Unit 3: Reading

Reading comprehension is the skill of extracting, interpreting and evaluating meaning from a written text, then demonstrating that understanding through a controlled response format. This unit treats the text as evidence: every answer must be traceable to specific words on the page, not to prior knowledge or guesswork.

• Three reading modes: skimming for the gist (reading fast for the main idea), scanning for a specific detail (hunting a name, date or figure), and intensive reading for close inference. Each task type below favours one mode.
• Textual anchoring: every correct response is justified by a locatable phrase — a "textual trigger" — in the passage.
• Literal vs inferential: literal answers are stated outright; inferential answers must be deduced from implication, tone or connectives like "however", "therefore", "despite".
• Paraphrase principle: examiners restate ideas in synonyms, so the trigger phrase rarely matches the question wording word-for-word.
• Instruction fidelity: the response must obey the format exactly — a word limit, a single tick, a letter, a T/F — or it fails even when the understanding is correct.

II. Recognition-Based Objective Tasks

Selecting the right option from choices supplied by the text.

These tasks give you the answers and ask you to recognise the correct one; no original writing is produced, so accuracy depends on close matching and the elimination of distractors.

A. Multiple Choice Questions

A stem (question or incomplete statement) is followed by three or four options of which one is correct and the rest are distractors.

• Distractor types: partially true (right fact, wrong detail), out of scope (true in the world but absent from the text), and opposite (contradicts the passage).
• Method: read the stem, predict an answer before looking, then match; eliminate options traceable to a wrong line.
• Textual anchoring: if the text says "sales rose only after the merger", an option reading "sales rose before the merger" is an opposite distractor.
• Trap: absolute words ("always", "never", "all") in an option usually signal a false choice unless the text itself is absolute.

B. Tick the Correct Option

A statement or term is offered with alternatives, and you mark the one supported by the passage, usually with a tick (✓).

• Difference from MCQ: often tests a single factual point rather than reasoning across the whole paragraph.
• Method: scan for the keyword, confirm against the exact sentence, place one tick only.
• Textual anchoring: passage reads "the committee meets quarterly" → tick "four times a year", not "monthly".
• Discipline: ticking two options or none voids the answer even if one tick was right.

C. Finding True or False Statements

Given statements are judged against the text as true, false, or sometimes not given.

• True: the statement agrees fully with the passage.
• False: the statement contradicts the passage.
• Not given: the passage neither confirms nor denies it — a common trap where readers wrongly mark false.
• Method: locate the statement's keyword in the text; compare meaning, not words.
• Textual anchoring: text "the museum closes on Mondays"; statement "the museum opens every day" = False; statement "the museum is the city's oldest" (unmentioned) = Not given.

D. Matching the Headings

A list of headings is paired with the correct paragraph each summarises.

• Principle: a heading captures a paragraph's main idea, not a minor detail inside it.
• Method: read the first and last sentence of each paragraph (where topic sentences sit), then test headings; there are usually more headings than paragraphs, so some are unused.
• Textual anchoring: a paragraph whose topic sentence is "Rising fuel costs forced the airline to cut routes" matches the heading "Economic pressure on operations", not "History of aviation".
• Trap: a heading echoing a single vivid word from the paragraph is often the distractor.

III. Gap-Filling and Completion Tasks

Supplying missing language that the text or its structure requires.

These tasks test whether you can reproduce or reconstruct meaning, usually under a strict word limit and often requiring the answer to be lifted directly from the passage.

A. Sentence Completion

An unfinished sentence is finished using information from the text, typically within a stated word limit.

• Grammatical fit: the inserted words must agree in tense, number and part of speech with the stem.
• Method: identify what kind of word the gap needs (noun, verb phrase, number), then scan the paragraph for it.
• Textual anchoring: stem "The experiment was repeated __ times" needs a number; the text supplies "three".
• Rule: stay within the limit — "no more than three words" means an answer of four is wrong.

B. Fill in the Blanks

Isolated gaps within sentences are completed, drawing on vocabulary, grammar or passage facts.

• Two varieties: open (any suitable word) and closed (choose from a given word bank).
• Clue sources: collocation ("heavy rain" not "strong rain"), preposition patterns ("depend on"), and surrounding sense.
• Textual anchoring: "She was __ in her decision" → "firm" / "resolute" fits the tone of a determined character.
• Check: reread the whole sentence with the word inserted to confirm it reads naturally.

C. Summary Completion

A condensed paraphrase of part of the passage contains gaps you fill, often from a word list.

• Principle: the summary follows the passage's order, so gaps can be located sequentially.
• Method: read the full summary first to grasp its drift, then match each gap to the corresponding passage segment.
• Textual anchoring: passage "the process reduced waste by half"; summary "waste fell by __" → "half" or "fifty percent" if word count allows.
• Trap: words in the list may be grammatically plausible but factually wrong; meaning decides, not fit alone.

D. Completing the Gaps

A broader completion task spanning a sentence, table, flow-chart or diagram labelled from the text.

• Formats: note completion (bullet notes), flow-chart completion (process steps), table completion (data cells).
• Method: follow the logical sequence of the visual; its structure signals what each gap expects (a stage, a cause, a result).
• Textual anchoring: a flow-chart step "Heat the mixture → __ → cool rapidly" is filled by the intervening action named in the text, e.g. "stir for ten minutes".
• Consistency: keep answers parallel in form with the gaps already filled around them.

IV. Vocabulary and Constructed-Response Tasks

Producing original language to show comprehension.

Here you generate the answer yourself rather than selecting it, so phrasing, relevance and concision are judged alongside correctness.

A. One Word Substitutes

A single precise word replaces a descriptive phrase.

• Purpose: builds economy and vocabulary — compressing a definition into one lexical item.
• Method: identify the core idea of the phrase, then recall the exact term; spelling counts.
• Examples:
  • A person who studies the stars → astronomer.
  • That which cannot be read → illegible.
  • A government by the people → democracy.
• Precision: near-synonyms fail — "star-watcher" is not accepted for "astronomer".

B. Short Answer Questions

Direct questions answered in a phrase or one–two sentences, strictly from the text.

• Scope: answer only what is asked; extra information wastes effort and risks error.
• Method: turn the question's wh-word into a search target — "why" needs a reason, "how" needs a method.
• Textual anchoring: question "Why did the villagers leave?"; text "repeated floods destroyed their fields" → answer "because repeated floods destroyed their fields".
• Form: reuse the question's structure in the answer for a complete, grammatical response.

C. Subjective Questions

Open-ended questions inviting interpretation, opinion or extended explanation grounded in the text.

• Contrast with short answers:
  1. Short answer: one verifiable fact, little room for variation.
  2. Subjective: a reasoned response that may differ between readers yet must still cite textual evidence.
• Structure: state a position, support it with references to the passage, then conclude.
• Textual anchoring: "Was the narrator justified?" is answered by quoting the narrator's stated motive and weighing it, not by unsupported personal feeling.
• Marking basis: credit rests on relevance, coherence and evidence, not on matching a single fixed answer.

Each task in this unit rewards the same core habit: locate the trigger in the text, respect the exact instruction, and let the passage — never assumption — supply the answer.