Reading comprehension, Year 8: viewpoint, argument and layout

The writer disapproves of it

提示Ask whether those two words are compliments.

为什么The writer never says 'I dislike it'. The attitude is carried by the choice of 'noisy' and 'eyesore' where neutral words were available.

Each writer's opinion of the crowd

提示The facts are identical; only the feeling has changed.

为什么'Mob' suggests danger and disorder; 'supporters' suggests loyalty. A single loaded word can tip the writer's hand.

No — the narrator's view is not the writer's

提示The author invented this voice, just as an actor plays a villain.

为什么A narrator is a character the author has made up. A writer may create an unpleasant narrator precisely so that readers judge him.

Tone

提示Musicians use the same word for the quality of a sound.

为什么It is created by word choice, sentence shape and what the writer chooses to include. Naming it is the first step in working out a viewpoint.

2

提示Count the points that come after the first sentence.

为什么The claim is 'Zoos should close'. It is supported by two separate reasons: animals suffer, and films teach more. Mapping an argument means separating the claim from its support.

School should start at ten

提示It is the sentence the other two points are there to support.

为什么The second sentence gives two reasons. A quick test: put 'because' between the sentences, and the one before 'because' is the claim.

It comes only from the writer's own friends

提示Ask how many people were really consulted.

为什么'Everyone I know' is a small group that probably thinks alike. An argument is only as strong as its weakest supporting step.

It signals the conclusion

提示Look at what usually follows it in a sentence.

为什么Signpost words show how the steps connect. 'Because' and 'since' point to a reason; 'therefore', 'so' and 'thus' point to what follows from it.

A caption

提示Cartoon competitions ask readers to write one.

为什么It tells the reader what the image shows and often steers how to feel about it. The same photograph can be made to mean different things.

So the steps are easy to follow in order

提示Imagine cooking from a solid block of text.

为什么Numbers show the sequence at a glance and let the reader find their place again after looking away.

To help the reader find a section quickly

提示They break a long page into labelled parts.

为什么A reader hunting for one fact can scan the subheadings and jump straight to the right part without reading everything.

To make it stand out as important

提示Your eye goes there before anywhere else.

为什么Boxes, bold type and colour all signal 'look here'. Writers use them for the thing they most want remembered, such as a deadline or a warning.