Reading Comprehension

Career Skills (Verbal)

• Simply put, reading comprehension is the act of understanding what you are reading. While the
definition can be simply stated the act is not simple to teach, learn or practice. Reading comprehension
is an intentional, active, interactive process that occurs before, during and after a person reads a
particular piece of writing.
• Reading comprehension is one of the pillars of the act of reading. When a person reads a text he engages
in a complex array of cognitive processes. He is simultaneously using his awareness and understanding
of phonemes (individual sound “pieces” in language), phonics (connection between letters and sounds
and the relationship between sounds, letters and words) and ability to comprehend or construct meaning
from the text. This last component of the act of reading is reading comprehension. It cannot occur
independent of the other two elements of the process. At the same time, it is the most difficult and most
important of the three.
• There are two elements that make up the process of reading comprehension: vocabulary knowledge and text comprehension. In
order to understand a text the reader must be able to comprehend the vocabulary used in the piece of writing. If the individual
words don’t make the sense then the overall story will not either. Children can draw on their prior knowledge of vocabulary, but
they also need to continually be taught new words. The best vocabulary instruction occurs at the point of need. Parents and
teachers should pre-teach new words that a child will encounter in a text or aid her in understanding unfamiliar words as she
comes upon them in the writing. In addition to being able to understand each distinct word in a text, the child also has to be able
to put them together to develop an overall conception of what it is trying to say. This is text comprehension. Text comprehension
is much more complex and varied that vocabulary knowledge. Readers use many different text comprehension strategies to
develop reading comprehension. These include monitoring for understanding, answering and generating questions, summarizing
and being aware of and using a text’s structure to aid comprehension.
• How does reading comprehension develop?
• As you can see, reading comprehension is incredibly complex and multifaceted. Because of this, readers do not develop the
ability to comprehend texts quickly, easily or independently. Reading comprehension strategies must be taught over an extended
period of time by parents and teachers who have knowledge and experience using them. It might seem that once a child learns to
read in the elementary grades he is able to tackle any future text that comes his way. This is not true. Reading comprehension
strategies must be refined, practiced and reinforced continually throughout life. Even in the middle grades and high school,
parents and teachers need to continue to help their children develop reading comprehension strategies. As their reading materials
become more diverse and challenging, children need to learn new tools for comprehending these texts. Content area materials
such as textbooks and newspaper, magazine and journal articles pose different reading comprehension challenges for young
people and thus require different comprehension strategies. The development of reading comprehension is a lifelong process that
changes based on the depth and breadth of texts the person is reading.
 Why is reading comprehension so important?

• Without comprehension, reading is nothing more than tracking symbols on a page with your
eyes and sounding them out. Imagine being handed a story written in Egyptian hieroglyphics
with no understanding of their meaning. You may appreciate the words aesthetically and even
be able to draw some small bits of meaning from the page, but you are not truly reading the
story. The words on the page have no meaning. They are simply symbols. People read for
many reasons but understanding is always a part of their purpose. Reading comprehension is
important because without it reading doesn’t provide the reader with any information.
• Beyond this, reading comprehension is essential to life. Much has been written about the
importance of functional literacy. In order to survive and thrive in today’s world individuals
must be able to comprehend basic texts such as bills, housing agreements (leases, purchase
contracts), directions on packaging and transportation documents (bus and train schedules,
maps, travel directions). Reading comprehension is a critical component of functional
literacy. Think of the potentially dire effects of not being able to comprehend dosage
directions on a bottle of medicine or warnings on a container of dangerous chemicals. With
the ability to comprehend what they read, people are able not only to live safely and
productively, but also to continue to develop socially, emotionally and intellectually.
 RC Writing Styles

• As the name states, writing styles is the way a writer chooses to express himself/herself through a piece of writing. But
what exactly would be a writing styles for RC? Well, just like each one of us has a unique dressing style, so does CAT
RCs differ in the way they are written. And just like you dress differently for different occasions and places, so does a
passage is written according to its purpose, audience and context. But the question is why it is important to identify the
writing style of a passage?
• Well, the author intends to convey some ideas and opinions through his/her writing style. You will know the kind of
questions to expect and how to answer them correctly with a specific approach to each passage written in a particular
style. Knowing about different writing styles is critical to developing a better understanding of RC passages. This will
definitely save time and help you score high in the most essential part of CAT Verbal Ability section. But, how do you
think the various writing styles differ from each other? It does depend on some factors like structure, choice of words,
expression and complexity of language. Generally, RC passages present information in the following six writing forms:
• Narrative
• Descriptive
• Factual/Expository/Informative
• Argumentative/Persuasive
• Analytical
• Abstract
• Now, let’s see how can you identify each writing style and devise your RC strategy accordingly.
• To start with, Narrative style of writing is one of the easiest to identify since these passages are
written in form of a story. The author intends to narrate some events or personal experiences
through such passages. In other words, these passages would appear most interesting to read if
you are a bibliophile! Novels, anecdotes, autobiographies, histories, etc. are mostly written in a
narrative style. As you would know, some of the most popular movies are based on best selling
narrative books. So, you can start with reading the plot summaries of your favourite movies to
get a glimpse of the narrative style of writing. After all, any narrative passage requires you to
imagine the scenes and setting and understand the characters to connect with the plot. All you
would need to do is:
• Try to identify the main ideas conveyed in the beginning, middle and the last
• While reading the passage, try to extract the underlying message that the author wants to convey
through the story.
• Also, the tone of the author will help you understand the emotions he/she is going through while
narrating the story. Both direct and indirect questions may be asked from these passages.
• Next type is the descriptive style of writing. As you would guess, descriptive passages intend to
describe a place, person, thing or event in a great detail. Such passages generally include a lot of
adjectives, adverbs and metaphors so as to paint a picture of that particular thing in the reader’s mind.
Suppose you visit a popular tourist place, how will explain the beauty of it? Here, you would need to
adopt a descriptive style. Most of the tourist guides, journals, magazines and poetry are written in a
descriptive way. While tackling descriptive RC passages, just keep a few things in mind:
• A good idea for such passages is to go through the questions before reading the passage. This will save
time and help you spot the required answers easily since most of the questions asked from these
passages are direct.
• Do not get distracted by figurative language used in the passage. Instead, try to stay focused on
understanding the contextual meaning and answer the vocabulary based questions accordingly.
• Another type is factual form of writing. The purpose of factual style of writing is to impart
information to the reader in a logical and objective manner along with some facts and figures.
Probably, such passages won’t really interest you if you are not in the habit of reading newspapers.
News stories, instruction manuals, research papers and reports present information in a factual form.
Well, if you are fond of cooking, then you would know that even recipe books are written in a factual
way. A great idea to master such passages is to start reading news reports, which will eventually help
you in later stages also. While reading factual passages:
• Facts and figures may tend to confuse you, so focus on the main points and purpose of the passage. Here
also, you are advised to glance through the questions before reading the passage. This way, you will be able
to make mental notes of the crucial information needed to answer the questions.
• Most of the questions asked are direct and require you to identify the key points. g. key features of a
scientific report/research.
• A common type of writing is an argumentative/persuasive style of writing. The author writes in an
argumentative way so as to convince the reader of some particular beliefs and opinions regarding a subject.
In other words, such passages cite instances, justifications and facts to support a stand taken on the given
topic. You must have come across advertisements that tend to influence you to buy some products or
services. Well, most of the advertisements, reviews and complaint letters are written in a persuasive form. A
good way to understand such passages is to start with reading newspaper editorials that support a particular
point of view regarding the latest policies or events. You can ace such RC passages by:
• Understand the author’s point of view regarding the subject being discussed. This way you will also be able
to comprehend the implicit information and answer ‘the author agrees/disagrees’ questions well.
• This style of writing often uses continuity words like ‘in the same way, likewise, additionally,’ These serve
as an indicator of the examples used by author to justify his/her stand.
• The tone and organization of the passage also helps to answer the indirect or inferential questions
• A variant of the above stated writing style is an analytical form of writing. Unlike the argumentative form, the analytical style
of writing presents arguments and examples for examining the topic from all angles. The difference between the two is the way
a group discussion varies from a debate. Suppose you are asked to tell the pros and cons of a particular product or decision, how
do you present it? Here comes the role of analytical form of writing. You will be required to present justifications in favour of as
well as against the subject. Even the movie reviews usually adopt an analytical style of writing. Some of the newspaper
editorials, technical reports and magazine articles portray the given subject in an analytical way. E.g. any controversial court
case is generally presented in an analytical form of writing in newspapers. A good strategy for such RC passages would be:
• Identify the central theme of the passage and the ideas build-up around it.
• In these passages, you will frequently come across contrast words like however, nonetheless, despite, but, Such words are used
to present arguments and counterarguments on the given topic.
• Focus on the relevant points and do not focus too much on minor details. You are likely to be asked inferential questions from
such passages. So, try to formulate your opinion while reading the passage.
• A good idea to master such passages would be to read about latest happenings and discuss it among your friends so as to
analyse from various aspects.
• The last kind of writing is called abstract style. As the name says, the abstract style of writing is adopted in passages which
deal with abstract topics like that of philosophy. An interesting example of this would be the fantasy books that we all have
loved in our childhood days. Such passages do not state all the information explicitly. Abstract style of writing generally
encompasses non-material concepts that may be represented in a symbolic way. Why not start with reading about some
philosophical topics that interest you? An efficient way to deal with such passages would be:
• Look for the tone and structure of the passage to figure out the author’s message in the passage.
• Such passages may appear complex and demand a second reading to understand their essence and meaning.
• Finally, you need to invest a good amount of time on reading from variety of sources like newspapers,
magazines, journals, etc. Putting it another way, try to inculcate the habit of diverse reading so as to
improve your comprehension skills and get well-versed with various writing styles.
• In case you have just started with RCs, make notes of the important points while reading the passage.
Begin with solving 2-3 RCs daily and identify the writing style for each. As you increase your practice,
you will be able to make mental bookmarks of the main ideas given in the passage. Also, practicing
RCs from previous year CAT papers and mock tests will enhance your accuracy and speed in exam.
• Tones of Writing
• By now, you must be aware of the various types of RC passages as well the different writing styles.
Close to the writing style, comes the tone of passage. As you would know, tone-based questions
frequently accompany CAT RC passages. So, what is really meant by ‘tone of the passage’?
• The tone of the passage represents the author’s sentiment or attitude towards the subject being
discussed. In other words, it’s the predominant emotion the author displays towards the subject. You
probably react differently to different people in same or different situations. You may speak the same
sentence in harsh or polite or sarcastic tone depending upon the context and people. Similarly, RC
tones vary in different contexts with same or different subjects.
• Learning to identify the tone will help you in multiple ways: answering the direct tone based questions as well
as figuring out the implicit information and inferences. Tone of the passage is indicative of the message that
the author wants to convey to the reader. The same set of words change their meaning if you speak them in a
different tone.
• Broadly, the tones used are subjective or objective. As you would guess, the objective tone is used when the
author chooses to remain neutral and detached. On the other hand, a subjective tone reveals the attitude and
emotions of the author with respect to the issue. Generally, CAT RCs feature in the following types of tones:
• Acerbic/harsh/severe/bitter/caustic/vitrolic:
• How would you express your dislike or disapproval for something or someone in a harsh way? Here comes
the role of acerbic tone. The author reveals his disagreement with a particular theory or may express his
disdain towards a person in an acerbic tone. Once you identify this tone, you will be able to answer the
‘author agree/disagree’ questions that follow the RC passage.
• Angry/indignant:
• Similar to the above type, this kind of tone shows the author’s anger towards the subject in a justified way.
How do you justify your anger towards any unfair system? You may do so by some arguments, facts and
examples regarding the subject. Similarly, the author intends to justify his anger by stating various reasons
related to the issue.
• Such RC passages revolve around biased systems or policies followed by the authorities. Questions
based on such passages are generally direct and easy to answer.
• Apologetic
• As the name states, this kind of tone is used to express remorse or guilt regarding the mishaps or
tragedies that may have occurred in the past. RC passages based on this tone generally talk of theories
related to world wars, natural disasters or other such catastrophes that have impacted mankind adversely.
Such passages may also include a lot of facts and figures.
• Belligerent/bellicose
• In which tone do you think two warring parties talk to each other? As you would guess, they are
aggressively hostile towards each other. This is when author adopts belligerent tone of writing. Think of
the feelings that Allies and Axis powers had towards each other. RC passages based on this kind of tone
are easily to understand and let you easily predict the answers to inference-based questions.
• Biased
• While favouring one thing/person/group over the other, we tend to use a biased tone to display our
inclination towards it. Similarly, the author uses a biased tone and presents arguments in favour of a
particular thing/theory in the passage. Once you identify the author’s stand, you will be able to figure out
the answers to the required questions.
• Commiserating
• This type of tone is used to express grief or show sympathy for a person or a group of people suffering from prejudiced
practices or cultural norms. The author intends to familiarize the reader with the trauma undergone by the sufferers.
• Condescending/Patronizing
• A condescending tone implies an attitude of patronizing superiority of a particular thing/person/group. As you would expect,
such RC passages may display snobbish or scornful tones with regard to things considered inferior in the author’s view.
• Contemptuous/derisive/disparaging
• This kind of tone exhibits author’s disdain or contempt towards the subject. You will often find such passages treating the
subject in a scornful and ridiculous way.
• Cynical
• How do tend to speak about people you find distrustful? Here comes the role of cynical tone. Passages written in cynical tone
reveal author’s view of society being driven purely by self-interest.
• Dogmatic
• You must have some firm beliefs and perspective regarding particular aspects of life. In what kind of tone will you speak
about them? This is where dogmatic tone comes into play. When the author is assertive regarding his opinions, he uses a
dogmatic tone to convey his viewpoint.
• Emotional
• While narrating an incident/event/story, the author uses an emotional tone of writing in order to portray the feelings
regarding the same. Such RC passages may appear complex and need to be reread to arrive at the right answer.
• Ethical
• As you would know, the issues of ethics in business have assumed greater relevance in the growing corporate
culture. Such RC passages commonly feature in CAT exam. The author employs an ethical tone to depict the issues
of morality, righteousness, honesty, etc.
• Euphemistic
• How do you express your disliking or disagreement without being offensive or blunt? In such a case, euphemistic
tone comes to your rescue. RC passages in this kind of tone make use of indirect and implicit statements.
• Grandiose
• As the name suggests, this type of tone is adopted by passages written in a descriptive or abstract style. The passage
may appear more elaborative than necessary. Also, sometimes abstract passages utilize a grandiose tone of writing.
• Humanistic
• As you would guess, a humanistic tone of writing is most suitable to issues related to welfare, values and other such
human affairs. A good idea for such passages would be to glance at the questions before reading the passage. This
way, you will be able to grasp the essence of the given passage/theory.
• Humorous
• One of the most interesting tones of writing, a humorous tone is witty and amusing at the same time. All you need
to do is spot the message that that author wants to convey in a light-hearted manner.
• Introspective
• How would you talk about analysing your feelings or contemplate your actions? Well, an introspective tone is
employed in the passage so as to self-examine and reflect upon one’s actions and feelings.
• Incendiary/ provocative
• You may have come across some famous speeches by great orators and found their words moving or soul-
stirring. Well, that’s an incendiary tone into play. It’s the tone of speech utilized by revolutionaries and
politicians as well. In other words, an incendiary tone is meant to incite people in a negative or positive
direction.
• Laudatory
• How have you praised something or someone you admired? That’s what laudatory tone sounds like. Often,
descriptive passages adopt this kind of tone so as to discuss a particular subject along with certain justifications.
• Motivating
• Another interesting kind of tone, a motivating tone of writing aims to inspire and propel you by the use of
influential quotes and examples. Such passages may present examples of some popular personalities and
incidents from their lives.
• Pedestrian
• When a passage appears neither interesting nor complex to you, probably it has a pedestrian tone of writing. In
other words, this kind of tone is used when the RC passage talks about commonplace things and ideas.
• Populist
• As the name says, a populist tone is used to discuss theories and characteristics exhibited by general populace. The author of the passage utilizes a
populist tone to explain features and behavior of common people.
• Romantic
• As you would expect, this kind of tone is fanciful and exaggerated. Such passages may appear interesting to read but contains unrealistic content.
This tone is mostly used for abstract RC passages.
• Sarcastic/satirical/ironical/taunting
• Try expressing your disliking indirectly and without sounding too serious? Well, most of us have spoken in this way at one time or the other.
When the author states a negative opinion about something in a taunting or ironic way, he uses a sarcastic tone in the passage.
• Speculative
• We do read about various speculations in newspapers- economic, political, etc. Similarly, RC passages explaining any such theories adopt a
speculative tone of writing. Putting it other ways, such passages revolve around hypothetical things and expert opinions.
• Technical
• As the name states, the author of the passages tends to use technical jargons while using this tone of writing. This type of tone is generally used to
discuss the core ideas of particular fields of study. Such passages are generally accompanied by a lot of facts and figures.
• By now, you are aware of the various tones of writing. So, now how can you be sure of a particular tone being used for the passage? Well, you can
look for the clues in the following ways:
• Look at the adjectives and adverbs used in the passage and their connotations. The choice of words provides a strong hint of the author’s tone.
• Another clue is given by the style of writing– whether it is narrative, descriptive, etc.
• Also, give a broad overview to the structure and organization of ideas in the passage.
• The bottom-line: read and practice as much as you can. This will help you identify the tone accurately and in a lesser time.
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