The logic of comprehension passages

Modus tollens is an argument form that’s used in comprehension passages more often than you’d think. It looks like this:

1. If p then q
2. Not q
3. > Therefore not p

It works on the basis of necessary and sufficient conditions. P is a sufficient condition for q (if p occurs, then q will occur), and q is a necessary condition for p (p cannot occur without q).

Take a look at the following excerpt from TPJC’s 2014 Prelim paper. Can you identify the propositions and conclusion?

Furthermore, if we consider the proposition that human rights have the capacity to protect us against the state, we must also take into account the fact that they are fundamentally created and enforced by states. In many parts of the world today, human rights simply do not exist because the state is weak or collapsed, rendered so by authoritarian rule or ineffective governance. In the case of the former, many think that once tyranny is demolished, human rights will emerge naturally from the rubble. Along these lines, it may be consoling to believe that the horrendous cruelty in Syria could be stopped by deposing the dictator and ending the war. But rights are constructs of civilization, not a natural human condition. In fact, if the President of Syria were toppled at this point, the most likely result would be a country stuck in a condition of chronic war. In other cases where the government has lost control or credibility, no rule of law prevails in daily life. In these circumstances, even the Prime Minister is not safe from kidnap by armed gangs, as the case has been in Libya.

One argument from the passage, deconstructed:

1. If rights are a natural human condition, then human rights will emerge naturally once tyranny is demolished.
2. Human rights do not emerge naturally once tyranny is demolished.
3. > Rights are not a natural human condition.

Proposition 1 and the conclusion (3) can be found directly from the passage (parts underlined and in bold):

… many think that once tyranny is demolished, human rights will emerge naturally from the rubble. Along these lines, it may be consoling to believe that the horrendous cruelty in Syria could be stopped by deposing the dictator and ending the war. But rights are constructs of civilization, not a natural human condition. In fact, if the President of Syria were toppled at this point, the most likely result would be a country stuck in a condition of chronic war. In other cases where the government has lost control or credibility, no rule of law prevails in daily life. In these circumstances, even the Prime Minister is not safe from kidnap by armed gangs, as the case has been in Libya.

What about proposition 2? Instead of being explicitly written, it is to be deduced from the various examples. By raising the example of Libya and hypothetical example of Syria, the author is demonstrating how human rights do not emerge naturally once tyranny goes away.

Understanding the reasoning behind the modus tollens argument form helps structure your answer to this comprehension question (and other similar ones):

How does the author illustrate his claim that rights are ‘constructs of civilisation, not a natural human condition’ (line 30)? Use your own words as far as possible. [2]

Quite logically, we find that the author raises examples of failed dictatorships to show that human rights, law and order have to be instituted. They do not arise automatically from a vacuum of authority, as would be the case if they were an intrinsic part of our nature reasserting itself.

 

Proximate purpose, ultimate purpose

Here’s a tip for answering SAQs that ask you for the author’s purpose in choosing to use certain techniques, such as metaphors or analogies. (Warning: to be distinguished from questions that ask you to explain the metaphor.)

Her purpose often operates at two levels. The proximate purpose is immediate: what impact is the technique intended to have on the reader? What is the reader made to feel or think? The ultimate purpose is the eventual outcome that the author hopes to achieve.

It isn’t as alien as it sounds. A parallel can be drawn with advertising.

E.g.: What is the purpose of inserting the snippets on handwriting?

These snippets serve to evoke feelings of nostalgia [proximate purpose] to entice people into buying the new Galaxy Note [ultimate purpose] in the hope of recreating the magic for themselves.

Now back to SAQs. The proximate purpose of metaphors and analogies is usually to concretise an abstract idea or to make concepts more “relatable” to the reader. The ultimate purpose is to deliver a particular message. This part differs from passage to passage. It can sometimes be paraphrased from the text (see example 1), but frequently has to be inferred (example 2).

Example 1

What is the author’s purpose in comparing the withdrawal of U.S. troops to peanuts? 

“Withdrawal of U.S. troops will become like salted peanuts to the American public; the more U.S. troops come home, the more will be demanded.” – Henry Kissinger in a Memo to President Richard Nixon

He wants to drive home the point that war veterans returning will only precipitate public calls for pulling out more troops [ultimate purpose]. He does so by using an analogy that is easily understood because it is so commonplace. [proximate purpose]

Example 2

What is the author’s purpose in comparing the universe to a safe? 

“If you want my final opinion on the mystery of life and all that, I can give it to you in a nutshell. The universe is like a safe to which there is a combination. But the combination is locked up in the safe.” Peter De Vries, Let Me Count the Ways

The author wants to concretise an abstract idea [proximate purpose], so the reader can more easily grasp his point that the mystery (origin?) of life is an unfathomable circularity [ultimate purpose].

Providing both the proximate and ultimate purposes is likely to earn you the full credit.

Sharing is caring

In the previous post, we looked at ways to improve essay skills on the fly. This post gives you an excuse to get your hands on your classmates’ notes. 

Q: How can you improve your essay, summary and AQ skills simultaneously?

A: Paraphrase your classmates’ essay notes and share them again with the original author. 

How does this work?

1. Essay and summary: Paragraphs fall short in two common ways. Some start with one point and end on another. Others are repetitive in terms of word choice, because the author has no time or extra mental bandwidth to aim for variety. Paraphrasing followed by re-sharing is a good way to check whether you got the meaning right. At the same time, you are forced to vary your sentences. Not only is the extra practice good, you can also adapt the products of efforts for use in your own essays.
2. AQ: If you frequently misunderstand the author’s point, this exercise is a good remedy because you can clarify directly with the author. Besides, it’s excellent practice as it reduces the ’emotional distance’ we often feel when trying to critique an author who is smarter than ourselves.

 

Dear contrary kid…

This post is dedicated to any candidate who has ever felt angsty over weird questions.

Does this seem familiar?

1. Do you agree that morality is often sacrificed for progress? –> Impossible! Immoral progress can’t count as progress.
2. ‘Popular opinion is always the right opinion.’ Discuss. –> What public opinion? Many people equals multiple opinions, so there is no such thing as coherent public opinion.
3. Technology is ruining sport. –> Technology isn’t ruining sport, our use of technology is!
4. Assess the impact of the media on politics. –> … Wrong relationship. Politicians control the media.

Everyone loves the occasional takedown. It’s just that takedowns have to be well executed. The above four are problematic. Let’s see why.

Interpreting selectively

Good argumentation demands that you take your opponent’s stand at its strongest – the principle of charity. In other words, you should always reconstruct your opponent’s argument in its most logical and coherent form and tackle it accordingly. Interpret it at its weakest at your own peril. This is the problem with (1) and (2) above. Morality, progress, and public opinion are interpreted at their weakest, thus opening the question to claims of being flawed.

Getting nowhere

If I ever had thoughts along the lines of the response to (3), I would give myself a pat on the back. Then I’d move on. Take it from someone who frequently feels the pain of running out of time: it does not pay to point out redundant issues in the question. Doing so adds no value to your answer. The question remains the same in scope, regardless of whether you speak of technology or humans using technology.

Making life difficult for yourself

The approach in (4) is a perfectly acceptable one, just not for the entire essay. Interpreting the question in that way demonstrates insight which is the icing on the cake, but icing is no saving grace if the cake turns out to disappoint. Others attempting the same question would likely have covered the areas that such a script refuses to mention, i.e.: the impact of the media on politics. Disgruntled candidates can comfort themselves with this: If you are smart enough to formulate insightful opinions, surely it is not that difficult to deal with the “boring” parts too.

 

Paraphrasing Tips

We’ve all had the experience of losing marks because of ‘loose paraphrasing’ that doesn’t quite capture the ‘nuance’ or ‘meaning’ of words. But what, exactly, are examiners referring to when they say ‘nuance’?

Here we attempt to clarify things by observing the difference between descriptive and evaluative meaning.

Take the word ‘renowned’ for instance, as used in the sense ‘Beethoven was a renowned composer’. Its descriptive meaning refers to the state of things as they are: Beethoven was well-known as a composer. Its evaluative meaning includes our judgement: Beethoven was well-known for being a good composer. Bearing in mind this distinction, it becomes easy to see that ‘infamous’ and ‘renowned’ have the same descriptive meaning (well known) but different evaluative meanings (good and bad respectively).

We could also distinguish between this pair of words: ‘antiquated’ and ‘vintage’. Again, they share a descriptive meaning: old. However, their evaluative meanings differ. Something antiquated is outmoded or discredited by reason of age (negative), while ‘vintage’ is used to describe something that is not new but that is valued because of its good condition, attractive design, etc (positive).

Now back to exam skills. Key points are frequently given in forms that possess evaluative meaning. We lose marks for giving either a neutral word (descriptive), or the opposite evaluative meaning (such as substituting ‘past his prime’ for ‘mature’).

Now you know the difference between shades of meaning, don’t get caught in this trap, deceived or otherwise misled!

(Click here for more tips on paraphrasing.)

More on examples

Examples serve two main purposes in your essay: to validate your point, and/or to spice it up. No, bulking your prose up doesn’t count.

The first function is important because it is all too easy to make an unsubstantiated claim. Bearing in mind how GP is about the real world, the examiner wants to see whether you have any concrete evidence to support your point. An example, no matter how basic, fulfils this first function.

The second function is a little harder to achieve. Not only does your example need to be useful in proving your point – it also needs an extra spark of novelty, particular insightfulness or shock value. This aspect often makes the difference between an ‘A’ and ‘B’ script.

You would have guessed by now that you need a mixture of both basic examples and interesting ones. The basic ones build familiarity. By dropping a casual phrase or one-sentence reference to a trite (or even overused) example, you ease the examiner in and demonstrate awareness of issues which they would expect everyone to know. However, these platitudes should only be mentioned in passing.

Culling examples – a variety of stock and shock

Stock examples are those that are comprehensive and extremely malleable. They have many, many facets, and can be massaged to fit various questions and contexts. Examples include a case file on McDonalds. Employment structure, nutritional value of food, finances, popularity, rivalry with other chains…You could use this example in almost any essay.

Shock examples are those that give you an edge. They tend to be either obscure, one-off or demonstrate a high degree of specialist knowledge. The funny thing about them is that they frequently cannot be found on demand. If you plug in particular terms into the search engine, it’s likely that everyone else would have thought of them to. So, the only way to collate these is to keep your eyes open and think of alternative uses for those weird bits of information floating around.

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A note on using examples: Slyly slip in an example or two. You need not always preface it with ‘for example’, ‘for instance’, or ‘a case in point’:

Developing economies are doing their best to move up the value-added chain. China’s Huawei is producing smartphones that can rival global brands like Samsung and Apple in terms of quality. Shanghai is fast becoming the next global financial hub. Flappy Birds, a recent craze in game apps, was developed by a Vietnamese.

For a further post regarding examples, click here.

Summary skills

The summary section tests you on you ability to capture key ideas and re-express them succinctly in your own words. Therefore, the mantra to bear in mind would be ‘skeleton’ – you want the integral ideas that prop up your passage, and not the fat and flesh that bulk it up.

Aside from basic paraphrasing skills, here are some other skills that would be useful to hone.

1. Nature of the passage

The way you summarize a passage depends a whole lot upon the nature of the passage.

A Level GP passages are often argumentative or expository essays. These tend to be more factual, although the style and tone of the author vary. Consequently, there is a greater need to pick up on supporting details, i.e.: both bones and sinews – both the key ideas and the nitty-gritty.

On the other hand, passages can be abstract. These require you to take a step back and consider what exactly the author is illustrating through the use of metaphor, allusions and aphorisms. You then need to re-express his ideas in your own, NON-METAPHORICAL words. No use explaining imagery with imagery.

Note, though, that there are no hard-and-fast rules. A passage may lean heavily towards one end of the spectrum, or require you to use a combination of meticulous paraphrasing and extracting overarching ideas.

2. Gut feel

Nothing beats a good eye for what is necessary and what isn’t. Fortunately, such instincts can be honed. The length of text to summarize gives you a good idea – if you need to summarize five paragraphs for a 120-word summary, a good bet would be to omit many supporting details and examples.

3. Dealing with content

You need to know how to identify repeated points – text that the author includes to re-state one point in different ways to make it more understandable – and omit them.

Knowing when to collapse points into umbrella terms is also important because it can save valuable words. This often takes the form of a list of example. For instance, a part of the paragraph that goes

…and generations of musicians, painters, photographers and sculptors have been inspired by her avant-garde ideas.

may be hinting at how artists have been motivated. Another example would be ‘discourse’, which covers all matter of scholarly work from reports to published articles such as books.

Examples can also conceal points which you have to infer and express in your own words. E.g.:

The tacit rules of behavioural norms are nonetheless often reinforced. When Little Amy queues patiently for the bathroom and says her P’s and Q’s, she is given a gold sticker. But when Little Shawn jostles and pushes his way to the front and boxes his friends for irritating him, he is invariably sent to the Naughty Corner for reflection.

These two examples take up a fair bit of text, and it would be dangerous to omit them entirely. This is because they can be distilled into sub-points that support the main point of how ‘the tacit rules of behavioural norms are nonetheless often reinforced’. The first part tells us how we are rewarded for good behaviour and the second illustrates how we are punished for deviating from these ‘behavioural norms’, and it is these ideas that need to be captured in the summary. A précis that gives a word-for-word paraphrase of the ‘case studies’ gains little credit as the student has missed the point.

Kipling’s servants

“I keep six honest serving men…’ by Rudyard Kipling, the perfect solution for us slackers who want to maintain an inquiring mind without getting too pedantic. Enjoy.

I keep six honest serving-men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.
I send them over land and sea,
I send them east and west;
But after they have worked for me,
I give them all a rest.

http://www.kipling.org.uk/poems_serving.htm for full text

Understanding passages

The first thing you need to recall is that A Level GP passages are designed to help you. Contrary to public belief that examiners delight in your incomprehension, the given texts are well-structured with contextual clues, language cues and in-text help (yes really!) to aid you in achieving the best possible score. Here are some of the most common lifelines.

Topic sentences and concluding statements

If you find yourself lost, always refer back to the abovementioned parts to re-orient yourself. Example:

[…] Capitalism preached the superior logic of the self-adjusting market. This has certainly proved better than Communism at delivering the goods, but it exacts its price in ever-increasing insecurity.

We see the consequences of Capitalism in societies with communities in decay and more and more individuals detached, self-contained and uninvolved; where there is increased recourse to drugs and soporifics […]

The laundry list of consequences in the second paragraph may seem daunting, but look up. You will find that all of these are consequences of the cause of ever-increasing insecurity. In other words, causality is clearly demonstrated – you just have to bridge the ‘mind gap’ between paragraphs.

Punctuation

As someone I know memorably put it, your heart should ‘give a little leap of joy’ every time you see a colon in the passage: it implies that the answer you see follows behind.

Look back at the previous sentence. What follows the colon is the reason for the previous assertion. The same goes for the following.

This is even more than the case when we visit those close relatives of the city park, zoos and botanical gardens. There the experience of wildness is illusory: it is a stage-managed wildness we may never actually visit for real, easily available for an afternoon’s perusal.

Question: Explain how the author justifies his use of the word ‘illusory’ to describe visits to zoos and botanical gardens. Use your own words as far as possible.

(From the 2011 A Level Paper)

The first thing you need to note is the ‘use your own words’ instruction, which tells you the answer can be found directly from the passage. But more on that in the post about understanding questions. The second things is that, upon referral to the passage, you find a colon! Cue that little leap of joy.

Deconstructing the given quotation, one finds three reasons WHY such visits are not as real as they seem.

There the experience of wildness is illusory: it is a stage-managed wildness we may never actually visit for real (1), easily available (2) for an afternoon’s perusal (3).

So, the answer goes along the lines of a world (1) shaped and controlled by man that is (2) accessible without much effort and (3) for us to encounter briefly/superficially.

In summary: the colon is your friend and in-text guide.

Synonyms

Sometimes the examiner will clue you in on what’s IMPORTANT by pointing out how some things are CRITICAL or PARAMOUNT. These are synonyms of each other. The answer can be tagged behind each of these brothers-in-arms, ripe for a ready reader to grab.

Related to this is the use of modals and adverbs, e.g.: the most important <–> the prime reason for; only available because <–> primarily made possible by. It might not be a one-one correlation, but is often good enough.

Alliteration and playing by ear

While other stylistic devices will be covered in another post, I find alliteration particularly relevant to bring up here. Alliteration is the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words. You may have noticed an earlier example – ripe for a ready reader. Such devices are interesting because they draw the eye by luring the ear, and can conceal answers. Take a look.

Successful entrepreneurship is difficult, with no definitive formula. The cautious succeed because they avoid falling into the traps of those before them. As the old adage goes, wise mean learn from the mistakes of others. Charismatic businessmen are the norm, as are convincing individuals who can shanghai you into parting with your last dollar. That is creativity taken to its worst, but it gets the job done.

A two-mark question asking for the characteristics of successful entrepreneurship might trick you into being satisfied with three points, but we know better. Trust your eye to guide you:

Successful entrepreneurship is difficult, with no definitive formula. The cautious succeed because they avoid falling into the traps of those before them. As the old adage goes, wise mean learn from the mistakes of others. Charismatic businessmen are the norm, as are convincing individuals who can shanghai you into parting with your last dollar. That is creativity taken to its worst, but it gets the job done.

The sea of Cs draws your attention to the last point of ingenuity (creativity) that is often missed out. Take no chances.

Signposting and linguistic cues

Common matches

• However, but, on the other hand, yet, nevertheless – signals a change of direction or conceding/acknowledging another viewpoint. If used to join two clauses in the same sentence, these words can show balance. E.g.: The food is good but expensive. Banal, but true.
• Additionally, moreover, equally important – more to come
• Arguably – postulating and attempting to build a case, i.e.: precursor to showing how this point is true.
• Because, thus, hence, therefore – cause and effect
• Despite, even though – rebuttal of previous argument or acknowledging a flaw
• [Comparative cues] more so, less than, not so important… –> links that you might want to note

And so on. These signposts are good for grasping the flow of the passage and are easy to incorporate in your own writing too.

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In summary, the passage can help you via

• Topic sentences and concluding statements
• Punctuation
• Synonyms
• Alliteration
• Linguistic cues

This post focuses on how you can use your passage (understanding content). The next will touch on question interpretation (understanding how to answer).

Six ways to paraphrase

Paraphrasing is one of the most multi-purpose skills in GP. It can be used for ‘use your own words’ questions, summaries, AQs and even essays (when you’re running out of points and want to engage in some tautology). This makes it a worthwhile, high-yielding investment.

1. Substitute word for word: Some ideas are best kept exact. Some points are just in-your-face there for the taking. Or maybe you just know that the point is important, but have no idea how to rework it. In such cases, careful reading and transcription can work wonders. E.g.: the inevitable disillusionment that results from revering fallible people –> the unavoidable disenchantment stemming from idolizing imperfect individuals.
2. Zoom out to see the overarching theme: Works well for abstract-themed passages, a collection of examples from which you have to discern a point and multiple sentences that make the same point. E.g.:  Without the agitations of the soul, would all of our magnificently yearning towers topple… symphonies cease? –> Without sadness*, we would have no source of creativity in artworks and architecture. (*The passage is on happiness.)
3. Move forward or backward along the hierarchy/scale: Most things we know fit within certain hierarchies of importance or meaning, like the progression from town to city to metropolis. Since GP tests you on understanding and not content knowledge in esoteric areas, it’s possible to take liberties sometimes. E.g.: ingrained within our DNA –> coded into our genes. A word of warning though – this DOES NOT work for adjectives and adverbs. Being sad isn’t the same as being devastated!
4. Consider the counterpart: Classic examples include teaching/learning and acting/reacting. Be careful not to just tag the word ‘not’ to imply the opposite meaning. For example, an accepted application isn’t the same as one that is ‘not rejected’ because it could well be pending. In the same vein, telling me what something isn’t is hardly equal to an accurate description of what it is.
5. Expand: For ideas that are easily corrupted if you try to re-express them in a single word, or the times when your brain isn’t really cooperating. E.g.: collective wisdom –> knowledge of the masses, civil society –> collective of cooperative individuals.
6. Contract: If you are very certain that the ideas in the passage can be condensed into fewer words, please go ahead. Absolutely no difference is akin to ‘same’, and something never seen before in history is unprecedented. A word of warning though. You risk omitting points if you over-summarize.

This isn’t strictly a strategy, but I’ll include it nonetheless. Occasionally, you can steal from other parts of the passage: Words outside the parts that need summarising are fair game, as long as they are not placed too close together in the text!

I’ve also found that there are perennial favourite words that appear with high frequency in the A Levels. These tend to be generic terms like ‘society’, ‘human rights’ and ‘culture’ that can trip up the unprepared. So if you want to avoid too much brain activity during the exam, prepare these stock phrases beforehand.

Another thing to note is that Cambridge has been moving towards the nitty-gritty details. Good news, then, for all of us who do not want to figure out which points to discard.