They are not very smart. b. They are not interested in obscure prose. They do not like writing that affects their emotions. d. They are snobs who look down on others.
102 TOEFL EXAM ESSENTIALS
state-of-the-art special effects of 1976 seem hopelessly out of date today contrast.
Here are common transitions that signal that a writer is orga- nizing her ideas through comparison and contrast.
Words Showing Similarity
similarly in the same way
likewise like
in a like manner just as
and also
both
Words Showing Difference
but on the other hand
yet however
on the contrary in contrast
conversely while
unlike
Cause and effect arranges ideas so that readers can see why
something took place cause and what changes happened as a result effect. For example, a historian may write about the causes
of the stock market crash of 1929 in the United States investors borrowing money on easy credit to buy stock and the effects of
the crash lost fortunes, business and bank closings, unemploy- ment. The following are key words that give clues about when
a writer is describing cause and effect.
Words Indicating Cause
because of created by
since caused by
READING 103
Words Indicating Effect
therefore so
hence consequently
as a result
Practice
Consider the structure of the passage below and then answer the following sentence-insertion question. Find the answer on page 111.
Theodore Roosevelt was born with asthma and poor eyesight. 1 To conquer his handicaps, Teddy trained in a gym and became
a lightweight boxer while at Harvard. 2 Next, he went west to hunt buffalo and run a cattle ranch. After returning east in
1886, he became a civil service reformer and also a police com- missioner. 3 He entered national politics in 1896 when he
became assistant navy secretary under President McKinley. He served in that post during the Spanish-American War. 4 Later
he led the Rough Riders on a cavalry charge up San Juan Hill in Cuba. After achieving fame, he became Governor of New York
and then Vice President under McKinley. When McKinley died in 1901, he assumed the presidency. In 1904, he was elected pres-
ident in his own right.
The following sentence can be added to the passage: Yet this sickly child later won fame as a political leader, Rough
Rider, and hero of the common people.