SKILL 13: DETERMINE THE TONE, PURPOSE, OR COURSE LONGMAN COMPLETE COURSE FOR THE TOEFL READING

LONGMAN COMPLETE COURSE FOR THE TOEFL

READING

SKILL 13: DETERMINE THE TONE, PURPOSE, OR COURSE

Other types of review questions occur occasionally in the reading section of both the paper TOEFL test and the computer TOEFL test. Possible questions of this type are multiple-choice questions that asks about (1) the tone (asking if the author is showing any emotion in his/her writing could be simply informational, explanatory, factual, humorous) of the passage, (2) the author’s purpose ( asking what the author is trying to do in the passage for example if the main idea is George Washington’s early life greatly influenced his later career and if the details give a history of his early life, the author’s purpose could be to show how George Washington’s early life influenced his later career ) in writing passage, and (3) the course ( is asking you to decide which university course might have this passage as assigned reading. For example, if the passage is about George Washington and the details give historical background on his early life, then this would probably be assigned reading in an American history class) pin which the passage might be used.

Example from the Paper TOEFL Test The passage: Military awards have long been considered symbolic of royalty, and thus when the United States was a young nation just finished with revolution and eager to distance itself from anything tasting of monarchy, there was strong sentiment against military decoration. For a century, from the end of the Revolutionary War until the Civil War, the United States awarded no military honors. The institution of the Medal of Honor in 1861 was a source of great discussion and concern. From the Civil War until World War 1, the Medal of Honor was the only military award given by the United States government, and today it is awarded only in the most extreme cases of heroism. Although the United States is still somewhat wary of granting military awards, several awards have been instituted since World War 1.

The question: This passage would probably be assigned reading in course on A.                   Military science B.                   psychology C.                  American history D.                                      Interior decoration

This question asks about the course in which you might be assigned this reading passage. To draw a conclusion about the course, you should refer to the topic of the passage and the overall organization of details. Since this passage is about American military awards in the United States, and the details discuss the history of American military awards using such time expressions as for a century, in 1861, and since World War 1, you can determine that this passage might be assigned in a course on American history, you should click on the third answer to this question.    .

The following chart outlines the key information that you should remember about questions on the tone, purpose, or course:

 

TOEFL EXERCISE 13: Study each of the passages and choose the best answers to the questions that follow.

PASSAGE ONE (Questions 1-3)

Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood (1966) is a well-known example of the “nonfiction novel,” a popular type of writing based upon factual events in which the author attempts to describe the underlying forces, thoughts and emotions that lead to actual events. In Capote’s book, the author describes the sadistic murder of a family on a Kansas farm, often showing the point of view of the killers. To research the book, Capote interviewed the murderers, and he maintains that his book presents a faithful reconstruction of the incident.

1	The purpose of this passage is to		3	This passage would probably be assigned reading in which of the following courses?
	A	discuss an example of a particular literary genre		A	Criminal Law
	B	tell the story of In Cold Blood		B	American History
	C	explain Truman’s Capote’s reasons for writing In Cold Blood		C	Modern American Novels
	D	describe how Truman Capote researched his nonfiction novel		D	Literary Research
2	Which of the following best describes the tone of the passage?
	A	Cold
	B	Sadistic
	C	Emotional
	D	Descriptive

PASSAGE TWO (Questions 4-6)

Up to now, confessions that have been obtained from defendants in a hypnotic state have not been admitted into evidence by courts in the United States. Experts in the field of hypnosis have found that such confessions are not completely reliable. Subjects in a hypnotic state may confess to crimes they did not commit for one or two reasons. Either they fantasize that they committed crimes, or they believe that others want them to confess. A landmark case concerning a confession obtained under hypnosis went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. In the case of Layra v. Denno, a suspect was hypnotized by a psychiatrist for the district attorney; in a posthypnotic state the suspect signed three separate confessions to a murder. The Supreme Court ruled that the confessions were invalid because the confessions had been the only evidence against him.

4	Which of the following best describes the author’s purpose in this passage?		6	This passage would probably be assigned reading in a course on
	A	To  explain the details of a specific court case		A	American Law
	B	To demonstrate why confessions made under hypnosis are not reliable		B	psychiatric healing
	C	To clarify the role of the Supreme Court in invalidating confessions from hypnotized subjects		C	parapsychology
	D	To explain the legal status of hypnotically induced confessions		D	philosophy
5	The tone of this passage could best be described as
	A	outraged
	B	judicial
	C	hypnotic
	D	informative

PASSAGE THREE (Questions 7-9)

The rate at which the deforestation of the world is proceeding is alarming. In 1950 approximately 25 percent of the earth’s land surface had been covered with forests, and less than twenty-five years later the amount of forest land was reduced to 20 percent. Thus decrease from 25 percent to 20 percent from 1950 to 1973 represents an astounding 20 million square kilometres of forests. Predictions are that an additional 20 million square kilometres of forest land will be lost by 2020. The majority of deforestation is occurring in tropical forests in developing countries, fuelled by the developing countries’ need for increased agricultural land and the desire on the part of developed countries to import wood and wood products. More than 90 percent of the plywood used in the United States, for example, is imported from developing countries with tropical rain forests. By the mid-1980s, solutions to this expanding problem were being sought, in the form of attempts to establish an international regulatory organization to oversee the use of tropical forests.

7	The author’s main purpose in this passage is to		9	This passage would probably be assigned reading in which of the following courses?
	A	cite statistics about an improvement on the earth’s land surface		A	Geology
	B	explain where deforestation is occurring		B	Geography
	C	make the reader aware of a worsening world problem		C	Geometry
	D	blame developing countries for deforestation		D	Marine Biology
8	Which of the following best describes the tone of the passage?
	A	Concerned
	B	Disinterested
	C	Placid
	D	Exaggerated

ANSWER KEY

1	A
2	D
3	C
4	D
5	D
6	A
7	C
8	A
9	B