When it is time for me to
teach my students how to answer reading questions, I lead them through a
4-step process that I came up with a few years ago. In this process, I model
how to:
- reword the question,
- analyze answer choices and mark out 1-2 choices that
are obviously wrong (probably because the choice clearly says
something different than what is said in the text),
- collect clues (or evidence) from the text related to the other answer choices,
and
- then make an educated decision about which
answer is the best.
Inference questions ask about
the meaning of a line, paragraph, or even an entire passage.
The ideas being asked about are not directly stated in the
text, which mean that inference questions often include the phrases “could be
interpreted to mean” or “suggests that." Since there
can only be one correct answer to
any SAT question, however, the answers to these questions cannot be subjective
or ambiguous.
Inference questions often also require big picture
skills, since you must be able to get meaning from entire passages to
answer questions about paired passage relationships, or from entire paragraphs
for other inference questions. In contrast to function questions, which ask
"what does [this word, phrase, or line] DO," inference questions ask
"what does [this word, phrase, or line] MEAN?"
Some inference questions that fall into the subcategory of deduction-- they ask you to fill in missing information. The gist of
most of the questions is "If something is said in the passage,
what is the logical extension?" Deduction questions are very
close to detail questions, except that you must make a logical deduction,
rather than relying only on information in the passage. For example:
According to the passage, Woolf chooses
the setting of the bridge because it
A) is
conducive to a mood of fanciful reflection.
B) provides
a good view of the procession of the sons of educated men.
C) is
within sight of historic episodes to which she alludes.
D) is
symbolic of the legacy of past and present sons of educated men.
The relevant lines:
Close at hand is a bridge over the
River Thames, an admirable vantage ground for us to make a survey. The river
flows beneath; barges pass, laden with timber, bursting with corn; there on one
side are the domes and spires of the city; on the other, Westminster and the
Houses of Parliament. It is a place to stand on by the hour, dreaming. But not
now. Now we are pressed for time. Now we are here to consider facts; now we
must fix our eyes upon the procession — the procession of the sons of educated
men.
To get the correct answer, (B),
you must deduce from the info given. My thoughts:
Normally we'd be on the bridge to dream
and have fanciful reflection, but that's not the case now. Instead, now we have
to do something else while standing on the bridge. What is that something else?
Fixing our eyes on the procession of the sons of educated men.
Introduction: What is vocabulary in
context?
Vocabulary in context refers to the
sentences or the whole paragraph surrounding an unfamiliar word. Context clues
are used to make a good guess at the word’s meaning. There are six different
types of context clues:
- definition/restatement
- example
- synonym
- comparison
- contrast
- cause and effect .
Examples
1. Writers sometimes restate a word in order to define it.
When Henry Gonzalez was elected to Congress, many of his Spanish speaking constituents, the voters in his district, felt he would fight for their rights.
2. Examples used in context may help reveal the meaning.
The scientist was accused of several acts of espionage, such as photographing secret documents and taping private conversations.
3. Look for familiar words that may be synonyms of words not known.
The club’s coffers were so low that the members had to ask for donations to refill the treasury.
4. An unknown word may be compared or shown to be similar to a more common word.
As in so many polluted cities, the air in our community is sometimes too contaminated to breathe.
5. An unknown word may be contrasted with a more familiar word.
The team’s uniforms were immaculate before the game, but by the end of the first half they were filthy.
6. An unfamiliar word may be related to the cause or effect of an action, feeling, or idea.
Will Rogers was considered to be a humanitarian because he worked to improve people’s lives.
HELPFUL SITES:
Khan Academy: reading comprehension
Khan Academy: inferences
