try to answer the following questions by looking at the table content of this textbook
1 What is the book about?
2 What majors are considered in this book?
3 How many main parts/ chapters does this book include?
4 What is the purpose of each part/ chapter?
5 Does this content have something that you are looking for? How do you know?
Apart from the table of contents, there are chapter objectives and/or chapter summaries for the type of academic books which help readers to acknowledge the goals of the chapter in advance or to sum up the key information
In the era of information explosion nowadays when the young generation have so much to read in a limited amount of time, the ability to identify the topic and the gist of any kind of text is utterly important for any students There is a need to differentiate these terms Whereas a topic is the subject of a written material, which can be a short or long passage, main ideas imply the central points of a whole article or each paragraph
To grasp the topic, readers need magnifying to help them locate it The strategies include taking a glance at headings and titles, searching for words in special print, noticing words or phrases repeated throughout the paragraph or words mentioned at the beginning of a paragraph then are referred to by other pronouns and phrases later in the paragraph When it comes to main ideas, any discussion of the topic is bound to the central idea lying in the topic sentence of each paragraph In this chapter, three ways of main ideas appearing in a paragraph are presented as tactics of identifying the gist viewpoint embedded in every paragraph, which include the topic sentence appearing at the beginning of a paragraph, within a paragraph and at the end of a paragraph Last but not least, skimming skills, among many effective reading skills, stand out as a helpful technique to fasten the reading speed and comprehension Skimming is when a reader looks for the gist of a reading material by gliding his eyes throughout the text quickly and to know what and where to look at The purpose is to help readers read fast but also have an overall idea of the passage without reading full details
This chapter aims to fully prepare you for these scenarios via strategies which are summarized below:
1 The difference between the topic and the main idea
2 Four ways to determine the topic of a paragraph
3 Three ways to identify the topic sentence of a paragraph
4 Skimming and its techniques to find the gist of different types of reading material
Exercise 1 The sentences below are about Orb spiders Arrange them in order to write a paragraph Begin with the one that is the main idea and add a title
Exercise 2 Read the passage and choose the correct answer for each question
Exercise 3 Read and answer the questions by using relevant strategies
Exercise 4 Using skimming skills to guess the topic which helps you predict which word to fill in the blanks
Maya and Maria agree on anything Everything one says, the other says the opposite
When I do well on a test, I keep it to myself
When I do well on a test, I _ it to the world
My goldfish has to live because of its dirty fish bowl
My goldfish continues to live despite its dirty fish bowl
After a long run, I want to stay active and energized
After a long run, I want to _ from exhaustion
I it when the teacher tries to help me when stuck on a problem
I despise it when the teacher tries to help me when I am stuck on a problem
Exercise 5 Using skimming skills to guess the topic which helps you predict which word to fill in the blanks
I all the nice things you do for me
I value all the nice things you do for me
The fence is a border between our house and the road
The fence is a between our house and the road
If you sit on the table, it will If you sit on the table, it will break
The wedding ritual was beautiful The wedding ritual was
live from the Oval Office
The speech was announced live from Oval Office.
SUPPORTING DETAILS
MAJOR AND MINOR DETAILS
Supporting details are divided into two types: major and minor (Figure 4.2) The core structure of paragraphs is made up of the main idea and its major supporting details The major details are the supporting details to the main idea, and they might take the form of:
- Further elaboration of the main idea
Here is an example of paragraph with main idea and major supporting details:
Psychologists have concluded that human memory can improve by regular training (Main idea) People who takes part in the studies show that they can remember and recall longer piece of information Also, the level of difficulty is successfully increasing as information is more and more complicated (Major supporting details)
Minor details are frequently included in paragraphs Minor details provide extra information about the key supporting details, whereas major details clarify and deepen the main idea They are usually specific to demonstrate and support the major details in the paragraph in the form of:
- Statistic take a look at a full paragraph with main idea, major details and minor details:
Psychologists have concluded that human memory can improve by regular training (Main idea) People who takes part in the studies show that they can remember and recall longer piece of information.(Major detail) For instance, they can only manage about 10 digits at the beginning However, the number of digits they can remember has doubled after one month of training.(Minor detail) Also, the level of difficulty is successfully increasing as information is more and more complicated (Major details) They start to train by memorise different house number which is the easiest level By the time, dealing with phone number, email address, or even a random series of number are still manageable for them.(Minor details)
Figure 4.2: Major and minor details help to support the main idea
You could also use signal phrases to assist you distinguish between minor and big features Transitions, often known as signal words, are words or phrases that show connections between ideas and can introduce supporting facts Furthermore, these words assist authors in organizing their ideas and readers in following the author's train of thought The transitions that introduce supporting details will be the emphasis of this topic Most of these are referred to as listing transitions However, you should be careful as not all major and minor details have signal words
In addition, Next Also Finally
To be specific This means
Following are sample paragraphs to show you how topic, main idea, major and minor details are connected:
In this paragraph, going to discuss a few reasons why practice is important to mastering skills Firstly, the only way to truly learn a skill is by actually doing what have to do in the real world For example, a football player cannot play well if he just sits outside and watch the match Secondly, I think practice can give you meaningful lesson An example is when you learn to cook a dish, you will recognize the mistakes and avoid next time Thirdly, and most importantly, it is said that people tend to remember only 10-20% of what they read or hear, but that number rises to as much as 90% when you put theory to practice This means that real action actually improves your final result In conclusion, following up explanation with practice is key to mastering a skill
Main idea: A few reasons why practice is important to mastering skills
Major detail 1: Firstly, the only way to truly learn a skill is by actually doing what have to do in the real world
Minor detail 1: For example, a football player cannot play well if he just sits outside and watch the match
Major detail 2: Secondly, I think practice can give you meaningful lesson
Minor detail 2: An example is when you learn to cook a dish, you will recognize the mistakes and avoid next time
Major detail 3: Thirdly, and most importantly, it is said that people tend to remember only 10-20% of what they read or hear, but that number rises to as much as 90% when you put theory to practice
Minor detail 3: This means that real action actually improves your final result
Video game therapy may help patients recover from a stroke at home The video game that was utilized for rehabilitation, Recovery Rapids, relies upon a motion sensor and real life movement in order to initiate the movement of a character in the game As part of the system, a camera-based sensor captures the patient's movements and a game character mirrors those movements The game also provides feedback about whether the patient is doing the movement correctly If the patient is not doing the movement to the best of their ability, their game character is not moving Additional challenges within the game include crashing into a bush and moving the video game character's arms into a grab, grasp, and release in an effort to collect as much food as possible
Topic: A new kind of treatment
Main idea: Video game therapy may help patients recover from a stroke at home
Major detail 1: The video game that was utilized for rehabilitation, Recovery Rapids, relies upon a motion sensor and real life movement in order to initiate the movement of a character in the game
Minor detail 1: As part of the system, a camera-based sensor captures the patient's movements and a game character mirrors those movements
Major detail 2: The game also provides feedback about whether the patient is doing the movement correctly
Minor detail 2: If the patient is not doing the movement to the best of their ability, their game character is not moving
Minor detail 2: Additional challenges within the game include crashing into a bush and moving the video game character's arms into a grab, grasp, and release in an effort to collect as much food as possible
FOOD TO AVOID DURING COVID 19
In general, there will definitely some certain types of food that should be removed from your diet when you are positive with Covid 19 Processed and high-sugar foods like fast food, fried food, soda, and sweets promote inflammation in the body, making it harder for your system to fight off sickness To feel your best, steer clear of foods in these categories You'll also want to watch your alcohol intake as your body works to recover from COVID-19 Consuming too much alcohol can compromise your immune system, making it harder for it to defend your body against foreign invaders, scientists said In addition, alcohol can trigger inflammation in the gut and have a negative impact on the good bacteria living in there that keep your immune system healthy
SCANNING FOR DETAILS
Scanning a text means looking through it quickly to find specific information Scanning is commonly used in everyday life, for example when looking up a word in a dictionary or finding your friend's name in the contacts directory of your phone Scanning and another quick reading skill, skimming, are often confused, though they are quite different While skimming is concerned with finding general information, namely the main ideas, scanning involves looking for specific information
Applying scanning skill to your reading progress may bring various benefits Firstly, it is absolutely time-saving Students can extract certain specific information without reading through the whole text Obviously, this process takes less time than reading carefully from the beginning to the end It is especially important to deal with a test as time is usually limited, and students cannot read over and over the whole passage whenever they start a new question Secondly, scanning is greatly useful in different steps to manage a passage In prereading stage, it helps build knowledge about the information from the text For example, the use of scanning is to check predictions that students make about the content of the text to be read Most questions appear to ask about details, so scanning is inevitable during while-reading stage Also, scanning is a useful strategy after having read a text as well because students can use it to check for their understanding Finally, scanning is especially useful when the students deal with special type of information as schedules, tables, charts and graphs
Scanning involves three steps: determine what key words to look for, look quickly through the text for those words, then read the sentences around them to see if they provide the information being sought
When scanning, we only try to locate the specific information and often we do not even follow the linearity of the passage to do so We simply let our eyes wander over the text until we find what we are looking for, whether it is a name, a date, or a less specific piece of information
Skimming is therefore a more thorough activity which requires an overall view of the text and implies a definite reading competence Scanning, on the contrary, is far more limited since it only means retrieving what information is relevant to our purpose
Scanning for research and study
Scanning, too, uses keywords and organizational cues But while the goal of skimming is a bird's-eye view of the material, the goal of scanning is to locate and swoop down on particular facts
Facts may be buried within long text passages that have relatively little else to do with your topic or claim Skim this material first to decide if it is likely to contain the facts you need Don't forget to scan tables of contents, summaries, indexes, headings, and typographical cues To make sense of lists and tables, skim them first to understand how they are organized: alphabetical, chronological, or most-to-least, for example If after skimming you decide the material will be useful, go ahead and scan:
1 Know what you're looking for Decide on a few key words or phrases search terms, if you will You will be a flesh-and-blood search engine
2 Look for only one keyword at a time If you use multiple keywords, do multiple scans
3 Let your eyes float rapidly down the page until you find the word or phrase you want
4 When your eye catches one of your keywords, read the surrounding material carefully
If you are scanning for facts to answer a specific question, one step is already done for you: the question itself supplies the keywords Follow these steps:
1 Read each question completely before starting to scan Choose your keywords from the question itself
2 Look for answers to only one question at a time Scan separately for each question
3 When you locate a keyword, read the surrounding text carefully to see if it is relevant
4 Re-read the question to determine if the answer you found answers this question
Scanning is a technique that requires concentration and can be surprisingly tiring You may have to practice at not allowing your attention to wander Choose a time and place that you know works for you and dive in.
TYPES OF QUESTION FOR SCANNING SKILL
As stated above, scanning purpose is to locate a specific piece of information Usually, there will be some types of information that are popular in scanning question In order to effectively find out the answer, you must pay attention to all details relating to them, what is said about them in the passage
Questions that require scanning skill are diverse They appear in all forms such as multiple choices, true or false, matching, gap fill, or short answer Depending on the structure of the test, they frequently account for over 50% of total score That is why mastering scanning is such an important skill for readers
A Multiple choices and True/False
The following example consists of the two most popular type of scanning questions, multiple choices and True/False
Unidentified Flying Object (or is a term commonly used to describe lights or shapes in the sky It was first coined by the United States Air Force in 1952 to describe sightings of mysterious objects in the sky that could not be explained even after careful investigation Nowadays UFOs are spotted frequently, and feature in numerous movies and TV shows Another popular name for such an object is, in reference to the round shape of many UFOs
The first widely publicized UFO sighting was in 1947, by a pilot called Kenneth Arnold Following this event, public sightings of UFOs increased dramatically Movies and TV shows began featuring visitors from outer space, arriving on earth in flying saucers With the popularity of these images, many people claimed to have seen lights in the sky Some experts believe that people simply think they see UFOs because of the influence of TV and movies
However, experts estimate that as little as 5% of these sightings could be called
Usually these lights are made by aircraft, satellites, or weather balloons Top secret air force activities during the Cold War may have been responsible for many of the UFO sightings in America and Europe Although not actually aliens, the secretive nature of these flying objects is definitely unidentified
Another popular idea concerning UFOs concerns the role of world governments Specifically, people believe that the US government has discovered alien life and operates a - to hide the truth from the public The most widely believed cover-up is that of the Roswell Incident In July, 1947, a UFO supposedly landed in Roswell, New Mexico, and was examined and hidden by government agents There have been many investigations into the Roswell Incident, however, these reports always claim that no such event occurred
Circle the best answer for each question about the reading passage
1 Why is Kenneth Arnold famous among UFO believers? a) He was at Roswell in 1947 b) He found a UFO in 1952 c) He saw a UFO in 1947 d) He saw a UFO in 1952
2 How do experts explain many UFO sightings? a) There are many alien visitors to earth b) TV and movies make people believe they see UFOs c) Government cover-ups make people paranoid d) They have no idea why there are so many sightings
3 What influence did the Cold War have upon UFO sightings? a) American pilots saw a UFO in the Cold War b) More UFO movies were made in the Cold War c) Lots of government cover-ups occurred d) Top secret air force activities caused more sightings
State whether the following statements about the reading are true (T) or false (F) according to the information in the passage
4 Kenneth Arnold saw the first UFO
5 The Roswell Incident occurred in 1952
6 Experts say many normal things account for UFO sightings
7 Flying saucers are square-shaped
Question 1 3 require specific skill in order to pick up the best answer among four options Usually, the first step is to read the entire question and make sure that you understand it clearly Then we may try to give answer yourself first before reviewing the options This will help prevent you from talking yourself about the correct answer As your mind tends to follow the familiar idea, you must be double careful if yourself answer is the same as one of the option The next step is to identify all the key words from the question and the choices After that, it is now to apply scanning skill and make final decisions
Also, there are some tips which can be useful in order to deal with this type of question Firstly, using the process of elimination in which you cross out all of the answer you know are incorrect is greatly effective As a result, you will only pay attention to the remaining answers which save more time and increase the likelihood of selecting the correct one Secondly, there will sometimes be option of the or of the If you encounter them, you should avoid selecting "All of the above" if you are pretty sure any one of the answers provided is incorrect The same applies for "None of the above" if you are confident that at least one of the answer choices is true Lastly, it is in case you cannot find the answer, the one you choose should be an educated one For instance, when there are seemingly two correct answers, one is positive and one is negative, the positive option is probably true in most cases Another situation is good to know if you must guess the answer is that the correct answer usually contains more information than the other options
Beside the steps of scanning as in multiple choices, the True/False questions 4 7 need some specific consideration The synonym is the first of them Typically, the keys words you find in the question are repeated in the text in a different form That is why knowing flexible words of the key words we are looking for is a big help In addition, there are some words appear in the question that may confuse you Some particular examples are not, some adverb of frequency such as always, hardly, never, sometime or quantifiers as all, none of, almost If you find these words in the question, you must be more careful In most cases, statements that contain absolute qualifiers like all, always, best, none are false Finally, some possible rules can be effective in cases that you can only make a guess The longer a true/false statement, the greater the likelihood the statement will be false It only takes one part of a statement being false to make the entire statement false The longer the statement, the more chance one part will be false Moreover, questions that state a reason tend to be false Words including "because, reason, since, etc." often indicate a "reason" statement
16 and finally you can leave school! By now, probably sick of teachers, desks, tests and exams But just run for the exit You need to think carefully about what to do next
If you want a professional career, you will need to go to university and get a degree To do that, you need to stay at high school for another two years But you stay at the same place There are several options in the district of Northacre
St School has the best pass rate of all the high schools in the district It offers a wide range of subjects in the humanities and sciences St is, of course, a private school, so may be too expensive for you But worry, there are several other options if you want to follow the academic route Knowle Grammar School is a state school, so there are no fees, and it has excellent tuition and facilities It is a school from the ages of 11-16, but from 16-18 it is co- educational But it is selective, so have to pass an exam to get in If interested in going into Business, check out Wyle River Academy This school specializes in subjects like Business Studies, Management and Economics If you prefer the arts, look at the courses on offer at Northacre College Here you can study woodwork, art, textiles and much more
Northacre College also offers a wide range of vocational qualifications You can do a 1-year certificate or a 2-year diploma in subjects like electrics, plumbing, roofing and hairdressing If prefer to work outdoors, look at Milldown College, where there are courses in Farm Mechanics, Land Management, Animal Management and much more