Reading Skills 2: Transitions, Paraphrasing, Fact vs Inference & Irrelevant Information
Transitions — the author's traffic signals
Academic writers announce every turn: addition (moreover, furthermore), contrast (however, in contrast, whereas), cause/effect (consequently, as a result, because), example (for instance), sequence (first, subsequently, finally), concession (although, admittedly). Questions about organization, purpose and inference are usually decided by these words — read them as instructions, not decoration.
Logical relationships
Beneath the transitions sit four relationships the test loves: cause→effect, compare/contrast, problem→solution, and claim→evidence. When you label a paragraph with its relationship, rhetorical-purpose answers become obvious: a paragraph that gives evidence exists to SUPPORT the claim before it.
Paraphrasing — the test's native language
Correct answers almost never copy the passage's words; they restate them (synonyms, changed voice, restructured clauses). Wrong answers, perversely, often DO copy words while changing the meaning. Train the reflex: match ideas, distrust matching words.
Vocabulary from context
Unknown words yield to their sentences: look for definitions ('that is', appositives), contrasts ('unlike'), examples, and the word's job in the sentence. This is the same machinery vocabulary questions test — practice it on every passage, not just on vocabulary items.
Fact vs inference — and irrelevant information
A fact is stated; an inference is derived. Questions punish confusing the two in both directions: picking a stated fact for an inference stem, or an attractive inference for a factual stem. And every passage contains information that no question needs — realistic detail that exists to consume attention. Irrelevant information recognition is a time skill: if a paragraph region matches no stem, stop rereading it.