Reading Comprehension: locating, inferring and rewording an unseen passage
Reading Comprehension (unseen passage)
An unseen passage tests four skills: locating stated fact, inferring what is implied, explaining vocabulary in context, and compressing meaning (title, summary, tone). The passage is new to you; the method is not.
Method
- Read the questions first, so you know which paragraphs to hunt in.
- Classify each question: literal (the answer is stated - locate and rewrite), inferential (the answer follows from a detail - quote the detail and state the conclusion), vocabulary (give the meaning as used in that sentence), global (title, main idea, purpose, tone).
- Answer in complete sentences unless a word or phrase is asked for, and keep the passage's tense.
- Use your own words: lift a key phrase at most, then paraphrase.
Worked example
Passage: "For eleven years the ferry crossed on time. On the morning the bridge opened, the boatman stood at the ghat and counted the cars." Question: What does the detail about counting cars suggest? Reasoning: the contrast between "eleven years" and one morning marks an ending; counting is not sailing, so the boatman is idle and watching his rival; the bridge, not the weather, has emptied his boat. Answer: it suggests he is watching his livelihood disappear, measuring how quickly the bridge has taken his passengers. The answer stays inside the text - no invented biography.
Traps
- Copying whole sentences, which scores little where "in your own words" is asked.
- Answering a "why" question with a "what".
- Missing qualifiers and negatives: "apart from", "mainly", "the author implies".
- Guessing vocabulary from a general dictionary sense rather than from the sentence.
- Over-reading: an inference must be supported by a detail actually in the passage.