DECIDE WHETHER THE ANSWER MAKES SENSE IN THE CONTEXTOF THE SENTENCE...

3.

Decide whether the answer makes sense in the context

of the sentence. If not, eliminate it and try another.

For example, look at how the strategy works with the following

reference question.

The word they

in paragraph 2 refers to:

a.

the victims of heat stroke

b.

the treatments for heat stroke

c.

the people who administer aid to victims of heat stroke

d.

the characteristics of heat stroke

Here’s the sentence in which they

is used:

They

are a high body temperature (which may reach 106

degrees F or more); a rapid pulse; hot, dry skin; and a blocked

sweating mechanism.

They

clearly does not refer to people, so you can rule out choices

a

and c.

When you replace they

with the remaining answer choices,

you can easily narrow your answer to the correct choice: d.

In Your Own Words

Questions that ask you to paraphrase, or reword, a

sentence test the same skills as reference questions. They

measure your ability to comprehend a sentence or

paragraph. As you read, think about what the material is

stating, then try rewriting it (on paper or in your mind) in

new terms. This will increase your comprehension skills

and improve your chances of answering paraphrased

sentence questions correctly.

RECOGNIZING STRUCTURAL PATTERNS

Just as an architect needs a blueprint when designing a building,

writers must have a plan that organizes their information and ideas.

Learning organizational strategies will help you identify common

patterns so that you can guess at what is coming ahead.

Recognizing structural techniques also helps you answer two

types of questions on the TOEFL exam: supporting-detail ques-

tions (you will be able to locate specific information in a passage)

and sentence-insertion questions (you will know where best to

place new information in a passage).

The four most common organizational patterns that writers

use are: