96 TOEFL EXAM ESSENTIALS
Practice
Choose the correct meaning of the italicized word. Find the answers on page 111.
4. When you are in an interview, try not to show any overt
signs that you are nervous. Don’t shift in your chair, shake, or stutter.
Overt means a. subtle.
b. obnoxious. c. obvious.
d. confident.
5. Although teaching is not a particularly lucrative career, I
wouldn’t do anything else. Knowing I’m helping others to learn is far more important to me than money.
Lucrative means a. highly profitable.
b. highly rewarding. c. highly exciting.
d. highly repetitive.
MAKING INFERENCES
Inference questions on the TOEFL exam ask you to draw logi- cal conclusions about what you read. Sometimes a writer does not
explicitly state his or her main idea or offer a conclusion. You must infer the writer’s meaning. To do this you must carefully read the
details and facts of a passage and look for context clues that reveal a writer’s attitude.
READING 97
Word choice—the specific words a writer chooses to describe
people, places, and things—is one of the best clues to how a writer feels about her subject. Word choice, also called diction,
includes these forms:
■
the particular words a writer uses
■
the way words are arranged in a sentence
■
repetition of words or phrases
■
inclusion of particular details For example, consider how word choice affects the two sen-
tences below:
A: Improved job training would reduce workplace injuries. B: Improved job training would minimize workplace injuries.
The only difference between the two sentences is that sen-
tence A uses the word reduces and sentence B uses minimize. Both sentences state that improved job training would result in fewer
workplace injuries. However, sentence B is stronger because of its word choice: to minimize means to reduce to the smallest pos-
sible amount.
Even words that have similar dictionary definitions may have
different connotations, or suggested meanings. For example, con- sider the words rich, wealthy and affluent. Although similar in
meaning, each word evokes different thoughts and feelings. Rich implies having more than enough to fulfill normal needs, wealthy
suggests the possession of property and things of value, and afflu- ent implies increasing wealth.
98 TOEFL EXAM ESSENTIALS
Practice
Read the passage below and answer the questions that follow. Find the answers on page 111.
Storytelling should speak first to the heart and only second to the intellect. It should, in Isaac Bashevis Singer’s words, “be both clear
and profound,” and it should also entertain. The new writer should avoid creating pieces that are deliberately obscure and
impossible to understand except by a small, elite group of other writers.
6. What is the passage suggesting about new writers? a. They are excellent writers.
b. They write better than those who have practiced the
art of writing.
c. They think that good writing should be difficult to
understand.
d. They aim to please a wide audience. 7. What is the author implying about most readers?
a. They are not very smart. b. They are not interested in obscure prose.
c. They do not like writing that affects their emotions. d. They are snobs who look down on others.
ANSWERING REFERENCE QUESTIONS
Reference questions measure your understanding of what a par- ticular sentence means. Read each passage carefully and try this
three-part strategy to find the correct answer:
1. Eliminate any answers that you know are incorrect. 2. Insert each remaining answer choice into the sentence.