Reading and responding
Read for structure before detail
Skim for sixty to ninety seconds: title, layout, and the first and last sentence of each paragraph. Senior Karen texts typically include notices, letters, short articles, dialogues and narratives. Text type predicts register and content. A notice is impersonal and brief; a letter to an elder opens with an address term and closes with a formula; a narrative leans on time connectives and reported speech.
What to track
Follow cohesion. Pronouns and their referents, connectives signalling cause, contrast and sequence, and reporting verbs all carry marks in inference questions. Distinguish fact from opinion - a very common question type - and notice the writer's attitude, which may be signalled by a single evaluative word rather than a whole sentence.
Traps
- Translating word for word and turning idiomatic phrasing into nonsense.
- Missing a negation buried mid-sentence.
- Answering only the first half of a two-part question ("why and how").
- Quoting long chunks instead of short, precise evidence plus your own wording.
- Ignoring the instruction verb: describe, explain and compare require different answers.
- Assuming a loanword from Burmese, Thai or English carries exactly the same meaning.
Worked example: the two-part answer
Suppose the question reads: "Explain why the writer disagrees with the plan and what she suggests instead." That is two marks, so write two clauses. Model shape: "The writer says X because Y. Instead, she suggests Z." Keep sentences short, use one connective per sentence, and answer in the order the question is asked.
Rule of thumb
Highlight the instruction verb and the number of parts before you write a single word, then check your answer against both.