8. Appendices
8.1 Appendix A - Test materials: paragraphs
1) ‘Life Without a Book' is a close portrait of one man's struggle with reading, and surviving in our visual, alphabetical world. It is a documentary film telling the story of Rick "Pepper" Holmes, a talented funk drummer who graduated high school unable to read in 1974. After high school his music took him around the world. Now fifty-three years old, he still struggles with the most basic level of reading.
2) A new theatre group from China had gained much success in spring last year and its actors were widely praised for their honest and daring acting. It had also attracted my attention and they advised me to take two more semesters of classes with a British actress. Their advice raised a difficult matter:
would I finance another study year or did I now want to finally settle down?
3) As a governor, she saw her state as a bridge from the past to the future. She had her administration listen to economists, because they had been trained to anticipate unintended consequences. She also set up communication strategies and dealt with trade and finance personally. So, this vision wove together political and economic matters, and, therefore, included all seeds of success that were necessary at the time.
4) At the time, my brother had just been promoted into a new position where he was the leader of a team of five employees. They were on the brink of developing a process that continually estimated the growth of the various departments in the company. He explained how the process determined the number of people by first counting the total number of employees in a department for a certain period.
5) At the town hall, the football team was honoured by the mayor himself in the presence of coaches, family members, and, of course, the team’s captain, who also praised the players and all those who worked for their achievements. And although his speech was very short, that minute inspired many people: his words stuck in many listeners’ minds and inspired them to do their utmost.
6) Augustine was a bishop who converted to Christianity when he was 33 years old. Before that he had taught rhetoric. He meditated on many subjects, like the human will and time. His main influence at the time of the disintegration of the Western Roman Empire was as a thinker. That period put much emphasis on metaphors: by means of all sorts of images people remembered large amounts of data better.
7) Dick and Martin had disliked each other all their lives: Dick came from a rich family and hated Martin’s brutality, and Martin couldn’t stand Dick’s haughtiness. The new village priest put them at work to gain subsidies for a new charity that they both believed in. They succeeded and this triumph brought the two together: they finally appreciated what they meant to each other and they often collaborated.
8) Dr Temple came to this city seven years ago. He inspired people into taking better care of themselves and adopting a culture of better education and more efficient work with a community spirit that is so
important to keep a society together. We may even say that this culture changed the city and that our prosperity has risen to today’s level mainly because of Dr Temple.
9) For almost a year, the media were dominated by a renewed and fierce debate between the two leaders. It covered all areas of life but they mainly discussed social, political, linguistic, and economic reforms. Neither was ready for compromise. So the outcome was not surprising but the debate affected the country: it moved toward a higher degree of democracy and attracted more foreign investment.
10) George worked for The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment as a sergeant. Last year, he retired and came to our village where he shared his house with Max. They often helped their neighbours, even though they lived from his old age pension. So when they visited our shop, we saw that this pension only bought cheap things: bread, milk, some meat, fruit and vegetables, no perfumes or other luxuries at all.
11) His father worked hard to make a good living for his family: he kept up a high standard of discipline and obedience, but also fairness and consistency. This yielded a climate of order in the house, but, at the same time, he also starved his boys for parental companionship. Such a standard saved a lot of money. But what was money if the children weren’t taught how to make a good life?
12) I asked him how he kept himself busy and he replied: “I am reading a volume of traditional Chinese poems and there’s one that I particularly like. This poem refers to man’s intrinsic nature, his humanity, his capacities and his limits, his desires and his frustrations. Man's essence tells us how little we know.
Do you want to see the collection?” He grabbed my hand, leading me inside.
13) I considered him a thief because he had stolen my brother’s wristwatch, although I couldn’t prove it. Last January he called for my professional help as a doctor. He was suffering from a terrible back ache. I advised him to stay in bed for three days. And, indeed, the symptom took care of itself. He soon returned to his daily routine but after a week he phoned me again.
14) I very much liked the PC game in which you had to fight this extraterrestrial warrior who had built an army to attack Earth. Not only were they quite capable of bringing you down, but they also had extraordinary defensive shields. When I finally confronted an enemy, his defence put me off a little.
But I suddenly figured out a way to get through and felt extremely happy then.
15) In watercolour painting, artists can choose between two approaches. In one approach, the artist tries to represent reality as closely as it is. In the other, the artist does not try to give the impression of a reality, but creates a new reality. My brother thought that the best practice combined the two approaches, but I disagreed. I felt that they expressed emotions that couldn’t be combined.
16) Many female visitors already crowded into the small village car park on Thursday night and stayed there overnight in tents. They were kept under control by the police who prevented them from climbing up the fence of the hotel or singing and dancing all night long. But most of the action came
before Friday afternoon, when the press announced that the royal couple would leave the city that very day.
17) Margaret’s brother joined the army because he had something wild about him and couldn't settle down to a stable life. But, there, too, he escaped the barracks, stayed away for several days, went to roam the woods, set traps, stole food and cared about nothing. Of course, such a nature rendered the neighbourhood unsafe, and it didn’t take long before a lot of complaints were filed against him.
18) Michael Jackson transformed himself into music and dance. He was gifted with such great talents that no one can match, but he was also destined to be famous with an unhappy life full of loneliness, pain and sadness, and was overwhelmed by financial and legal difficulties. Mysteries surrounded him, and the stories of his kindness to disadvantaged and sick children were legendary.
19) On 30 May 1848, a woman came with her father, a middle-aged naturalist from Great Britain, to my small village on the Brazilian coast. He soon turned out to be a “free thinker”: he did not believe in God as his creator. Instead, he observed plant and animal life very carefully. His daughter contradicted what I believed: until then, I had strongly believed that God had created all living beings.
20) Our neighbours believed in their company: they constantly pursued challenge after challenge. They challenged how to produce better, how to eliminate waste, how to deal with a problem to reduce costs or to get more capacity. They always found a challenge to be working towards. This couple carried the company forward, and that’s why it has survived the financial crisis and its prospects are so good.
21) Our school gave us a special assignment last year. My fraternal twin and I conducted an experiment: we wanted to investigate the way in which our Russian teacher communicated with his pupils in class. In order to focus on the two partners in this communication, we organized two different tests. My brother obtained the teacher's reactions to the pupils, and I myself focused on the way in which the pupils interacted with the teacher.
22) Our twins George and Audrey both studied law when they left secondary school and did some volunteer work for Oxfam. But it was mainly George who liked work in the multicultural environment very much. The moment when his life took a different direction was when his sister focused on economics. That step turned out to have an enormous influence on both their adult lives.
23) One village bank gave loans to customers who were incapable of paying them back and the man took huge gains from this activity for years. He refused to see it as some kind of despicable bank fraud until another employee found out about his gains and told others how this banker undermined customers' trust, and bank management is still discussing how to rehabilitate the bank's image.
24) Some years ago, my brother Gordon invited a boy whose parents had died. This lad spent much time in the attic where he painted from the depth of his heart. He was able to express his thoughts and emotions in his paintings and Gordon was so enthusiastic that his friend found a home in our house. He has lived with our family ever since and we have all grown accustomed to him.
25) The band was often received by turbulent audiences: its controversial songs and angry attitude caused people to become restless and listeners even broke into a fight at times. In 2008, the young band went to Norway, where the listeners were more harmonious and restful. This public brought them peace: their old worries disappeared and, instead, they finally found a state of quiet.
26) The winner took his first tennis classes when he went to university. He soon proved to be an excellent player: he had the ability to combine strength, technique and speed. He used to beat three opponents in a row, but his illness put an end to that. However, this champion has now returned for the first time: he won from Jack, Pete and Ben in a friendly competition in Staines last Saturday.
27) The conference took place at a hotel in the city centre. One of the hotel clients was a representative from a Japanese company. He was on an assignment to attract, build and retain long-term partnerships with American customers. But he had not yet been very successful. So, the guest developed a new strategy. It now focused on the creation of a series of solutions for its customers.
28) The old man crossed the street, bought the latest issue of ‘All Things Strings’ at a news agent’s and went into a bar. He ordered a glass of beer, leafed through his classical music magazine and started reading an article that seemed to take his interest. One musician described the different parts of the violin and another explained their functions in much detail. Then he put down the magazine.
29) The principal invited swimmer Brendan Hansen to our school, who had offered to coach some of us. We trained almost every muscle of our body and not only did we increase fitness by wearing weights while in the water, but we also improved our swimming technique. In addition, that athlete took us to Texas, where we analyzed our stroke techniques by means of videotapes taken at the pool.
30) The team of twelve scientists worked hard on the book project in a small village in India. The Belgian participant was a specialist on army discipline and started to bully the others into a rigid scheme of activities, while tropical torrents of rain kept them inside the house. This author placed many people under stress, and the final outcome was that their ambitious book project was never completed.
31) The town’s history was a peaceful one: its inhabitants had not suffered from natural disasters, diseases or crime apart from one occasion. In the autumn of 1501, a robber arrived who had fled from a plague-stricken village, but it was too late: he was ill already. In early spring, the criminal visited the area, and the people tried to protect themselves by locking their houses day and night.
32) When Catherine worked for me, she specialized in assisting customers to buy and sell properties.
She won many wealthy people who admired her, always treated her in a courteous manner and put their trust in her. Never once did anyone complain to her. So, considering that these clients earned her respect, I never understood why she left the company in these circumstances so suddenly.
33) When I joined the nuclear power plant as an engineer, it was at a time when most of the company had already been built. The reactor had been completed and the discharge canal had been dug. At various spots around the site labourers had set up some steel structures. These workers protected us against enemies: our nuclear plant had to be able to protect itself against three human attackers.
34) When my twin sister and I turned twelve, we joined a basketball programme for girls under fourteen at the local school. The programme prepared girls to join the Midlands basketball team and it was run by two different people, one coach for each term. But the first person put us in the most difficult group, which had a devastating effect on my poor sister, because she soon dropped out.
35) With his latest play “Coming home”, the shy young man suddenly won three regional drama awards in a row. Everyone agreed that he was superb, imaginative and funny, even though the play also covered serious issues that affect our everyday lives. As a result, this actor raised expectations for the new performance, and the drama critics no longer wrote about the end of his short career.
36) Yesterday night, as I was driving home, my car suddenly broke down on the motorway somewhere between Thornton Heath and Croyden. It started to slow down and I immediately took the hard shoulder and stopped. Half a minute later, another car stopped behind me. A rescuer, I thought. The angel told me he was from France originally, and I immediately regretted not having paid more attention in my French classes.
8.3 Appendix B - Paparp/npaparp sentences and clauses
After high school his music took him around the world. Now fifty-three years old, he still struggles with the most basic level of reading.
After high school his music took him around the world.
2 npaparp
Their advice raised a difficult matter:
would I finance another study year or did I now want to finally settle down?
Their advice raised a difficult matter:
3 npaparp
So, this vision wove together political and economic matters, and, therefore, included all seeds of success that were necessary at the time.
So, this vision wove together political and economic matters,
4 npaparp
He explained how the process determined the number of people by first counting the total number of employees in a
department for a certain period.
He explained how the process determined the number of people
5 npaparp
And although his speech was very short, that minute inspired many people: his words stuck in many listeners’ minds and inspired them to do their utmost.
(,) that minute inspired many people:
6 npaparp
That period put much emphasis on
metaphors: by means of all sorts of images people remembered large amounts of data better.
That period put much emphasis on metaphors:
7 npaparp
They succeeded and this triumph brought the two together: they finally appreciated what they meant to each other and they often collaborated.
They succeeded and this triumph brought the two together:
8 npaparp
We may even say that this culture changed the city and that our prosperity has risen to today’s level mainly because of Dr Temple.
We may even say that this culture changed the city (and)
9 npaparp
So the outcome was not surprising but the debate affected the country: it moved toward a higher degree of democracy and attracted more foreign investment.
but the debate affected the country:
10 npaparp
So when they visited our shop, we saw that this pension only bought cheap things:
bread, milk, some meat, fruit and
vegetables, no perfumes or other luxuries at all.
(,) we saw that this pension only bought cheap things:
11 npaparp
Such a standard saved a lot of money. But what was money if the children weren’t taught how to make a good life?
Such a standard saved a lot of money.
12 npaparp
Man's essence tells us how little we know.
Do you want to see the collection?” He grabbed my hand, leading me inside.
Man's essence tells us how little we know.
13 npaparp
And, indeed, the symptom took care of itself. He soon returned to his daily routine but after a week he phoned me again.
And, indeed, the symptom took care of itself.
14 npaparp
When I finally confronted an enemy, his defence put me off a little. But I suddenly figured out a way to get through and felt extremely happy then.
(,) his defence put me off a little.
15 npaparp
My brother thought that the best practice combined the two approaches, but I disagreed. I felt that they expressed emotions that couldn't be combined.
that the best practice combined the two approaches,
16 npaparp
But most of the action came before Friday afternoon, when the press announced that the royal couple would leave the city that very day.
But most of the action came before Friday afternoon,
17 npaparp
Of course, such a nature rendered the neighbourhood unsafe, and it didn’t take long before a lot of complaints were filed against him.
Of course, such a nature rendered the neighbourhood unsafe,
18 npaparp
Mysteries surrounded him, and the stories of his kindness to disadvantaged and sick children were legendary.
Mysteries surrounded him,
19 paparp
His daughter contradicted what I believed:
until then, I had strongly believed that God had created all living beings.
His daughter contradicted what I believed:
20 paparp
This couple carried the company forward, and that’s why it has survived the financial crisis and its prospects are so good.
This couple carried the company forward,
21 paparp
My brother obtained the teacher's reactions to the pupils, and I myself focused on the way in which the pupils interacted with the teacher.
My brother obtained the teacher's reactions to the pupils,
22 paparp
The moment when his life took a different direction was when his sister focused on
The moment when his life took a different direction was when his sister focused on