Reading comprehension success 3rd edition

This book is designed to help you improve your reading comprehension skills by studying 20 minutes a day for 20 days. You’ll start with the basics and move on to more complex reading comprehension and critical thinking strategies. Please note that although each chapter can be an effective skill

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 T his book is designed to help you improve your reading comprehension skills by studying 20 minutes a day for 20 days. You’ll start with the basics and move on to more complex reading comprehension and critical thinking strategies. Please note that although each chapter can be an effective skill builder on its own, it is important that you proceed through this book in order, from Lesson 1 through Lesson 20. Each lesson builds on skills and ideas discussed in the previous chapters. As you move through this book and your read- ing skills develop, the passages you read will increase both in length and in complexity. The book begins with a pretest, which will allow you to see how well you can answer various kinds of read- ing comprehension questions now, as you begin. When you finish the book, take the posttest to see how much you’ve improved. The text is divided into four sections, each focusing on a different group of related reading and thinking strate- gies. These strategies will be outlined at the beginning of each section and then reviewed in a special “putting it all together” final lesson. Each lesson provides several exercises that allow you to practice the skills you learn. To ensure you’re on the right track, each lesson also provides answers and explanations for all of the practice questions. Additionally, you will find practical suggestions in each chapter for how to continue practicing these skills in your daily life. The most important thing you can do to improve your reading skills is to become an active reader. The fol- lowing guidelines and suggestions outlined will familiarize you with active reading techniques. Use these techniques as much as possible as you work your way through the lessons in this book. How to Use This Book ix  Becoming an Active Reader Critical reading and thinking skills require active read- ing. Being an active reader means you have to engage with the text, both mentally and physically. ■ Skim ahead and jump back. ■ Mark up the text. ■ Make specific observations about the text. Skimming Ahead and Jumping Back Skimming ahead enables you to see what’s coming up in your reading. Page through the text you’re about to read. Notice how the text is broken down, what the main topics are, and the order in which they are cov- ered. Notice key words and ideas that are boldfaced, bulleted, boxed, or otherwise highlighted. Skimming through the text beforehand will prepare you for what you are about to read. It’s a lot like checking out the hills and curves in the course before a cross-country race. If you know what’s ahead, you know how to pace your- self, so you’re prepared to handle what’s to come. When you finish your reading, jump back. Review the summaries, headings, and highlighted informa- tion in the text. Notice both what the author high- lighted and what you highlighted. By jumping back, you help solidify in your mind the ideas and informa- tion you just read. You’re reminded of how each idea fits into the whole, how ideas and information are con- nected. When you make connections between ideas, you’re much more likely to remember them. Marking Up the Text Marking up the text creates a direct physical link between you and the words you’re reading. It forces you to pay closer attention to the words you read and takes you to a higher level of comprehension. Use these three strategies to mark up text: 1. Highlight or underline key words and ideas. 2. Circle and define any unfamiliar words or phrases. 3. Record your reactions and questions in the margins. Highlighting or Underlining Key Ideas When you highlight or underline key words and ideas, you are identifying the most important parts of the text. There’s an important skill at work here: You can’t high- light or underline everything, so you have to distinguish between the facts and ideas that are most important (major ideas) and those facts and ideas that are help- ful but not so important (minor or supporting ideas). Highlight only the major ideas, so you don’t end up with a text that’s completely highlighted. An effectively highlighted text will make for an easy and fruitful review. When you jump back, you’ll be quickly reminded of the ideas that are most important to remember. Highlighting or underlining major points as you read also allows you to retain more information from the text. Circling Unfamiliar Words One of the most important habits to develop is that of circling and looking up unfamiliar words and phrases. If possible, don’t sit down to read without a dictionary by your side. It is not uncommon for the meaning of an entire sentence to hinge on the meaning of a single word or phrase, and if you don’t know what that word or phrase means, you won’t understand the sentence. Besides, this habit enables you to quickly and steadily expand your vocabulary, so you’ll be a more confident reader and speaker. If you don’t have a dictionary readily available, try to determine the meaning of the word as best you can from its context—that is, the words and ideas around it. (There’s more on this topic in Lesson 3.) Then, make sure you look up the word as soon as possible so you’re sure of its meaning. – HOW TO USE THIS BOOK – x . READING COMPREHENSION SUCCESS IN 20 MINUTES A DAY NEW YORK READING COMPREHENSION SUCCESS IN 20 MINUTES A DAY 3rd Edition ® Copyright. 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,