Paragraph Comprehension
Question types
Paragraph Comprehension passages are short - one to four paragraphs - and questions fall into predictable kinds: main idea, specific detail, inference, vocabulary in context, and author's purpose or tone. Read once for the overall point, then answer from the text rather than from memory or personal opinion.
How to attack each type
- Main idea: the answer must cover the whole passage. A choice that is true but describes only one sentence is a detail, not the main idea.
- Detail: the answer is stated or closely paraphrased. Scan back to the sentence that contains it.
- Inference: the answer is not stated but must be true given the text. It is a small, safe step, never a leap.
- Vocabulary in context: return to the sentence and substitute each option; only one preserves the sentence's meaning.
- Tone and purpose: notice word choice. Terms like 'unfortunately' or 'remarkably' reveal attitude.
Traps
- Choices that are true in real life but unsupported by the passage.
- Extreme wording - always, never, all, only - that goes beyond the author's claim.
- Options that reverse a cause-and-effect relationship stated in the text.
- Vocabulary answers giving a word's common meaning instead of its meaning in this sentence.
- Answers that blend two ideas from different paragraphs into a claim the author never made.
Worked example
Passage: 'The city planted 500 trees along the river last spring. By August most had survived, but the willows in the sandy northern stretch had not.' A sound inference is that sandy northern soil suited the willows poorly - supported by both the location and the outcome, without overstating.
Rule of thumb
Every answer must be defensible by pointing to a specific sentence or two. If you cannot point to it, do not pick it.