Practice Passage 1
Read the following paragraph actively. Look for clues that suggest the main idea. Pay close attention to lan-guage. Notice how the writer describes Mr. Wilson.
Then answer the questions that follow. Check your answers at the end of the lesson on page 174.
At 9:00 every morning, my boss, Mr. Wilson, invades the office. He marches straight to my desk and demands his reports. He spends the day looking over my shoulder and barking orders.
And he blames every mistake—even if it’s his fault—on me.
1. Which sentence states the main idea of the passage?
a. It’s a pleasure to work for Mr. Wilson.
b. Mr. Wilson is a good manager.
c. Mr. Wilson is bossy and unfair.
d. Mr. Wilson is always on time.
2. How did you figure out the main idea? List some of the clues you found.
__________________________________________
There are a lot of clues in this practice passage. They probably helped you determine the implied main idea.
Perhaps you also noticed something else while study-ing the passage. What point of view does the writer use? She uses the first person. Her description is based on her personal experience and feelings. Thus, her view is subjective. An outsider might have a different
inference
Inferences are conclusions that we draw based on the clues the writer has given us. When you draw infer-ences, you must look for the clues (word choice, de-tails, and so on) that suggest a certain conclusion, attitude, or point of view. You have to read between the lines in order to make a judgment about what an author was implying in the passage.
Questions that ask you about the meaning of a vocabulary word in the passage and those that ask what the passage suggests or implies are different from detail or main idea questions. Inference questions can be the most difficult to answer because they require you to draw meaning from the text when that mean-ing is implied rather than directly stated.
A good way to test whether you have drawn an acceptable inference is to ask yourself what evidence you have to support your conclusion. If you can’t find any, you probably have the wrong answer. You need to be sure that your inference is logical and based on something suggested or implied in the passage—not by an opinion that you, or others, hold. You need to base your conclusions on evidence—facts, details, and other information—not on random guesses.
Practice Passage 2
A good way to solidify what you have learned about reading comprehension questions is for you to write similar test questions. After reading the passage on the next page, write one question for each of the fol-lowing four question types that you will find on the Paragraph Comprehension portion of the ASVAB: fact or detail, main idea, inference, and vocabulary.
For or Against?—That Is the Question
Andy is the most unreasonable, pigheaded, subhuman life-form in the entire galaxy, and he makes me so angry I could scream! Of course, I love him like a brother. I sort of have to because he is my brother. More than that, he’s my twin! That’s right. Andy and Amy (that’s me) have the same curly hair and dark eyes and equally stubborn temperaments. Though we may look alike, we usually take diametrically opposite positions on most issues. If I say, “day,” you can count on Andy to say, “night.”
Just this week, the big buzz in school was all about the PTA’s proposal to adopt a school dress code. Every student would be required to wear a uniform. Uniforms! Can you imagine? Oh, they won’t be military-style uniforms, but the clothes would be uniform in color. The dress style would be sort of loose and liberal.
Boys would wear white or blue button-down shirts, a school tie, blue or gray pants, and a navy blue blazer or cardigan sweater. Girls would wear white or blue blouses or sweaters, blue or gray pants or skirts, along with a navy blue blazer or cardigan sweater. Socks or tights could be black, gray, blue, or white. The teachers are divided:
Some are in favor of the uniforms, others are opposed. The principal has asked the students to express their opin-ion by voting on the issue before the final is made decisopin-ion. The principal has the final word on the dress code.
I think a dress code is a good idea. The reason is simple. School is tough enough without worrying about looking cool every single day. The fact is, the less I have to decide in the morning, the better. I can’t tell you how many mornings I look into my closet and just stare, unable to decide what to wear. Of course, there are other mornings when my room looks like a cyclone had hit it, with bits and pieces of a dozen dif-ferent possible outfits on the bed, on the floor, or dangling from the lamps. I also wouldn’t mind not seeing guys with oversized jeans and shirts so huge they would fit a sumo wrestler. And, I certainly would welcome not seeing kids showing off designer-labeled clothes.
Andy is appalled at my opinion. He says he can’t believe that I would be willing to give up my all-Amer-ican teenage birthright by dressing like—well, like a typical teenager. “Kurt Cobain never wore a school uniform. Jay-Z wouldn’t have been caught dead in a school uniform!” he declared. Andy was now on his soapbox. “When I am feeling political, I want to be able to wear clothes made of natural, undyed fibers, sewn or assembled in countries that do not pollute the environment or exploit child labor. If I have to wear a uniform, I won’t feel like me!”
To which I replied, “So your personal heroes didn’t wear school uniforms. Big deal! They went to high school about a million years ago! I feel sorry for you, brother dear. I had no idea that your ego is so fragile that it would be completely destroyed by gray or blue pants, a white or blue shirt, a tie, and a blazer.”
That really made him angry. Then he said, “You’re just mimicking what you hear that new music teacher saying.”
“Is that so? Anyone who doesn’t agree with you is automatically stupid. And that’s the stupidest thing of all!” I said.
Fortunately, the bell rang ending the argument, and we went (thankfully) to our separate classes.
The vote for or against uniforms took place later that day. The results of the vote and the principal’s decision will be announced next week. I wonder what it will be? I know how I voted, and I’m pretty sure I know how Andy voted.
How would you vote—for or against?
Questions
1. Detail Question: ________________________
_____________________________________
a. ___________________________________
b. ___________________________________
c. ___________________________________
d. ___________________________________
2. Main Idea Question: _____________________
_____________________________________
a. ___________________________________
b. ___________________________________
c. ___________________________________
d. ___________________________________
3. Inference Question: _____________________
_____________________________________
a. ___________________________________
b. ___________________________________
c. ___________________________________
d. ___________________________________
4. Vocabulary question: ____________________
_____________________________________
Often writers have thoughts that they don’t want to say directly. So, they use suggestion to get their ideas across. They suggest things in many ways. Some clues are action clues—what people said and did. Clues can also come in the form of details, word choice, and style. For example, look at the following passage.
Dennis was scared. His knees were weak. He looked down. The water was twenty feet below.
He looked up again, quickly. He tried to think of something else. He tried to reassure himself.
“It’s only twenty feet!” he said aloud. But that only made it sound worse. Twenty feet! He felt dizzy and hot.
The writer could have said, “Dennis was scared. He was afraid of heights.” Instead the writer suggests this information. The author shows you how Dennis feels.
You see what he thinks and feels. Through these de-tails, you can conclude that he is afraid of heights. The repetition of “twenty feet” is another clue, so is the sentence structure. Notice that the sentences are short and choppy. In fact, they sound a little panicky. This helps show how Dennis felt.
Practice Passage 3
Here is an excerpt from a short story. Read the pas-sage carefully. Then answer the questions that follow.
Anne tensed when she heard the front door open.
She waited in the kitchen near the dirty dishes in the sink. She knew her neat- freak roommate, Chandra, would look there first. Taking a deep breath, Anne thought about what she would say to her. She waited.
A moment later, Chandra stepped into the kitchen. Her face dropped immediately when she saw the dishes piled high in the sink. Pointing angrily at them, Chandra asked, “What are those filthy things still doing in the sink?”
“Uh, I haven’t gotten to them yet,” Anne replied. She tried to remain calm.
Chandra yelled, “How many times have I told you that I like to have my house clean at all times?”