Painless Reading Comprehension - Darolyn “Lyn” Jones Ed.D. 2016

Flag words
Decoding versus reading

When you receive an important or urgent email or text, you may notice a flag attached to it. Or when you are shopping online picking out things you want for your birthday, you may bookmark it as important. Likewise, when you read, certain words signal you, alert you, or clue you in about how what you are reading is structured. Let’s look at the jigsaw puzzle analogy.

Flag words are similar to the pieces that outline the frame or skeleton of the puzzle and allow you to see more easily how the puzzle will be put together. For example, Until you clean your room, you can’t go to the mall. The word until tells you that there will be something else that you will be reading. The word until is a flag that you are about to read a sequence of events. Until you clean your room is one event and you can’t go to the mall is a second event.

Flag words can be broken down into many categories. Here are five of the most frequently used categories:

✵ cause and effect

✵ comparison and contrast

✵ emphasis

✵ illustration

✵ sequence

Cause and effect

Cause is an action, and the effect is that action’s outcome. An example flag word for cause and effect is because. Because you are reading this book, you will become a better reader. The effect, becoming a better reader, is a result of the cause, reading this book.

Some other common cause-and-effect flag words are

Comparison and contrast

When you compare something, you tell what is similar about two or more ideas. When you contrast something, you tell what is different about two or more ideas. One flag word for comparison and contrast is likewise. For example,Reading often is the best way to better your vocabulary skills. Likewise, writing is a vocabulary builder. When you see the word likewise, you know the writer is going to compare vocabulary skill building to something else besides reading, which in this case happens to be writing. A contrast word is but. For example, Teaching vocabulary with word lists is a good method, but using word lists while reading a story with the words is even better. The word but contrasts the two ideas: teaching vocabulary with just word lists and teaching vocabulary with word lists for a story.

Some other common comparison and contrast flag words are:

Emphasis words

Emphasis words are words that let you know that what the writer is saying is especially important and he or she wants you to pay close attention. When you are in class and taking notes, your teacher may tell you exactly what he or she wants you to write down or may repeat something and give you time to write that statement down. Writers do the same thing, but you must be able to recognize the flag word the author uses so you know what is really noteworthy. For example, The many events of World War II, such as the battle on Normandy, the French invasion, and the war front in Africa are significant, but the most important event for Americans is the bombing of Pearl Harbor because it catapulted the Americans into the war. The flag words most important event tell the reader that the next event is the idea the writer wants you, the reader, to really focus on and think about.

Some other common emphasis words are:

Illustration words

Now the word illustration doesn’t mean you are going to see actual pictures on the page, but you will develop pictures in your head. Illustration words tell you that the writer is going to illustrate or give you examples or ideas of what he or she means. Illustration words give you a clue that an example that you can picture in your head is about to be read. For example, We take pictures all the time, but we don’t always have a camera. For example, think of your first day at school. You can remember that day even if you don’t have an actual photograph. The flag words, for example, illustrate what the writer means when she says, We take pictures all the time, but we don’t always have a camera. If we just stopped reading there and didn’t bother to read her illustration, we might be confused. As you have probably noticed, I use for example all the time. You know by now that when I say those two words, I am going to explain what my last statement means.

Some other common illustration words are:

Sequence words

Sequence words are flag words that writers use to explain several related items in a series. Sequence words let you know what the first item is, the items in between are, and the final item is in the list. For example, First you need to grease a 9 × 13 inch pan. Then, you need to place flour in the pan and move the flour around so that it sticks to the butter. Finally, dump the excess flour out. The words first, then, and finally tell you what you need to do or what will happen first, second, and so on. Sequence words are used often to describe an event or to explain a process.

Some other common sequence words are:

Let’s Practice!

Read the following sentence:

Cracks in the highway concrete surface are a result of ice freezing and melting and breaking down the concrete’s composition.

The questions below will ask you to do one of three tasks: identify the flag word in the sentence, explain what category the flag word fits under, or detail what important information the flag word is highlighting for you.

1. What is the flag word?

a. a result of

b. breaking down

c. freezing and melting

d. melting and breaking

The answer is a. If you look at the list of flag words, you will clearly see this phrase listed.

2. What category is the flag word?

a. Comparison and Contrast

b. Emphasis

c. Cause and Effect

d. Illustration

The answer is c. The words “a result of” indicate that something came first and the result or effect is something else.

3. What important information is the flag word highlighting?

a. Ice freezes and melts

b. Cracks in the highway are caused by ice freezing and melting

c. Ice breaks down concrete

d. Roads are made out of concrete

The answer is b. When you reread the sentence, you know that the problem or consequence—the cracks in the highway—are caused by ice freezing and melting. Answer choices a and c are true but not complete answers. Answer choice d has nothing to do with the question.

Set # 4

Now you try! Read the paragraph and answer the questions below. Remember to use the strategies discussed earlier in the book and remember the answers can be found at the end of the chapter.

(1) It should be noted that along with food production, human beings found time to develop the arts and sciences. (2) Some hunter-gatherers must have had considerable leisure without making any notable movement toward civilization. (3) A difference between the hunter-gatherers and farmers that is important to note is that the former are usually nomadic whereas the latter are sedentary. (4) But even those pre-agricultural people who had fairly stationary living sites did not develop in civilizing ways comparable to the farmers.

1.What is the flag word in sentence number 1?

a. along with

b. noted

c. should be noted

d. to develop

2.In what category does the flag word “difference” in sentence number 3 belong?

a. Emphasis

b. Comparison and Contrast

c. Illustration

d. Sequence Words

3.What important information is the author detailing with the flag word “but” in sentence number 4?

a. Even though pre-agricultural people had fairly stationary living sites, they still did not develop in civilizing ways comparable to the farmers.

b. The farmers were more civilized.

c. Pre-agricultural people had stationary living sites.

d. Pre-agricultural people lived before farmers.