compre qn types

• Vocabulary/choice of words (What does '...' suggest?')

  • Literal understanding of the phrase in the specific context of the passage and relevant inference
• Author's intention (Explain why the author uses the word '...')

  • The author wants to highlight/emphasise/point out that/elicit (emotion)
  • What author hopes to do and effect the author hopes to have on the reader
  • Shows literally understanding of the word/phrase
• Quotation marks ' '

  • To show direct speech
  • To enclose short expressions, titles and definitions
  • Indicate the author's disagreement with how a word/phrase is used
• Ellipsis ...

  • When words are left out intentionally but meaning is still clear from the context
  • At the end of a list of items to indicate more similar items could be added to the list
  • When listing the steps in a cycle that the cycle repeats itself
• Metaphors and similes

  • Explain the literal meaning
  • Link the literal meaning to the contextual meaning (show similarity between them)
  • Just as how A is ..., B is also...
  • A is ... Similarly/Likewise, B is...
• Situational Irony

  • State what the expected situation is and what happened in reality
  • It was expected that... Yet, in reality...
• Paradox

  • Explain why the two situations seemingly contradict and explain why the apparent contradiction actually makes sense
  • There is contradiction/juxtaposition/oxymoron inherent in the pharse as... However, ...
• Conclusion

  • To provide a neat summary of the author's key argument
  • Structurally, to give a sense of completeness by linking back to the opening sentence
  • To emphasise/reinforce/relate back to opening sentence
  • To relate/connect to the reader to make the concern a shared one (if author switches to the personal pronoun - 'we')
• Rhetorical questions

  • To draw attention to the issue to get readers to reflect on it
  • To make the point more dramatically to emphasise the issue
  • To persuade the reader to think about the issue in a certain way
• Parentheses ( )

  • Function and context
  • Non-essential information
  • Additional detail/an aside
  • To illustrate and substantiate...