SPI English · Reading Comprehension
Finding Stated Facts
Most passage questions are answered by one line of the passage. Find that line first, then pick the option that says what it says, no more and no less.
Why this matters
Ten questions in the bank on two short passages, one about frogs and one about a CBSE ruling: six EASY and four MODERATE. Each answer sits in one line, so the marks go to the student who finds that line and cuts the options that only nearly match it.
Concept 1 of 2: Find the line before you choose
The passage is the answer book. Do not answer from memory of what you read, or from what you know about the topic. Go back, find the sentence the question is about, and read the options against it.
Definition
The method:
- Read the question and pick out its key word (frogs eat, the ruling, the problem, the threat).
- Scan the passage for that word or a word that means the same.
- Read that sentence, and the one before and after it.
- Choose the option that says what the line says. If the line gives two things, the right option gives both.
- Watch the small words in the line: adult, some, most, only. An option that drops one says something the passage did not.
Worked example
Passage: 'Bees carry pollen from flower to flower. Without them, many fruit trees would give much less fruit. A single hive can visit thousands of flowers in a day.' Question: Why are bees useful to fruit growers? (a) They make honey. (b) They carry pollen, so the trees give more fruit. (c) They keep pests away. (d) They live in hives.
Practice this conceptself-check · 4 quick reps
The same idea in a practice question:
Practice questionEasy
Example 1 · Reading Comprehension · Finding Stated Facts
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below:-
Frogs are environmental assets, especially in an agricultural country like India. They consume pests that are responsible for diseases like malaria and also those that are a threat to plants. In fact, it has been found that an adult frog consumes its own weight of insects daily and that if their population goes down the insect population goes up. What all this also means is that a decline in the frog population necessitates an increase in the use of pesticides which are a serious health hazard for all living beings.
Why are pests harmful?
Half of the line
When the line gives two reasons, an option giving only one of them is incomplete. Pick the option that covers the whole line, even if the half option is true.
Dropping a small word
If the passage says an adult animal does something, an option saying any animal does it claims more than the passage. Prefer the option that keeps the passage's own limit.
Answering from what you know
An option can be true in real life and still be wrong. The question asks what the passage says. If no line backs the option, cut it.
Concept 2 of 2: Cut the options that nearly match
The wrong options are built from the passage's own words, so they all look familiar. Each one is wrong in a small, fixed way. Learn the ways and you can cut three options and keep the fourth.
Definition
Four ways a wrong option is built:
- Not in the passage: it fits the topic, but no line says it.
- Wrong person: the passage says one person or group did or thought it, the option gives it to another.
- Reason swapped for result: the option names a later effect as if it were the direct one.
- Their view, not the writer's: the passage reports what someone believes, and the option states it as the answer to a different question.
Cut every option you can, then check the one left against its line.
Worked example
Passage: 'The coach said the team lost because the players were tired after a long bus journey. The captain blamed the wet ground.' Question: According to the coach, why did the team lose? (a) The ground was wet. (b) The players were tired after the journey. (c) The other team was stronger. (d) The captain played badly.
Practice this conceptself-check · 4 quick reps
The same idea in a practice question:
Practice questionEasy
Example 2 · Reading Comprehension · Finding Stated Facts
DIRECTIONS : In this section you have few short passage . After each passage you will find item based on the passage. First, read a passage and answer the item based on it. You are required to select answer based on the contents of the passage and opinion of the author only.
Child psychology is certainly not a strong point with most Indian schools why else would they inflict a double trauma on a student forming badly in the pre-boards by banning her from taking the board exams. Often with fatal results as evidenced by reports of student suicides in the rural-up to the boards. Now the Central Board of Second pursuits distorted to prize acquisition capitalist fascist communist enfoldment Compassion integrity secondary Education (CBSE) has stepped in and put the brakes on this discriminatory practice ruling that no student can be barred from the Boards without prior clearance from the CBSE. This is good news for parents and students many of whom have had to live with the threat of performance-linked department. While the school s logic is that in order to attract talented students, they need to maintain their performance records at high levels. Chances are that a student faring poorly at the pre-boards will replicate this at the boards is faulty. Chances are that the student will be spurred to work doubly hard. On the other hand, the threat of debarment will almost certainly impact adversely on his/her performance. Of course, linking pre-boards to the boards is only one of the problems with our school system.
Which of the following according to the passage is the problem with our school system ?
Giving a group's words to another group
If the passage says the players were tired, an option saying the coach was tired is a different claim. Check who the line is about.
Taking someone's reason for the problem
A passage often reports why people do a thing and then names the real problem. The reason they give is not the problem the question asks for.
A later result for the direct one
When one thing leads to another and then to a third, the question 'what happens when' wants the next link the passage names, not the end of the chain.
Summary — formulas & gotchas at a glance
A revision cheat-sheet for the formulas and gotchas above. Click any concept name to jump back to its full explanation.
Watch out for (6)
- Half of the line→ Find the line before you choose
- Dropping a small word→ Find the line before you choose
- Answering from what you know→ Find the line before you choose
- Giving a group's words to another group→ Cut the options that nearly match
- Taking someone's reason for the problem→ Cut the options that nearly match
- A later result for the direct one→ Cut the options that nearly match
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