Reading comprehension success - LearningExpress 2005
Lesson 20 Drawing Conclusions: Putting It All Together
Reading between the Lines
Lesson summary
This lesson wraps up your study of reading comprehension by reviewing everything you’ve learned so far.
You’re almost at the end of this book. If you’ve been doing a lesson every weekday, you’ve spent almost a month building your reading skills. Congratulations! This lesson uses a longer passage than the ones you’ve read so far to give you a chance to practice all the skills you’ve learned. Here’s a quick review of what you’ve learned since the last review lesson:
■ Lesson 16: Finding an implied main idea. You practiced looking for clues in structure, language, and style, as well as the facts of the passage, to determine the main idea.
■ Lesson 17: Understanding implied causes and effects. You learned to “read between the lines” to determine causes and make predictions about effects.
■ Lesson 18: Emotional and logical appeals. You learned that arguments that appeal to readers’ emotions must be supported by logic, as well in order, to be convincing.
■ Lesson 19: Finding the theme in literature. You used your detective skills to find the main idea implied by the structure, language, style, and action in a work of literature.
If any of these terms or strategies sound unfamiliar to you, STOP. Please take a few minutes to review whatever lesson is unclear.
► Practice
Today, you’ll practice these skills in combination with skills covered earlier in this book:
■ Finding the facts
■ Determining the main idea
■ Determining the meaning of unfamiliar words
■ Distinguishing between fact and opinion
■ Chronological order
■ Order of importance
■ Cause and effect
■ Comparison and contrast
■ Point of view
■ Diction
■ Language and style
■ Tone
If this seems like a monumental task, don’t worry: It isn’t. You’ve already mastered some of these skills and should be very comfortable with the others. In fact, you will probably be surprised at how easy you find this exercise to be.
Practice Passage
Are you ready? Read the following essay. Remember, read actively and make observations in the space provided on the next page. Then answer the questions that follow. This will give you a chance to see how well your reading skills are coming along.
Although many companies offer tuition reimbursement, most companies only reimburse employees for classes that are relevant to their position. This is a very limiting policy. A company that reimburses employees for all college credit courses—whether job related or not—offers a service not only to the employees, but to the entire company.
One good reason for giving employees unconditional tuition reimbursement is that it shows the company’s dedication to its employees. In today’s economy, where job security is a thing of the past and employees feel more and more expendable, it is important for a company to demonstrate to its employees that it cares. The best way to do this is with concrete investments in them.
In turn, this dedication to the betterment of company employees will create greater employee loyalty. A company that puts out funds to pay for the education of its employees will get its money back by having employees stay with the company longer. It will reduce employee turnover, because even employees who don’t take advantage of the tuition reimbursement program will be more loyal to their company just knowing that their company cares enough to pay for their education.
Most importantly, the company that has an unrestricted tuition reimbursement program will have higher quality employees. Although these companies do indeed run the risk of losing money on employees who go on to another job in a different company as soon as they get their degree, more often than not, the employee will stay with the company. And even if employees do leave after graduation, it generally takes several years to complete any degree program. Thus, even if the employee leaves upon graduating, throughout those years, the employer will have a more sophisticated, more intelligent, and therefore more valuable and productive employee. And, if the employee stays, that education will doubly benefit the company: Not only is the employee more educated, but now that employee can be promoted so the company doesn’t have to fill a high-level vacancy from the outside. Open positions can be filled by people who already know the company well.
Though unconditional tuition reimbursement requires a significant investment on the employer’s part, it is perhaps one of the wisest investments a company can make.
Your Observations
Record your observations about the passage in the space below.
Questions
1. According to the passage, unconditional tuition reimbursement is good for which of the following reasons?
a. Employees get a cheaper education.
b. Employees become more valuable.
c. Employees can find better jobs.
2. How, according to the passage, will unconditional tuition reimbursement reduce employee turnover?
a. by making employees more loyal
b. by paying employees more money
c. by promoting education
3. The first sentence of the passage, “Although many companies offer tuition reimbursement, most companies only reimburse employees for classes that are relevant to their position,” is
a. fact.
b. opinion.
4. The second sentence of the passage, “This is a very limiting policy,” is
a. fact.
b. opinion.
5. This passage is organized according to which of the following strategies? (Mark all that apply.)
a. chronological order
b. order of importance
c. cause and effect
d. compare and contrast
6. The point of view used in this passage is the
a. first-person point of view.
b. second-person point of view.
c. third-person point of view.
7. The writer most likely chose this point of view because
a. the writer is describing a personal experience.
b. it enables readers to identify with the situation.
c. its objectivity encourages the reader to take the writer’s ideas seriously.
8. The writer most likely uses the word wisest in the last sentence, rather than words such as profitable, practical, or beneficial because
a. wisdom is associated with education, the subject of the essay.
b. the writer trying to appeal to people who are already highly educated.
9. Which of the following words best describes the tone of this essay?
a. playful
b. optimistic
c. insincere
10. The passage suggests that, compared to employees of companies that offer unconditional tuition reimbursement, employees of companies that do not offer this benefit are
a. less loyal.
b. more likely to be promoted.
c. not as smart.
11. “Expendable” (paragraph 2) most nearly means
a. expensive.
b. flexible.
c. replaceable.
12. The writer appeals primarily to the reader’s
a. emotions.
b. sense of logic.
13. The main idea of the passage is that
a. companies should reimburse employees for work-related courses.
b. both companies and employees would benefit from unconditional tuition reimbursement.
c. companies should require their employees to take college courses.
Answers
1. b. The idea that employees will become more valuable if they take courses is stated in the fourth paragraph: “Thus ... the employer will have a more sophisticated, more intelligent, and therefore more valuable and productive employee.”
2. a. The idea that employees will become more loyal is stated in the third paragraph: “A company that puts out funds to pay for the education of its employees will get its money back by having employees stay with the company longer. It will reduce employee turnover because even employees who don’t take advantage of the tuition reimbursement program will be more loyal ...”
3. a. The sentence is a fact; you could verify it by surveying companies to find out about their tuition reimbursement policies.
4. b. The sentence is an opinion; it shows how the author feels about the policy.
5. b, c. The author lists the ways companies would benefit by having unconditional tuition reimbursement in order of importance from least to most important. The author also shows the positive effects unconditional reimbursement would have on the company.
6. c. There is no I or you here; the writer doesn’t refer directly to herself or to the reader. Instead, everything is spoken of in the third person.
7. c. The writer most likely uses the third-person point of view because it is objective, and her argument is more likely to be taken seriously. If she used the first person, readers might think she was an employee who wanted her employer to pay for her tuition, and she wouldn’t be taken seriously.
8. a. By using a word associated with education, the writer stresses the importance of education for the company.
9. b. The passage describes only positive effects of unconditional reimbursement; there is scarcely a negative word.
10. a. If employees of companies that offer unconditional tuition reimbursement are more loyal to their companies (see the second and third paragraphs), it follows that other employees will be less loyal because their company isn’t showing enough dedication to their betterment.
11. c. Your best clue that expendable means replaceable is that the writer uses the word immediately after saying that job security is a thing of the past, so that workers don’t feel they are important or valuable to a company that can fire them on a moment’s notice.
12. b. There is common sense or reason behind each of the writer’s arguments. Indeed, there are few, if any, emotional appeals in this passage.
13. b. This main idea is explicitly stated in the last sentence of the first paragraph (a good place to look for the main idea of a longer passage like this one) and repeated at the end of the passage.
How did you do? If you got all of the answers correct, congratulations! Good work. If you missed a few, you might want to take time to review the corresponding lessons.
► Congratulations!
You’ve completed 20 lessons and have seen your reading skills increase. If you’re preparing for a standardized test, you should check out Appendix A, which provides tips on how to prepare and what to do during the test. And don’t forget Appendix B, which gives suggestions for how to continue to improve your reading skills, along with a list of suggested books organized by subject categories.
Now it’s time to reward yourself for a job well done. Buy yourself a good book and enjoy!