Advanced English Reading and Comprehension

78 practice makes perfect Advanced English Reading and Comprehension

Reading strategies

Paraphrasing

To summarize a reading text, you don’t have to quote all the facts and igures. Instead, to show

that you understand what these numbers mean, you can restate them; that is, you can get the

general idea across without referring to the actual numbers. You can do this by

• converting percentages to fractions, and vice versa


• using the descriptive verbs, adjectives, and adverbs in the following chart to describe a trend
  Verbs that indicate an increase
  grow, rise, increase, climb, surge, swell, explode, skyrocket
  Verbs that indicate a decrease
  fall, decline, decrease, lower, drop, dwindle, sink, plummet, plunge
  Verbs that indicate stability
  remain, stay, hold steady, stagnate, linger, show no change, level of, freeze
  Verbs that indicate a combination of increases and decreases
  uctuate, change, vary, shift, waver, go up and down, seesaw
  Adjectives and adverbs that indicate a mathematical change
  by ½ half
  by 2 double / two times
  by 3 triple / three times
  by 4 quadruple / four times
  by more ive/ten/twenty times
  ivefold / tenfold
  Adjectives and adverbs that indicate a large change
  sharp(ly), steep(ly), dramatic(ally), signiicant(ly), measurable (measurably), exponential(ly),
  sudden(ly), major
  Adjectives and adverbs that indicate stability
  steady (steadily), constant(ly), consistent(ly), continuous(ly), progressive(ly), regular(ly)
  Adjectives and adverbs that indicate a small change
  gradual(ly), slow(ly), incremental(ly), little by little, minor, limited
  Adjectives and adverbs that indicate very little change
  minimal(ly), marginal(ly), nominal(ly), negligible (negligibly), barely, hardly
  Here are some examples:
  QUOTATION “Costs have risen by 98 percent.”
  CONVERSION Costs have almost doubled.
  USING DESCRIPTIVE WORDS Costs have risen dramatically/signiicantly.