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Skill A UNDERSTANDING THE MEANING OF A WORD/PHRASE IN CONTEXT (consolidated)
For this skill, you are required to practice and perform the skill of understanding the meaning of a word as it is used in the passage
To achieve this goal, you need to bear in mind this strategy:
Usually the meaning of the word in question is not the meaning you have already known about this word (e.g. in the dictionary or in other contexts different from the context of the reading passage you are working on. So, the meaning of the word in question should be the meaning in the context of the reading passage. It is the meaning the writer or lecturer intends to use. In some cases, this is the meaning implied by the writer who wishes the readers to understand what he/she really wants to convey.
For this strategy, you are require to
• use context clues (synonyms, antonyms, examples) to figure out the meaning of a word
• Apply knowledge of word parts (roots, prefixes, suffixes, etc.) to help understand the meaning
• Apply knowledge of grammar clues such as the verb "be" (for giving definitions), conjunctions, and punctuation marks (dash, colon, parentheses, etc.) to help understand connections and context
Here are some example questions for understanding the vocabulary.
Example Questions:
• In stating that __________, the author means that __________
• The author uses the word __________ to indicate that __________
• The word __________ in the passage is closest in meaning to __________
• The word __________ could best be replaced by which of the following?
• The phrase __________ in the passage means __________
Skill B UNDERSTANDING THE REFERENT OF A PRONOUN/REFERENCE PRHASE (consolidated)
For this skill, you are required to practice and perform the skill of:
• Recognizing a noun that is being referred to by a pronoun or other reference word {This noun is known as the "referent.")
• Understanding the different kinds of pronouns and reference words
Here are some tips for this skill.
- Proximity: the noun (referent) that is being referred to usually precede the pronoun or the reference word.
- Topic/theme: if the noun preceding the pronoun or reference word is not the referent you are looking for, then you can look further backward in the previous sentence to identify the theme or topical object that is being discussed or talked about.
- Relevance in substitution: to make sure the word you choose match the meaning of the correct word you can place/insert the word of your choice into the place of the pronoun or reference word to see whether it is relevant to the meaning of the word in question.
Here are some example questions for identify the referent.
- The phrase __________ in the passage refers to ___ like
- The word __________ in line ___ refers to
- What does the word __________ in paragraph ___ refer to?
- What does __________ in paragraph refer to?
- What is the meaning of the word __________ in paragraph ___?
- The phrase __________ in the passage ___ refers to ___
Now practice the skill of understanding the meaning of a word as it is used in the passage below.
READING PRACTICE 1 (Vocabulary and Reference)
Language Families
Historians have always faced one particular difficulty. The earliest societies to read and write seem to have surfaced around 5,000 years ago. How could historians learn about earlier ones that had no written records? To make the problem even more difficult, most of physical evidence which scientists normally use to learn about a society, such as the remains of houses and tools, no longer exists for these early societies. And yet, scientists have managed to learn a great deal about these early societies. What has made this possible is the study of languages.
As you probably know, many languages have words that appear to be quite similar. For example, police in English is the same as policia in Spanish. By studying these similarities, we know that some languages are related; that is, they all come from an earlier common language. One example of this would be Spanish, French, and Italian, which all came from an earlier language, Latin. If different groups of people have a common ancestral language, we can guess that they also had a common group of ancestors. By tracing these language families back thousands of years, we can trace back to our earliest ancestors.
One of the largest language families is the Indo-European language family. Today the Indo-European language family consists of 431 languages. Over three billion people speak those languages, and they are spread all over the world. But 7,000 years ago they all had a common group of ancestors who spoke the same language and lived together in a single society. Over many years, that society separated and moved into new areas, and that single Indo-European language slowly changed into the hundreds of different languages they speak today. Studying languages can tell us much more than slowly what groups of people have common ancestors. It can also tell us what the lives of those common ancestors were like. By studying what kinds of words the languages in a language family have in common, we can learn a great deal about our early ancestors. For example, we know that the Indo-Europeans rode horses, were herders and shepherds (they raised cows and sheep), wrote poems about the battles they fought, and worshiped a sky deity. And we know all of this just by studying the words we speak every day!
1. The author uses the word particular to indicate that the difficulty was
A. impossible to solve
B. specific
C. important
D. unique
Key and instruction (masked)
2. The word surfaced in the passage is closest in meaning to
A. communicated
B. rose to the top layer
C. appeared
D. invented
Key and instruction (masked)
3. The word ones in the passage refers to
A. historians
B. societies
C. languages
D. difficulties
Key and instruction (masked)
4. Based on the information in paragraphs 3 and 4, the term language families can best be explained as
A. the groups of people who speak a language
B. languages that came from Latin
C. languages that all developed from a common ancestral language
D. the common ancestors who spoke our languages
Key and instruction (masked)
5. The word they in the passage refers to
A. people who speak different languages
B. common ancestors
C. speakers of languages in the Indo-European language family
D. scientists researching languages
Key and instruction (masked)
6. In stating that Indo-Europeans worshiped a sky deity, the author means that they
A. studied the weather
B. respected the sky and the stars
C. prayed to a sky god
D. took care of their environment
Key and instruction (masked)
WORDS & EXPRESSIONS
Ancestor (n): tổ tiên, cha ông
Ancestral (adj): thuộc về tổ tiên, cùng tộc, họ
Trace (v): truy dấu vết
Herder (n): người chăn, lùa cừu, bò
Shepherd (n): người chăn, lùa cừu, bò
Worship (v): thờ cúng
Deity (n): thần
SKILL C GUESSING THE MEANING OF A SENTENCE THROUGH PARAPHRASING
Strategies for paraphrasing
• Understanding the meaning of the highlighted sentence correctly
• Using the context to understand the highlighted sentence clearly
• Identifying a paraphrase that most accurately restates the key information in the original sentence
Types paraphrasing
• Recognizing different sentence structures that keep the meaning of the original sentence:
Ex: Today, the vast majority of fiction is written in prose rather than in poetry.
• Changed sentence structure:
Ex: Today, the vast majority of writers write fiction in prose rather than in poetry. (passive voice structure)
• Recognizing different vocabulary words that keep the meaning of the original sentence:
Ex. Today, the vast majority of fiction is written in prose rather than in poetry.
• Changed wording:
Ex. Today, most of the fiction is written in prose rather than in poetry.
(The vast majority of fiction is written in prose rather than in poetry by contemporary writers.)
• Changed structure and wording:
Ex. Most contemporary writers write novels instead of poems.
The representation of the original sentence and the paraphrased sentence
Type of paraphrase Original sentence Paraphrased sentence
Change of structure Today, the vast majority of fiction is written in prose rather than in poetry. Today, the vast majority of writers write fiction in prose rather than in poetry. (passive voice structure)
Change of word Today, the vast majority of fiction is written in prose rather than in poetry.
Today, the vast majority of fiction is written in prose rather than in poetry. Today, most of the fiction is written in prose rather than in poetry.
The vast majority of fiction is written in prose rather than in poetry by contemporary writers.
Change of structure + words Today, the vast majority of fiction is written in prose rather than in poetry. Most contemporary writers write novels instead of poems.
Tips to identify the correct option that has the closest meaning to that of the original sentence
1. To identify the message that the writer intends to emphasize or communicates to the reader. Some particular words or expressions help the writer focus their emphasis and guide the reader’s interpretation to the implication intended in the context.
E.g.1. compound sentence with but/however … helps the writer imply that the information or message after but is something important and relevant to be communicated.
E.g.2. for structure A rather than B, A is asserted and B is denied or not preferred.
E.g. Today, the vast majority of fiction is written in prose rather than in poetry.
≈ Most contemporary writers write novels instead of poems.
We know that this paraphrase Most contemporary writers write novels instead of poems is correct because the phrase prose rather than poetry means poetry is not preferred or chosen.
2. To identify the synonymous words or phrases in the original sentence and the paraphrased one.
E.g. Today, the vast majority of fiction is written in prose rather than in poetry.
Most contemporary writers write novels instead of poems.
Original sentence vs. paraphrased sentence Today, the vast majority of fiction is written in prose rather than in poetry. Most contemporary writers write novels instead of poems.
Synonymous words/expressions Today contemporary
the vast majority Most
Prose novels
rather than prefer
3. To identify the mismatching between the messages emphasized in the original sentence and that mentioned in the wrong paraphrased sentence.
E.g. Today, the vast majority of fiction is written in prose rather than in poetry.
A. Most readers these days prefer to read poetry over novels.
B. Most contemporary writers write novels instead of poems.
C. Most modem readers choose to read novels.
D. Most writers nowadays prefer to read novels instead of poetry.
With the structure A rather than B the writer may imply that A is preferred to B, A is likely to be chosen, not B. Option A with prefer to read poetry over novels is incorrect because the truth is Most readers chose to read novels, not poetry. Option C is incorrect because the option only mentions chose to read novels whereas the phrase in prose rather than in poetry implies a comparison between prose and poetry. Option D is incorrect because the meaning of the paraphrased sentence Most writers nowadays prefer to read novels does not match with that of the original sentence the vast majority of fiction is written in prose that means most writers prefer to write novels, not to read.
Now you are required to practice paraphrasing with the reading below.
Now you are required to practice reading using the skills of guessing the meaning of the words/phrases in context and understanding the meaning of the sentence through paraphrasing.
READING PRACTICE 2 (Sentence Simplification)
From the late 1500s to the early 1800s, European nations ran a huge number of plantations, farms that relied on slave labor, in the New World. While this took place in almost every European colony, it was most common in Caribbean islands like the Bahamas. It was on these islands that the Europeans ran their sugar cane plantations. High profitable for the plantation owners, sugar cane was the backbone of the slave economy, but it took a terrible toll on the African slaves who actually did the work. For a slave, being sent to a sugar plantation was practically a death sentence.
To make up for the high death rate among their slaves, the Europeans had to constantly bring new slaves from Africa. This led to one of the most horrible aspects of slavery in the Americas, the Middle Passage. After slaves were bought or captured in Africa, they had to be transported by ship to the Americas. This trip was known as the Middle Passage.
Packed side by side on a slave ship, the slaves were kept in chains for the entire duration of the trip, which could last anywhere from one to six months depending on the weather. They were fed just enough food to keep them alive. This served two purposes. Not only did it allow slave traders to keep their costs down, the near starvation of the slaves also kept them so weak that they had little chance of resisting during the Middle Passage. Under such horrible conditions, it is not surprising that the death rate on the Middle Passage was often higher than the death rate on the plantations themselves. It is estimated that of the 20 million slaves taken from Africa, nearly half of them died before they ever reached the Americas.
WORDS & EXPRESSIONS
Slave (n): nô lệ
plantation (n): đồn điền, trang trại
backbone (n): xương sống, chỗ dựa
resist (v): phản kháng
starvation (n): tình trạng đói, sự chết đói
toll (n): con số thương vong, tử vong
The sentences below are from the passage you just read. Which answer choice expresses the same basic idea?
1. Highly profitable for the plantation owners, sugar cane was the backbone of the slave economy, but it took a terrible toll on the African slaves who actually did the work.
(A) Although they were highly profitable and formed the basis of the slave economy, sugar cane plantations killed many slaves.
(B) In order to make sugar cane plantations profitable, plantation owners took heavy tolls from their slaves.
© Although it formed the backbone of the slave economy, sugar cane was only profitable when it took a high toll on American slaves.
(D) Working on sugar plantations took a high toll on the backbones of slaves because it was highly profitable for slave owners.
2. Not only did it allow slave traders to keep their costs down, the near starvation of the slaves also kept them so weak that they had little chance of resisting during the Middle Passage.
(A) Not only did slave traders try to keep their costs down. they also starved any slaves who tried to resist during the Middle Passage.
(B) By starving the slaves during the Middle Passage, slave owners were able to reduce their expenses and prevent rebellion on the ship.
© To keep their costs down, slave traders only took slaves who were near starvation and had little chance of resisting during the Middle Passage.
(D) Weaker slaves had little chance to resist the near starvation that the slave traders used to keep their costs down.
KEY & INSTRUCTION (MASKED)
1.A 2.B
1. Highly profitable for the plantation owners, sugar cane was the backbone of the slave economy, but it took a terrible toll on the African slaves who actually did the work.
(A) Although they were highly profitable and formed the basis of the slave economy, sugar cane plantations killed many slaves.
(B) In order to make sugar cane plantations profitable, plantation owners took heavy tolls from their slaves.
© Although it formed the backbone of the slave economy, sugar cane was only profitable when it took a high toll on American slaves.
(D) Working on sugar plantations took a high toll on the backbones of slaves because it was highly profitable for slave owners.
Option A is correct because the message in the main clause sugar cane plantations killed many slaves conveys the essential information of the main idea of the original sentence plantation and sugar cane took a terrible toll on the African slaves (toll means death or injuries). Option B is incorrect because heavy tolls from the slaves is not the means for the plantation owners to make sugar cane plantations profitable as stated in this option. Option C is incorrect because high toll on American slaves is not mentioned in the reading. Option D is incorrect because working on sugar plantations did not take a high toll on the backbones of slaves as stated in this option.
2. Not only did it allow slave traders to keep their costs down, the near starvation of the slaves also kept them so weak that they had little chance of resisting during the Middle Passage.
(A) Not only did slave traders try to keep their costs down, they also starved any slaves who tried to resist during the Middle Passage.
(B) By starving the slaves during the Middle Passage, slave owners were able to reduce their expenses and prevent rebellion on the ship.
© To keep their costs down, slave traders only took slaves who were near starvation and had little chance of resisting during the Middle Passage.
(D) Weaker slaves had little chance to resist the near starvation that the slave traders used to keep their costs down.
As we learn from the context and the highlighted original sentence, feeding the slaves with just enough food to keep them alive served two purposes: to keep the cost down and to minimize the chance of their resistance. Accordingly, option A is incorrect because the plantation owners reduced the food to prevent resistance, not to starve any slaves who tried to resist as stated in this option. Option C is incorrect because the writer did not mention that the plantation owners only took slaves who were near starvation and had little chance of resisting. Option D is incorrect because the idea that the slave traders used to keep their costs down was their purpose, not the result or consequence, as stated in this option. Also, the idea that weaker slaves had little chance to resist the near starvation is not mentioned.
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