Reading comprehension: independent option tests and sentence selection
| English | 中文 | Pinyin |
|---|---|---|
| concession/kənˈseʃn/ | 让步 | ràng bù |
| scope/skəʊp/ | 范围 | fàn wéi |
A decision before an answer
- A three-option reading item can have one, two or three correct choices. Evaluate each without guessing a pattern.
- Your goal: Evaluate each of three select-all options against the passage.
Read the relationship
- Read a passage for its claim and structure as well as local details. Identify what the author accepts, reports or questions. For select-one-or-more items, classify each option as supported or unsupported using the passage. An unsupported statement need not be disproved; absence of evidence is enough to reject it as a passage-based conclusion.
- Locate the sentence fulfilling the exact requested rhetorical role.
Which sentence explicitly limits the causal conclusion in the worked passage?
Sentence 3 states the conclusion cannot be fully attributed to hours.
Use the defining rule
- For inference, retain the text’s conditions and degree of confidence. If a study examined volunteers at one site, do not infer the result holds for every person or site. A statement consistent with the passage can still be unsupported. Select-all reading tasks use three choices, and require all correct choices with no extra selections.
- Distinguish a supported inference from an attractive unsupported claim.
Which assertion goes beyond the passage?
The passage questions unique attribution, not all possible effect.
Check the conditions
- Select-in-Passage asks for a sentence performing a specified role within the allowed text. Name the requested function: evidence, concession, explanation, challenge or conclusion. Read complete sentences rather than choosing the one containing a keyword. A sentence repeating the topic may do a different job. The local lesson uses numbered sentences and option labels; official delivery selects a sentence in the passage itself.
- Distinguish a supported inference from an attractive unsupported claim.
Original passage: [1] A workshop extended its opening by one hour during a four-week trial. [2] Evening attendance increased, but the same month a nearby workshop closed. [3] The director therefore cannot attribute the entire increase to longer hours. [4] A second trial, at a site without a nearby closure, would help separate the explanations. Supported statements: attendance increased; another event provides an alternative explanation. Unsupported: longer hours had no effect. For “select the sentence stating a limitation on the causal conclusion,” choose sentence 3, not sentence 2: sentence 2 reports the confounding observation, while sentence 3 explicitly states the limit.
A second possible cause is an alternative ____.
It can account for the observation without establishing the first cause alone.
Use the original workshop passage. Consider each choice separately and select all supported statements.
The increase and competing event are stated. Unique attribution is uncertain; that does not establish zero effect.
Apply the task format
- Create a short evidence note for every selected answer. For a rejected option, identify the extra assumption or scope change. This makes review productive and separates vocabulary difficulty from reasoning errors. These original short passages practise question types; they do not replicate adaptive routing or create an official verbal score.
- Distinguish a supported inference from an attractive unsupported claim.
“Not proved to cause the increase” does not mean “proved to have no effect.” Match the requested sentence function exactly.
Which answer fits this case?
Evaluate each of three select-all options against the passage
A statement must be directly quoted to count as a supported inference.
An inference may follow from the text without being stated verbatim.
Keep the distinctions
- concession 让步 — Acknowledgement of a point while limiting what follows from it.
- scope 范围 — The persons, conditions or degree of certainty covered by a claim.
- Evaluate each of three select-all options against the passage.
- Locate the sentence fulfilling the exact requested rhetorical role.
- Distinguish a supported inference from an attractive unsupported claim.
Match each term with its precise meaning in this lesson.
Keep the distinctions stated in the teaching example.
Put this lesson’s reasoning or event sequence in order.
The order follows the stated process; check each stage before the next.