RC: Primary Purpose, Structure, Tone, and Specific Purpose Flashcards
passages contain theories, opinions, and viewpoints
short passages: one theory, opinion or viewpoint
long passages: multiple
what is the myth structure in RC passages?
a group of people believe something, but the author does not agree with what they believe (thinks it is a myth)
is there usually evidence associated with claims made?
yes, both from the author, and the opposing side
when reading a passage, what questions should we ask ourselves regarding evidence?
- what evidence does the author provide in support of their viewpoint?
- what evidence is offered in support of opposing viewpoints?
- is the evidence strong (scientific experiment), or weak (observations)?
what is a common flow for a claim made and associated evidence?
- introduce a theory
- provide some evidence for that theory
- make the claim that the theory has problems
- present reasons why theory is incorrect
are all passages about opinions?
no, some are simply about natural phenomenon, historical developments, etc. and they take on a neutral tone
what is the recipe for finding the “simple story” of the passage?
- make it specific enough that it actually captures the main point - dont be too broad
- MUST take the words of the author and rephrase them into our own “simple story” encapsulation of the passage
- simple story must be concise
T/F: for all intents and purposes the simple story you create is the main idea of the passage?
true
what is the primary purpose of a passage?
the reason why the author took the time to write the passage (most RC passages are accompanied by a primary purpose question!)
primary purpose stems:
see screenshot
when we are done reading a passage what statement should we able to make regarding the primary purpose of that passage?
“The reason the author wrote this passage is to…”
Generally, what is the authors primary purpose in writing a passage?
to express its main idea, which is nothing more than our simple story
what is the main idea often centered on?
cause and effect claims, problems and solutions, and opposing viewpoints
what is the significance of the first one or two sentences of each paragraph in a passage?
it is common for leading sentences to state the important points of a passage - these leading sentences can help bring the primary purpose of the passage into focus
clue to help find main point of a passage:
since opinions (of authors or others) mentioned by the passage are generally strongly connected to main points of a passage, we can identify main points by identifying opinions
finding opinions to locate main points is aided by noting “opinion markers”:
argue that
assert
believe
claim
contend
opinion
propose
clearly
should
contrast markers highlighting differences in opinion are….
often closely related to main point of a passage
why should we pay attention to strong language in a passage?
it may provide valuable clues as to what they main point of a passage is
why is it important to pay close attention to any conclusion(s) presented in a passage?
they are ALWAYS clues alerting us to the primary purpose of the passage
conclusion markers to help identify when a conclusion is being presented
therefore
thus
in summary
in conclusion
in closing
in essence
in short
in any event
all things considered
all in all
by and large
for this reason
why is a conclusion stated in the last sentence of a passage a gold nugget?
because often a conclusion stated in the last sentence of a passage will be the main point of the passage or be strongly connected to the primary purpose of the passage
causation markers
caused by
because
due to
attributed to
explanation
explained by
resulted from
as a result of
consequently
reason
thus
why is it important to pay close attention to cause and effect claims/relationships?
authors use cause and effect relationships to make important points - so, by noticing them we can glean strong clues as to what the primary purpose of the passage is
what is the significance of rhetorical question?
when an author asks a rhetorical question, they ask for the sole purpose of telling us the answer - this is important because the answer the author then gives to their rhetorical question is strongly connected to the primary purpose of the passage
T/F: correct answers to primary purpose questions are sometimes written in ways that we wouldn’t expect - might look different than our “simply story”, but are actually correct?
True: see screenshot
how do you answer a primary purpose question when were dealing with a passage whose primary purpose or making point is not immediately clear?
start by finding the IMPORTANT POINTS in the passage, since a passage accomplishes its primary purpose by stating and supporting important points - then take those important points and go to the answer choices and find the one that best fits the important points of the passage
Incorrect “Primary Purpose” answer type 1: Too narrow of an answer choice
these can be tempting because they do accurately describe part of the passage, but fail to reflect the primary purpose of the passage as a whole
Incorrect “Primary Purpose” answer type 2: Something mentioned frequently yet not the primary purpose
when something is mentioned frequently it can be easy to get the impression that the point of the passage is to discuss that thing, but to avoid the trap we home in on and consider main points, opinions, contrasts, and conclusions stated in the passage. Also, consider questions such as “what is the authors overall message?”
Incorrect “Primary Purpose” answer type 3: An answer choice that uses the wrong verb
since the primary purpose of a passage is to do something, a key part of virtually all primary purpose answer choices is a verb (which defines what the choice expresses) - we can use this “wrong verb” idea to quickly rule out incorrect answer choices. See screenshot
how can it be helpful to identify whether the verb in a primary purpose answer choice is argumentative or descriptive?
because often a passage itself is argumentative or descriptive, so identifying whether the verb in an answer choice matches the passage is a good starting point. See screenshot
Incorrect “Primary Purpose” answer type 6: Half-right choices
a half-right choice is tricky because it is either partly correct or close to correct. To avoid this trap, read the choice in its entirety, and check the entire choice (every verb, noun, and modifiers) against the passage! See screenshot
what do structural markers do?
help us understand the logic of a passage, the function of different elements of the passage, the relationship between ideas and facts, and the intention or viewpoint of the author - they help us navigate and understand both simple and complicated RC passages. See screenshot for the important types of markers to look out for.
additional point marker
indicates that the purpose of a sentence is to support a conclusion stated by a sentence probably located more than one sentence above: furthermore, additionally, likewise, as well, etc
may be the second, third or fourth sentence that provides support for a conclusion stated earlier.
See screenshot for example
look above marker
indicates that a sentence is referring to something mentioned previously in the passage: this X, these X, those X, such X, for example, also
a RC questions may direct us to a target sentence, though we may need to “look above” that target to sentence and refer to a previous sentence that actually contains our answer. See screen capture for examples
rhetorical question marker
indicates that a rhetorical question has been asked: easy to spot since it ends with a question mark “?”
it is important to notice these because when an author poses a rhetorical question the answer that follows that question will be a key point that is strongly connected to the primary purpose. See screenshot examples
extreme marker
indicates that an extreme statement is being made: all, every, only, none, always, never, etc
Its useful to notice extreme markers because such statements express specific, extreme meaning and this can help us determine whether RC answer choices match the passage. see screenshot
what do structure questions ask?
ask about the structure, or organization, of a passage, a paragraph, or about the logical connection between two paragraphs
*See screenshot for question stem examples
see screenshot for common passage structures - THESE ARE IMPORTANT
in addition to, in a single read through, be able to understand the main point or the simple story of the passage, we also want to understand the structure
Structure Trap 3: The Stretch Choice
stretch choices use extreme markers or strong language to go beyond what the passage actually says. The stretch part is usually what comes after the verb
*See screenshot for example
Structure Trap 4: The opposite answer
to avoid choosing opposite trap choices we must pay attention to the direction in which each part of the choice takes things and confirm whether the corresponding portion of the passage takes things in the same direction
*See screenshot for example
Structure Trap 5: The half-right answer choice
since structure question answer choices have multiple parts, the half-right answer choice trap is where just one half of the answer choice is correct (pay close attention to verb choices as those can be what make a choice wrong)
see screenshot for example of subtle verb choice issue
some specific purpose questions will ask us to determine the specific purpose, or function, of a sentence in the passage - what are the question stems we should look out for?
see screenshot
some specific purpose questions ask us to identify the specific purpose of something mentioned - which could be a word, phrase, quote, or fact
see screenshot for question stem
What are the strategy/steps for answering a specific purpose questions about something mentioned in the passage:
Step 1: Find the specified piece of the passage in the passage and read the entire sentence in which the specified piece of the passage is located
Step 2: Reread the sentences around the specified piece of the passage for context
Step 3: Find the answer choice that best describes the purpose of the specified piece
*see screenshot for mini-example
what do authors opinion and tone questions ask us to do?
choose an answer choice that best captures an opinion, belief, or attitude of the authors - need to decode how the author feels about something. Pay close attention to the words and details (tone clues) since authors tone is expressed via words and details
*see screenshot for stems
why is the authors tone important?
it is always indicative of the central message that the author is attempting to communicate to the reader
*see screenshot for list of questions we should ask ourselves in trying to discerned the authors tone
