Reading comprehension of unseen passage
The unseen passage
This section gives a fresh Konkani passage and asks for main idea, detail, inference, reference, and word meaning. The answers are in the text; outside knowledge is only a tiebreaker.
A reliable routine
- Read the questions first, not the options.
- Skim for the topic sentence of each paragraph.
- Scan for names, numbers, and contrast markers.
- For inference, combine two stated facts; do not add a third.
- For word meaning, substitute the candidate into the original sentence.
Worked example
Original passage: 'Sita bakri vikun xikxonnacho kharch cholta. Ek dis tika ek purse mellta. Tacher kagot asa: Mhojea putak xikxonn di. Sita purse gheun police station vochon dita. Police tika dhonnyavad dita.' Question: Why does Sita hand over the purse? Reasoning: the passage says she earns for education and the note asks to educate a son; she could keep the money, but she chooses the police station. The motive is honesty, supported by the contrast between need and action. Answer: she is honest despite her financial need. Do not answer because she is poor; that is background, not the motive.
Traps
Copying a whole sentence when one clause is asked; choosing an option that is true in life but absent from the passage; confusing a character's words with the narrator's; missing not and only in the question.