STEP 1: READ THROUGH EACH SENTENCE, CIRCLING ANY IMPORTANT
STRUCTURAL CLUES
Structural Clues are words that provide information about the relationship between sentences. They’re words or phrases that help
you predict where the paragraph is going or follow where it has been.
Paragraph 1
Porpoises and sharks appear to be similar in that they are streamlined, are good swimmers, and live in the sea.
Q. For example, the shark has gills, cold blood, and scales, whereas the porpoise has lungs, warm blood, and
hair.
R. Important differences are apparent, however, to marine biologists who study these species.
S. The porpoise, on the other hand, is fundamentally more like man than like the shark—and it therefore
belongs to the order of mammals.
T. Armed with the knowledge that the porpoise is a mammal, the biologist can then confidently predict that
porpoises have a four-chambered heart and bones of a particular type.
U. From this contrast in features, the zoologist knows that the shark has the physiology of a fish.Each of the sentences contains clues that provide information about its relationship to other sentences. Look at sentence Q. It begins
with the words “For example.” This tells you that sentence Q must refer back to something specific in a previous sentence.
CONTEXTUAL CLUES—RIGHT ON THE PAGE
Scrambled Paragraphs test active reading. Success is about your ability to figure out what an author is going to say next or
what the author must have already said.