LearningExpress Reading Comprehension Success in 20 Minutes a Day

NEW YORK READING COMPREHENSION SUCCESS IN 20 MINUTES A DAY 3rd Edition ® Copyright © 2005 LearningExpress, LLC. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by LearningExpress, LLC, New York. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: Reading comprehension success in 20 minutes a day.—3rd ed. p. cm. ISBN 1-57685-494-9 (paper) 1. Reading comprehension—Problems, exercises, etc. I. Title. II. Title: Reading comprehension success in twenty minutes a day. LB1050.45.C45 2005 428.4—dc22 2005047184 Printed in the United States of America 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Third Edition For information on LearningExpress, other LearningExpress products, or bulk sales, please write to us at: LearningExpress 55 Broadway 8th Floor New York, NY 10006 Or visit us at: www.learnatest.com INTRODUCTION How to Use This Book ix PRETEST 1 BUILDING A STRONG FOUNDATION LESSON 1 Getting the Essential Information 19 How to be an active reader, picking up clues in what you read LESSON 2 Finding the Main Idea 27 Looking beyond the facts, considering the author’s motive LESSON 3 Defining Vocabulary in Context 33 Dealing with unfamiliar words without a dictionary LESSON 4 The Difference between Fact and Opinion 39 Distinguishing between what an author knows and what an author believes to be true LESSON 5 Putting It All Together 45 Practice in combining the skills you’ve learned in Lessons 1–4 Contents v STRUCTURE LESSON 6 Start from the Beginning: Chronological Order 53 Working through passages that start at the beginning and finish at the end of a sequence of events LESSON 7 Order of Importance 61 Using the order in the writing to determine what is most important to the author LESSON 8 Similarities and Differences: Compare and Contrast 67 Using comparisons to determine the author’s attitude LESSON 9 Why Do Things Happen? A Look at Cause and Effect 73 The relationship between action and reaction LESSON 10 Being Structurally Sound: Putting It All Together 81 Reviews Lessons 6–9, including identifying the structure used; practice with combined structures LANGUAGE AND STYLE LESSON 11 A Matter of Perspective: Point of View 89 Purposes of first-, second-, and third-person writing LESSON 12 Diction: What’s in a Word? 95 Defining tone from the choice of words LESSON 13 Style: It’s Not What They Say but How They Say It 101 Sentence structure; degree of detail, description, and formality LESSON 14 How They Say It, Part Two: Tone 107 How tone influences meaning LESSON 15 Word Power: Putting It All Together 111 Reviews Lessons 11–14 READING BETWEEN THE LINES LESSON 16 Finding the Implied Main Idea 119 Making inferences, determining an unstated purpose LESSON 17 Assuming Causes and Predicting Effects 125 Reading between the lines, implied action and reaction LESSON 18 Emotional Versus Logical Appeals 131 Being aware of strong and weak arguments – CONTENTS– vi LESSON 19 Finding Meaning in Literature 137 Identifying themes, working with poetry LESSON 20 Drawing Conclusions: Putting It All Together 143 Reviews Lessons 1–19 POSTTEST 149 APPENDIX A Preparing for a Standardized Test 169 APPENDIX B Additional Resources 175 – CONTENTS– vii [...]... 17 a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b 3 c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 a a a a a a a a a a a a a a... are in need of guidance and direction 3 According to Leah Martin, what was the direct cause of Project Teen? a Tricia Cousins, the talented choreographer and dance educator, was available to teach courses in the fall b Community organizations were ignoring local teenagers c The McGee Arts Foundation wanted to be more involved in Allendale’s arts programming d She wanted to make the cultural center a. .. “Whar Alec Trimble got his larnin’?” in order to a show disapproval of the father’s drinking b show how people talked down to the narrator c show the speakers’ lack of education d mimic the way the father talked 20 It can be inferred from the passage that Alec Trimble is a a traveler b a neighbor c the narrator’s father d a poet 21 What is the meaning of the lines of verse quoted in the passage? a Men... runs into the Yadkin River, in a cabin that was chinked with red mud, I came into the world a subject of King George the Third, in that part of his realm known as the province of North Carolina The cabin reeked of corn-pone and bacon, and the odor of pelts It had two shakedowns, on one of which I slept under a bearskin A rough stone chimney was reared outside, and the fireplace was as long as my father... important as winter cover for many wildlife species, including upland game birds such as pheasants and turkeys Often this winter cover is the greatest single factor limiting game bird populations Woody vegetation also provides hiding cover and browse for many other species of birds and mammals, both game and nongame Dead trees (“snags”) are an integral part of streamside habitats and should be left standing... passage These facts are not always easy to determine, especially if the writing is dense or complicated To make it simpler, ask yourself these questions as you read: What facts am I expected to know? What am I to learn or be aware of? What happened? What is true? What exists? What Are the Facts? Let’s start with a definition A fact is: ■ ■ ■ Something that we know for certain to have happened Something... Something that we know for certain to be true Something that we know for certain to exist Practice Passage 1 Jump right into the task of finding facts The following brief passage is similar to something you might see in a newspaper Read the passage carefully, and then answer the questions that follow Remember, careful reading is active reading (see the Introduction), so mark up the text as you go Underline... farmers They look to their destinations with nearly religious enthusiasm, imagining their “promised” land the way the Biblical Israelites envisioned Canaan Both undergo great hardship to make the trek But the two sagas differ distinctly in origin Steinbeck’s Oklahomans are forced off their land by the banks who own their mortgages, and they follow a false promise—that jobs await them as seasonal laborers... context Distinguish between fact and opinion 17 L E S S O N 1 Getting the Essential Information LESSON SUMMARY The first step in increasing your reading comprehension is to learn how to get the basic information Like a good detective, start with the basic facts To get the facts, be an active reader and look for clues as you read I magine, for a moment, that you are a detective You have just been called to... ESSENTIAL INFORMATION – Practice Passage 3 Now look at one more short passage Again, read carefully and answer the questions that follow Today’s postal service is more efficient and reliable than ever before Mail that used to take months to move by horse and foot now moves around the country in days or hours by truck, train, and plane First-class mail usually moves from New York City to Los Angeles in three . Conventions. Published in the United States by LearningExpress, LLC, New York. Library of Congress Cataloging -in- Publication Data: Reading comprehension success in 20 minutes a day. —3rd ed. p. cm. ISBN. NEW YORK READING COMPREHENSION SUCCESS IN 20 MINUTES A DAY 3rd Edition ® Copyright © 200 5 LearningExpress, LLC. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published. meaning. – HOW TO USE THIS BOOK– x Making Marginal Notes Recording your questions and reactions in the margins turns you from a passive receiver of information into an active participant in a