In the reading section, we want to look specifically at three areas for each type of question:
1.How to identify this type of question on the TOEFL
2.Provide a definition of the skill being tested
3.Give steps and strategies for working on this skill
Let's move on to purpose.
1.So to our first goal, how do you identify this type of question?
The question will
begin with “why,”
will have the word “purpose” in it or
will have the phrase “in order to.”
2.Now to our second goal, what does purpose mean? Purpose could refer to the type of organization, the tone, the feelings of the author, or the purpose of the support.
This type of question could be wrong if it is
too general
not true or partly true
not mentioned or not related to the question
For purpose questions, you need to understand the words in the answers so make sure you know the meaning of the words below. I provided the definitions.
Let’s look at words associated with the type of organization and tone and the meanings of those words:
Compare: show similarities
Contrast: show differences
Argue: say your opinion is better
Recommend: give solution
Criticize:say something is bad
Warn: indicate a danger
Praise: indicate something is good
Now we also need to know the words in the answers that indicate support:
Illustrate: An example
Identify: Give specific detail
State: Used often for definition
Explain or point out: explanation
3.To our final goal, let’s look at some steps and strategies to do better with this skill.
Step 1: Read the Answers.
Step 2: Identify the words for purpose in the answers and see how they are different.
Step 3: Read the sentence in the paragraph. Step 4: Rule out the answers that don’t show purpose.
Step 5: Look at the grammar in the sentence, the sentence before it and the vocabulary in the sentence.