Reading for Understanding, Analysis and Evaluation

1. Reading for Understanding, Analysis and Evaluation A Guide to Question Types

2. Aims of this Unit • This PowerPoint is designed to help you improve your Reading skills. • In the Reading for Understanding, Analysis and Evaluation paper, you are looking to understand: • WHAT the writer is saying • HOWthe writer is saying it (techniques) • HOWWELL does the writer gets his point across

3. The National 5 Examination • April/May S4 • You will be given a non-fiction passage and will have 1 hour to read the passage and answer 30 marks’ worth of questions about it. • Each question will probably be worth 2, 3 or 4 marks. • The exam tests your ability to understand the writer’s ideas, and to analyse and evaluate the techniques he/she uses to put those ideas across.

4. What can you do to prepare? • Try to read regularly a quality newspaper such as the Guardian, the Times or the Independent. • Expand your knowledge of language and of how people debate and argue about their ideas, by watching television programmes such as Question Time or Newsnight. You should also watch the news regularly and listen to debates on the radio.

5. Now, Let’s look at the types of questions you may get!

6. In Your Own Words Questions (U)

7. IN YOUR OWN WORDS QUESTIONS. • Unless you are sure you are being asked to quote, you should always answer in your own words. • This is the only way to show that you really understand what the writer is saying.

8. Strategy: • Find the part of the passage to put into your own words • Re-word these parts in as simple a way as possible!

9. Example: • Downstairs was Count Dracula's coffin in a narrow vault, the walls painted with the dramatic scenes of human victims, wolves, skulls, skeletons and the black-cloaked monster himself, red blood dripping from his pointed fangs. So far on our Romanian holiday the only blood-sucking had been from the mosquitoes in Bucharest. Luckily we had decided to send their father down first as a guinea pig to test out how scary this experience was likely to be for our seven-, five- and two-year-olds. Question:In your own words explain fully why their father was sent down first. 2 Answer: to find out/see (1) if it was too /frightening/if it was suitable for the children (1)

10. Example: • Round in shape with a plume of tall feathers, the bird stood about three feet high, the size of an overstuffed turkey or swan. Its wings were small and useless, its head surrounded by a hood of fine feathers giving it the appearance of a monk's cowl. Yet most distinctive of all was its unfeasible looking bill. It was huge and bulbous, possessing a business like hook at the end. Question:In your own words, what does the writer's use of the expression 'unfeasible-Iooking' tell you about the Dodo's bill? 2 Answer:It appeared / seemed /looked (1) as if it would not work/as if it would not be any use (1)

11. Example: ‘Professional competitive surfing has two tours: the WQS and the World Championship Tour (WCT). The WCT is the premier division, with the WQS being used as a platform for professionals to move up into the big time. Around 160 up­and-coming wave riders are expected to take part in the Thurso event. Prize money of $100,000 (£57,000) is up for grabs, along with vital tour points.’ Question: In your own words, explain the difference between the two professional surfing tours, WCT & WQS ? 2 Answer:WCT gloss of “premier division” e.g. best competitors/higher status (1) WQS gloss of “platform ... to move up into the big time” e.g. step towards the better competition (1) accept reference to lower status (1)

12. For practice… Task Look at these words and phrases you might find in questions. Which expressions tell you that you ought to quote in your answer and which ones suggest you write in your own words? • Why do you think…? • Which word…? • Explain fully…? • Find an expression…? • How does the writer…? • Write down the word…? • Which expression…? • By close reference to the text….?

13. ANSWERS… • The phrases that tell you that you must quote in your answers are: • Which word…? • Find an expression…? • How does the writer…? • Write down the word…? • Which expression…? • By close reference to the text….? • The phrases that suggest that you write in your own words are: • By close reference to the text….? • Why do you think…? • Explain fully…?

14. Context Questions You may be asked to work out from the context what a word or expression means. In these cases, the examiners think that you might not know the meaning of the word, but you should be able to work it out from what surrounds it in the passage. Context Qs are usually worth 2 marks.

15. Examples of context Qs: • Explain in your own words what is meant by ………….. In this context. • How does the context of lines…………… help you to work out what is meant by…………………… • Work out from the context what is meant by……………………. In the line……………….

16. Strategy • Use this pattern to structure your answers: • The word/expression ……………….. means ………………………………….. I can work this out from the context because…………………………………

17. Let’s try some examples…..

18. Explain how the context helps you to understand the meaning of “taxidermy” in Paragraph 1. (2) “When the London Dodo died, the animal was stuffed and sold to the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. Taxidermynot being what it is today, over the next few decades the dodo slowly rotted until it was thrown out in 1755. All, that is, except the moth-eaten head and one leg”

19. Answer The word “taxidermy” means to preserve the skin of a dead animal and stuff it in a lifelike form. (1) I can work this out from the context because of the word “stuffed” and the fact that it had “rotted” implies that a poor job has been done of preserving the animal. (1)

20. How does the context of paragraph 12 help you understand the meaning of the word brevity? (2) On the other hand, this could the best social networking tool ever. It forces brevity and a concise exchange of sentences. How great would it be to Twitter with someone you’re standing directly in front of?

21. Answer The word brevity means getting to the point/being brief (1). I can work this out from the context because ‘concise’ also means to get straight to the point. (1)

22. Word choice Questions (A)

23. Word choice questions Words are chosen for effect – words can make you think of more than just their literal meaning. Denotation and connotation • The denotation of a word is the most basic, straightforward meaning i.e. the dictionary definition. • Words also have connotations. These are the associations we give to words, the ideas we are made to think of when we hear or read any given word. • When a question asks you to comment on word choice think of the associations the identified word(s) will conjure up in the reader’s mind i.e. the connotations

24. An example… • Think of the ideas we associate with the word “butterfly”. • We think of delicate things, light, beauty, erratic flight, unpredictability, etc. • If the word is then used to describe a person then these qualities are associated with that person.

25. Some advice on tackling these questions: • These questions are asking you to do two things: • First identify and write down the word/s which are being used for effect. • 2. Then, explain what their effect is. The effect is what the word makes you think. • This phrase (“makes us think”) should appear in your answer. • When a question asks you to comment on word choice think of the associations the identified word(s) will conjure up in a reader’s mind.

26. When you answer you should use the formula below: • The word "..........X............" suggests that ............................................ • OR • "......X......." makes us think about ...............................................

27. Example: The driver opened the back door of the taxi and my 'aunt', as we referred to her - really my mother's aunt's daughter ­divested herself of the travelling rugs. She hazarded a foot out on to the gravel - in a pointy crocodile shoe - as if she were testing the atmosphere. She emerged dressed in a waisted black cashmere overcoat with a fur collar and strange scalloped black kid-skin gloves like hawking gauntlets. Question: What impression of the aunt do you get from the writer's choice of the words 'divested', 'hazarded', and 'emerged' to describe her movements? 2 Answer: She is controlled/ precise/ deliberate/calculating/ elegant/ contrived/graceful/ attention-seeking/ self conscious/a show off/ a poser Any one for 2 marks

28. Example: • He was breathing heavily and the smell was inconceivably foul; it was the reek of rotting flesh, of festering wounds, of ancient perspiration, and of fear. • Question:Explain fully how the writer emphasises the smell through word choice. • Answer: Inconceivably foul/reek of rotting flesh/festering wounds/ancient perspiration (1) + explanation (1) 2

29. Figures of Speech (A)

30. Figures of Speech (Imagery) These are simply the various names given to the different ways in which a writer can make his or her work more interesting. They help to create a picture in the reader’s mind. METAPHOR SIMILE PERSONIFICATION

31. IMAGERY – here’s a quick reminder • A SIMILE tells you that one thing is like another; it compares two different objects using the words ‘like’ or ‘as’. e.g. His hair was as black as coal. His heart beat like a drum. • A METAPHOR tells you that one thing is something else. It is not meant literally, but is just a way of creating a vivid picture in your mind. e.g. The cold breeze was a slap in the face. She stared with eyes of stone. • PERSONIFICATION describes a thing or object as if it is a person, or as having human qualities. e.g. The wind whistled through the sails. The sun treads a path through the woods.

32. Literal and metaphorical meaning • Literal meaning = the dictionary definition • Metaphorical meaning = what the image makes us think of • You must explain both the literal and metaphorical meaning in imagery questions.

33. Imagery strategy: • Just as………………….(explain the literal meaning)sotoo…………………………….(explain the metaphorical meaning)

34. Examples: • Use the ‘just as so too’ formula to describe what is being compared in each of the following examples: • He had a mountain of work to do. • He fumed and charged like an angry bull. • His room was a pigsty • Her eyes were as blue as the ocean • Her steely glare turned him to ice

35. Linking questions (A)

36. Linking questions • A linking sentence is one which links two paragraphs together. • Usually this sentence will appear at the start of the second of the two paragraphs which are being linked. • Look carefully at the sentence which is the link. • There will be two parts to this sentence: • One part will refer to the content of the paragraph before. • The other part of the sentence will introduce the subject of the new paragraph.

37. When you answer you should use the formula below: • There is a simple, four-step formula to tackling these types of questions: • Quote briefly from the linking sentence or paragraph. • Show how that quotation makes a link back to earlier in the passage (in your own words). • Quote briefly again from the linking sentence. • Show how this second quotation makes a link forward to what is to come in the passage (in your own words).

38. When you answer link questions you should use the formula below: • The word/phrase"..........X............" refers back to paragraph X when the writer was talking about ..........X............... AND • The word/phrase"......X......." refers forward to the subject of ……..X…….. which the writer goes on to speak about in paragraph X. Both parts of this answer are required to achieve 2 MARKS.

39. Example: • The three witches in Macbeth, prancing cackling round their cauldron, provide the accepted clichés of witch behaviour and taste. Alas the Macbeth witches have merely served to reinforce prejudice, rather than cast illumination. So does the witch deserve her poor image? It is probable that the Wiccan creed goes back to the dawn of religious belief, when cave dwellers peered out and saw wonder in the rhythm of the changing seasons. Early witchcraft was probably no more than a primitive attempt to make sense of the unknown. Question: In what way can the single sentence be regarded as a link of the ideas within the article? 2

40. Example: • Following the Roman invasion in 43 AD, the South of Britain was totally subdued within thirty years; many Britons were sold as slaves and the land was covered with Roman roads and towns. Soon, south Britain was to be a complete Roman province, the townsmen speaking Latin and building comfortable Roman houses with central heating. But, unlike their easy victory in the south, the north of the country resisted foreign invaders.Here the Romans were never able to do more than hold down the natives for short periods. There were no Roman towns, no country houses, no temples, only forts and camps where soldiers lived for a time. • How does the highlighted sentence above act as a link in the writer’s argument? 2

41. Tone Questions

42. Tone Questions • Some people find tone questions very difficult to answer. • There is a way to make them just a bit easier. • Think of HOW the writer would SAYthis if he or she were talking directly to you in person. • In speech, the tone of voice used helps to make the speaker’s feelings clear. • In writing, however, you must look at the word choice to find clues to the feelings or attitude of the author.

43. Examples of tone… • It’s impossible to list every variance of tone that a writer may use, as there are so many. • But they can be broadly grouped together. • Firstly, however, consider whether the writer is being serious or light-hearted about his subject.

44. Irony is the name given to the figure of speech where an author says the opposite of what he really means. This could be for humorous effect, but there is often a more serious point to be made. A flippant tone is where the writer is showing a mocking attitude to his topic and isn’t taking it too seriously. A lighthearted tone may be more informal and conversational, whereas a serious, respectful tone will use more formal words. An enthusiastic effusive tone might be used in advertising to persuade someone to buy a product. The word conversational can describe a tone, particularly a chatty, friendly tone, as if the writer is confiding in the reader or directly addressing them. The tone may be humorous in a straightforward way, where the writer finds the subject funny and hopes that you will too! A satirical tone is an extreme form of irony. Here a writer is funny in a more savage way: he holds a subject to ridicule in order to attack it. A tongue-in-cheek tone is a form of irony: the writer will sound serious but there will be a sense of ridicule behind this. Euphemism is a common feature of this tone. An example of this may be the expression, “tired and emotional” to mean “drunk”! A serious tone is obviously used for a serious purpose, on solemn occasions: a funeral speech for example. Words such as formal, ponderous or even pompous might be applied.

45. Sentence structure questions

46. Sentence structure questions: • Questions on the structure of sentences are asking you about how the sentence is put together. • The writer has done something important or unusual in putting this particular sentence together.

47. Some advice on tackling these questions: • There are two things for you to do here: FOLLOW THIS FORMULA!!! A) You must note what the structure of the sentence is. AND… B) You must explain what effect this has on a reader - what it makes the reader think.

48. Types of structure. Effect They Achieve Some Structures “Failure!” Short, dramatic, attention - grabbing. “Who ? Me ? Why ? How ? “ Questions show either doubt or mystery He failed his exam. A simple statement of an idea. He failed English, maths, science, art and history A list suggests quantity, a lot of items. An explanation usually what comes after the semi-colon qualifies what came before. He failed everything; he never paid attention. He failed English; his maths just didn’t add up; science was a bad experiment for him; art was surreal and he could never remember dates in history. A series of sentences join to make one long sentence to suggest quantity. A list of sentences joined together as one contain verbs in the present tense. This suggests a lot of action / lots of things going on. Ends in a climactic statement. He is now worrying about the future; he is now regretting his laziness; he is now looking for job sweeping the streets; he is now a sorry boy.

49. Things to look out for… • Length – long? Short? • Listing – What is being listed and why? • Repetition • Parenthesis - what is the extra information? Why has it been added? () ,, -- • Word order (inversion) – is there an emphasis on particular words? • Colons or semi colons – what is their function? • Minor sentences – ungrammatical sentence • Questions – effect on the reader? • Ellipsis …

50. RIPPLE FORMULA REPETITION, INVERSION, PARENTHESIS, PUNCTUATION, LISTING, ELLIPSIS…