Short Dialogue and Situational Reading (会話文・資料読解)
This domain covers two tasks marked together: a short conversation with a numbered blank you fill with the most natural line, and a practical text - a notice, e-mail, poster, timetable or flyer - with questions about its details. The skill tested is functional English: recognising an offer, a request, a refusal and a suggestion, then answering appropriately, and pulling a specific fact out of a real-world text.
Core rules
- Name the function before the blank: 依頼 (Could you...?), 許可 (May I...?), 申し出 (Shall I...? / Would you like me to...?), 提案 (How about...? / Why don't we...?), 誘い (Would you like to...?).
- Match the reply to the function, not to a shared keyword. Keyword-matching is the standard wrong-answer design.
- Politely refused invitations keep a door open: "I'd love to, but I have club practice. How about Sunday?"
- Track who does what: "Can you ask him to call me?" needs an answer about the third person.
Worked example
A: "Would you like me to carry that box?" Choices: ① Yes, please. That would be great. ② Yes, I would like a box. ③ No, I don't like it. ④ You're welcome.
② repeats the word "box"; ③ misreads the offer as a question about preference; ④ answers an expression of thanks. The line offers help, so ①, which accepts politely, is correct.
For 資料読解, read the question first, then scan for the exact cell: date, time, price, venue, deadline - and any condition in small print (students only, closed on Mondays, one per person).
Traps
- Answering "How about ten?" with "Yes, I did" instead of agreeing to the time.
- Negative questions: "Don't you have a pen?" - "No, I don't" means you need one.
- A grammatically perfect sentence that answers a different question.
- Ignoring eligibility and condition lines in notices.
- Missing a number of people or a day of the week stated in the dialogue.