1. A dowry—the money or property a bride brings to her husband at marriage—was common in the past. It flourished throughout much of the ancient world, and also in medieval Europe. (Hint: Look at the word ending of ‘flourished’ and its position in the sentence. Is it a verb or a participle adjective?)
2. The practice of dowries apparently originated when a bride’s parents gave her presents. For example, during the Middle Ages, young girls in rural areas received a dowry from their parents to take with them into marriage. Typically, she received a bed when she turned 12, followed by a wardrobe the next year. (Hint: Look at the word endings of ‘apparently’ and ‘typically’.)
3. As time went on, the dowry developed various functions. A dowry of household goods often helped the newly weds set up their own home. A dowry of property or jewelry would help the wife support herself if her husband died. Generally, the husband returned the dowry to his in-laws if he and his wife divorced or if his wife died childless. (Hint: Look at the word ending of ‘function’. What other words end with the suffix ‘ion’?)
4. Sometimes, the groom’s family paid for the bride, often to compensate her family for the money spent raising her. If the bride had been a valuable worker, her family was sometimes compensated for the loss of her economic support. (Hint: What does the root of the word tell you about its meaning? Which word class has words that end in ‘able’?)
5. Today, traditional wedding observances are losing ground all over the world. However, some traditional cultures, including gypsies, many Hindus, and certain African societies, continue to see dowries as a usual part of marriage. For example, a groom of the Roma people, or gypsies, pays the bride’s family for the loss of their daughter. The bride price also ensures that the bride will be well treated by her new family. Negotiations between the families of the bride and groom can become quite extensive, with the bride’s father calculating how much his daughter has cost him since her birth, and how much she could be expected to earn during her lifetime. (Hint: Look at the word root and its suffix.)
[Source: CD-ROM Practice set 1]
Information Please® Database, © Pearson Education, Inc.: Dowries: The joining of money and marriage by David Johnson
Lesson 6
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© Pearson Education Ltd 2012 © Pearson Education Asia Limited 2012
Finding the main idea in each paragraph
The main idea in each paragraph is generally given in the topic sentences.
1. A dowry—the money or property a bride brings to her husband at marriage—was common in the past. It flourished throughout much of the ancient world, and also in medieval Europe.
2. The practice of dowries apparently originated when a bride’s parents gave her presents. For example, during the Middle Ages, young girls in rural areas received a dowry from their parents to take with them into marriage. Typically, she received a bed when she turned 12, followed by a wardrobe the next year. 3. As time went on, the dowry developed various functions. A dowry of household goods often helped the newly weds set up their own home. A dowry of property or jewelry would help the wife support herself if her husband died. Generally, the husband returned the dowry to his in-laws if he and his wife divorced or if his wife died childless.
4. Sometimes, the groom’s family paid for the bride, often to compensate her family for the money spent raising her. If the bride had been a valuable worker, her family was sometimes compensated for the loss of her economic support.
5. Today, traditional wedding observances are losing ground all over the world. However, some traditional cultures, including gypsies, many Hindus, and certain African societies, continue to see dowries as a usual part of marriage. For example, a groom of the Roma people, or gypsies, pays the bride’s family for the loss of their daughter. The bride price also ensures that the bride will be well treated by her new family. Negotiations between the families of the bride and groom can become quite extensive, with the bride’s father calculating how much his daughter has cost him since her birth, and how much she could be expected to earn during her lifetime.
[Source: CD-ROM Practice set 1]
Information Please® Database, © Pearson Education, Inc.: Dowries: The joining of money and marriage by David Johnson
Notes:
A key skill for recognizing the main point in a paragraph is the ability to use signal words to distinguish main ideas from supporting ideas, opposing ideas, and examples. We can identify supporting ideas, opposing ideas and examples by recognizing words that usually come before them. The following table gives some examples of common signal words.
Signal Words Functions
Also, typically, in addition, this situation, it, these Identify supporting ideas However, on the other hand, but, conversely Identify supporting ideas For example, for instance, such as … Identify examples
Summary reading strategies: Task 1: Answer key
Lesson 6
Photocopiable
© Pearson Education Ltd 2012 © Pearson Education Asia Limited 2012
Using word classes to guess the meaning of unfamiliar words
1. A dowry—the money or property a bride brings to her husband at marriage—was common in the past. It flourished throughout much of the ancient world, and also in medieval Europe. (‘Flourished’ comes after the subject of the sentence and is a verb in the past tense. It must describe some change over time because the other words in the sentence – ‘ancient world’ and ‘medieval Europe’ describe historical periods’.)
2. The practice of dowries apparently originated when a bride’s parents gave her presents. For example, during the Middle Ages, young girls in rural areas received a dowry from their parents to take with them into marriage. Typically, she received a bed when she turned 12, followed by a wardrobe the next year. (‘ly’ suffixes belong to adverbs, which are usually next to a verb – as in ‘originated’ or at the beginning of a sentence and followed by a comma – as in ‘Typically,’. Adverbs are often used to describe an author’s opinion or attitude. In the first sentence ‘apparently’ connotes that the author is not completely sure of the origins of dowries and in the second sentence ‘Typically’ connotes common practice.)
3. As time went on, the dowry developed various functions. A dowry of household goods often helped the newly weds set up their own home. A dowry of property or jewelry would help the wife support herself if her husband died. Generally, the husband returned the dowry to his in-laws if he and his wife divorced or if his wife died childless. (Words which end with the suffix ‘ion’ are usually nouns, for example ‘opinion’, ‘education’, ‘action’.)
4. Sometimes, the groom’s family paid for the bride, often to compensate her family for the money spent raising her. If the bride had been a valuable worker, her family was sometimes compensated for the loss of her economic support. (The root of the word looks very much like ‘value’ and the other words in the paragraph confirm that the meaning of this adjective relates to money. Words that end in ‘able’ are almost always adjectives.)
5. Today, traditional wedding observances are losing ground all over the world. However, some traditional cultures, including gypsies, many Hindus, and certain African societies, continue to see dowries as a usual part of marriage. For example, a groom of the Roma people, or gypsies, pays the bride’s family for the loss of their daughter. The bride price also ensures that the bride will be well treated by her new family. Negotiations between the families of the bride and groom can become quite extensive, with the bride’s father calculating how much his daughter has cost him since her birth, and how much she could be expected to earn during her lifetime. (The root ‘observe’ means to ‘look’, ‘follow’ or ‘practice’ and its suffix ‘ance’ tells us that the word is a noun.)
[Source: CD-ROM Practice set 1]
Information Please® Database, © Pearson Education, Inc.: Dowries: The joining of money and marriage by David Johnson