College test english 4

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–READING COMPREHENSION– lege athletes are underpaid, and there are many who 3. The new TV ratings system represents yet another would disagree. Some would say that the value of unnecessary effort on the part of the govern- tuition-free education, room and board, and the future ment to reduce individual responsibility. earning capacity that a college education and athletic 4. Afﬁrmative action programs are morally correct training provides more than compensates college ath- for America. letes. But those same people cannot dispute that col- lege athletes earn one-tenth the salary that professional 5. Legalization of assisted suicide would beneﬁt ter- athletes earn. All they can argue is that it isn’t fair or minally ill patients by giving them more control equitable, and that argument immediately throws the of their own destiny. statement into the realm of opinion or belief. You’ll notice that these statements aren’t quite as So one way to distinguish fact from opinion is to easy to work with as the ﬁrst group of sentences. But apply the debate test. If a statement can be debated it you must remember the debate test and decide if the is opinion, not fact. Read these statements. statement can be argued. Is it a fact or an opinion that 1. Carbon dioxide emissions produce unhealthy air. all Americans have the right to health care? Well, about the only thing debatable in that statement is who 2. The Environmental Protection Agency must should pay for the care? And how should it be provided? enforce legislation to protect the air from increased Statement one is a fact; where we go with it presents carbon dioxide emissions. the debate. Sentence one (1) is a claim of fact. It cannot be Statement two is also a claim of fact. You may not disputed that carbon dioxide emissions harm air qual- agree with what Congress did, and you may even dis- ity. Scientiﬁc data eliminates all debates. But how we agree with the whole concept of censoring what chil- feel about that fact, and how we use that fact, is what dren watch on TV, but the statement simply says that takes it from fact to opinion, or belief. For example, sen- Congress has legislated that there must be a system to tence two (2) uses the fact that CO2 is an air pollutant do it. to suggest the need for government enforcement of air Statement three is deﬁnitely a claim of opinion quality controls. Many Americans would disagree that or belief. Whether or not the ratings system was nec- such intervention is either needed or even constitu- essary and whether or not the system will increase or tional. Notice, the disagreement is not about the fact, decrease individual responsibility is highly debatable. but about how the fact is used. But the fact remains; there is now a system of ratings. Next, decide whether the following statements are Statement four is also a claim of opinion or fact or opinion. belief. It isn’t telling us whether or not there are afﬁr- mative action programs, which would be a claim of fact, 1. All Americans have the right to healthcare. but it is telling us that these programs are morally cor- 2. Congress has required the implementation of a rect. new TV ratings system to aid parents in the selec- Statement ﬁve is a claim of fact. Legalizing assisted tion of appropriate viewing for their children. suicide would give the terminally ill more control. This is a highly charged claim of fact with lots of arguments LearningExpress Skill Builders • CHAPTER 3 59
–BASIC SKILLS FOR COLLEGE– for why the terminally ill shouldn’t have control. Nonetheless, it is a fact that such legislation would give them control. How does knowing the difference between fact and opinion inﬂuence you as a reader? Well, what you read gains credibility when opinions are supported with facts and evidence. If you can discern the difference between fact and opinion then you can decide more easily to agree or disagree with the piece. Consider these statements of fact. Rewrite them as statements of opinion or belief. FACTS 1. School violence is rising in the United States. _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ 2. Anti-smoking laws have been enacted on all major airlines. _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ 3. The family farm is an endangered species in the United States. _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ 4. The United States has just lost its seat on the United Nations’ Human Rights Commission. _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ 5. Research scientists tell us that we are only months away from producing the ﬁrst human clone. _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ CHAPTER 3 • LearningExpress Skill Builders 60
–READING COMPREHENSION– STATEMENTS OF OPINION Being able to differentiate between fact and opin- ion is a very important skill, not only in reading but in These statements are suggested answers. listening as well. Knowing what people think as opposed 1. School violence is rising because handguns need to what they know, what they believe as opposed to what to be restricted. has proven to be true, empowers you to judge for your- self the validity of what you read and hear. 2. Anti-smoking laws on major airlines have restricted the constitutional rights of their pas- RECOGNIZING ORGANIZATIONAL sengers. PATTERNS 3. The family farm could be saved if Congress appro- The way you write your thesis statement and the topic priated more funds. sentences for your paragraphs in an essay will determine the organizational pattern for either the whole essay or 4. The United States should not pay its dues to the each paragraph. For example, if your thesis statement United Nations until it gets its seat on the Human is that school violence is rising in America, then you have Rights Commission restored. written a very general statement about school vio- 5. Human cloning should be pursued so that the ﬁrst lence. Your reader can expect that you will be provid- clone could appear in the year 2010. ing speciﬁc examples and details to support your claim. General to speciﬁc is one of the eight most typical orga- Next, try reading an entire paragraph to determine nizational patterns that writers use. An entire list of all where fact and opinion part company. types of organizational patterns follows. Underline the facts in this paragraph and highlight the opinions . 1. general to speciﬁc There are many different ways to invest your 2. speciﬁc to general money to provide for a ﬁnancially secure 3. chronological/sequential future. Many people invest in stocks and bonds, but I think good old-fashioned savings 4. cause and effect accounts and CDs (certiﬁcates of deposit) are 5. spatial the best way to invest your hard-earned money. Stocks and bonds are often risky, and it doesn’t 6. analysis/classiﬁcation make sense to risk losing the money you’ve 7. order of importance worked so hard for. True, regular savings accounts and CDs can’t make you a millionaire 8. comparison and contrast overnight nor can they provide the high return When you read, it helps to determine the writer’s that some stock investments do. But by the organizational pattern so that you can be prepared for same token, savings accounts and CDs are fully the text that follows. For instance, it will alert you insured and provide steady, secure interest on about taking notes and setting up an outline. your money. That makes a whole lot of cents. LearningExpress Skill Builders • CHAPTER 3 61
–BASIC SKILLS FOR COLLEGE– football game. Two eleventh grade boys open Let’s take a close look at each of the organization ﬁre and kill classmates and wound two patterns. teachers. Every day we hear the stories and are GENERAL TO SPECIFIC reminded that school violence is rising in America, and everywhere boards of education Take the example of school violence from the claim of are trying to ﬁgure out what to do. fact above. If this were written from general to speciﬁc, the general assertion that school violence is rising CHRONOLOGICAL/SEQUENTIAL might look something like this: Yet another way, which would have emphasized the School violence is rising in America. More and chronological or sequential order of events that led up more news reports tell us that almost every day to the rash of school violence, might be written like this: a school in America is reporting some kind of First, schoolteachers were concerned with gum weapons violations concerning students. For chewing as a major school offense. Then the example, last week in a small school district in language abuse started. Before long, students Tennessee, a sixth grade boy held his principal were dressing as if they had just gotten out of hostage with a gun for almost eight hours. In bed. Next, pushing and shoving became more Michigan, a tenth grader brought an assault common. Finally, weapons were used. At one riﬂe to a football game but was subdued before time, teachers could discipline students to he could harm anyone. Yet the most alarming teach them codes of acceptable social conduct; case was the massacre that took place at now, teachers have all they can do to make sure Columbine High School where two armed that their students do not kill each other. students killed several classmates and wounded School violence is rising in America, and it many more. Weapons and schoolrooms just directly parallels the increase in the two- don’t mix. Yet, as the incidents continue, so do income family from 1950 to the present. the debates about just how to handle these crises. Notice that the words ﬁrst, next, then, establish the sequence. Other transitional words for chronological/ Notice that the general introduction was sup- sequential writing would be previously, simultaneously, ported by speciﬁc examples of violence before con- following this, at this time, consequently, at this point, cluding with an invitation to explore just how to handle afterward, etc. By noticing these transitional words, you the crises. can ﬁgure out the organizational pattern of a piece. SPECIFIC TO GENERAL CAUSE AND EFFECT Another way to write that paragraph, from speciﬁc to Still another way to arrange the subject would be to pre- general, might look like this: sent the rise in school violence as an effect of certain An elementary school principal is held hostage causes, and then it might have looked like this: by an unhappy sixth grader. A tenth grade boy brings an assault riﬂe to his high school CHAPTER 3 • LearningExpress Skill Builders 62
–READING COMPREHENSION– no matter how hard the teacher is trying to School violence in America is rising, and with gain attention, more students are not listening it academic scores are falling. Could it be that than the ones who are. America’s school children are spending more time worrying about their safety than their Words that indicate spatial reasoning include algebra? Could it be that it has become harder beside, next to, around, below, in front of, near, etc. to concentrate on reading when you’re looking over your shoulder to see if the kid next to you ANALYSIS/CLASSIFICATION really has a knife in his pocket? Experts say that Still another common pattern orders your essay accord- declining math and reading scores are a direct ing to analysis and classiﬁcation and would look like consequence of school violence. this: Note the use of the words direct consequence. There are three types of school violence issues Other words that establish cause and effect are there- in America today and each one is rising fore, because, as a result, hence, then, since, so, conse- rapidly. First, there is the violent assault that is quently, thus, etc. taking place against language. Students no longer respect the spoken or the written word SPATIAL and profanity rules. Second, there is a violent Yet another organization pattern arranges your ideas assault on social behavior. Students disrespect spatially from outside to inside—taking the reader from their administrators, their teachers, their the big school entryway, to the classroom, to the indi- classmates, and themselves. They answer back vidual student’s desk. and ignore the common rules of courtesy. Finally, there is the violent assault in dress. To understand why school violence is rising in Students dress for the beach, for a party, for a America all you have to do is enter the front picnic or barbecue. They certainly don’t dress door of any high school in America. Suburban, for success. Violence against language, courtesy, urban, rural, it doesn’t matter. Once you move and dress all contribute to the poor academic into the main hall you’ll see the trophy case, a success rates of today’s students. reminder of times when school spirit prevailed. The bell rings and you move into the hall. Notice the words, ﬁrst, second, third. There is general chaos and lots of pushing and shoving. The stairwells are littered and the ORDER OF IMPORTANCE walls smeared with grafﬁti. It’s hard to get up Order of importance is often coupled with analysis/clas- the stairs to the ﬁrst class you’ve been asked to siﬁcation because it puts the items to be analyzed into visit. Then you enter the ﬁrst classroom, and a hierarchy of importance. So the passage above that the real surprises begin. You see that there are was arranged for analysis would look like this: not many bulletin boards. Grafﬁti seems to There are three types of school violence issues mark the places where students once hung in America today. work. Chairs and desks are not in orderly rows. There is a hum of noise, and it seems clear that LearningExpress Skill Builders • CHAPTER 3 63
–BASIC SKILLS FOR COLLEGE– with obscenities written on them, it is no First, and most important, is the issue of wonder that discipline is difﬁcult. Contrast that language. There is a violent assault being to the parochial school student who knows, as perpetrated on our language. Students abuse it he or she is getting dressed in the morning, when they speak and when they write. that just as the dress for the day is restricted so Profanity prevails. In addition to their will be the social conduct. disrespect for language, students have begun to violate all the rules of common courtesy and Words which signal comparison/contrast include decency that were once the hallmarks of a on the other hand, however, on the contrary, unlike, but, civilized society. And last, but not least, they yet, nevertheless, rather, instead, whereas, although, in con- are committing violence every time they dress trast, etc. in the morning. It is as if they are off to the It is important to note that a piece of reading can beach or a picnic instead of the serious combine many organizational patterns. Order of impor- institution called school. tance and cause and effect, for example, often go hand in hand. When you read, it is important to pay atten- Notice that the biggest difference between analy- tion to the organizational pattern. When you write, it sis/classiﬁcation and order of importance is that the lat- is important to determine which pattern(s) will best ter establishes a pecking order for the issues to be addressed, i.e., most important, least important, ﬁrst, sec- serve your purpose as you set out to inform, persuade, ond. Other words that give clues as to order of impor- or entertain your reader. tance, are more importantly, moreover, above all, last but not least, etc. TEST YOUR SKILLS COMPARISON AND CONTRAST READING COMPREHENSION The ﬁnal organization pattern is comparison/contrast, PRACTICE PASSAGE which does exactly what it says; it enables the writer to use similarities and differences between two things in Now that you feel comfortable with different strategies order to present information. Here’s how the school vio- and techniques by which authors write, use this new lence issue might look presented this way: information to read the next paragraph and circle the correct response for the questions that follow. Notice At the same time that violence is on the rise in that each sentence is numbered for easy reference. America’s public schools, there has been no appreciable rise in parochial schools. When the TAXES two school systems are put side by side, it is (1) There are many things you can do to make easy to see why. First, in public school the issue tax time easier. (2) The single most important of dress creates an atmosphere for social strategy is to keep accurate records. (3) Keep all disruption. On the other hand, uniforms in of your pay stubs, receipts, bank statements, parochial school have long been known to and other relevant ﬁnancial information in a establish order and respect. When students can neat, organized folder so that when you’re come to school in dirty jeans and tee shirts CHAPTER 3 • LearningExpress Skill Builders 64