Comprehension | What Do I Need to Highlight?

Hello once again! In my previous post , I shared 5 t hings you can do to prepare for your English paper . In t his one, I will focus on t he Comprehension Open -
ended segment of Paper 2.

By now, you should be aware t hat for t his part of t he paper, t here are 10 questions of varying types . We have already compiled t he 8 Types of
Comprehension Quest ions in a different post and you can t ake a look at it for a quick revision. We have also shown you how to answer t he true/false and
cause/effect quest ions so you can refer to these post s for more informat ion about t hese t ypes of quest ions.

For todays post, I will be showing you a lit t le more in -dept h on how to get to t he answer. What do we need to highlight for t he above comprehension
quest ions? Why do we need to highlight t hese words? Let 's t ry and explain t hese quest ions today and focus on t he following qu est ion t ypes:

1. Fact ual
2. Inference
3. Sequencing
4. Vocabular y in Cont ext
What do I need to highlight: Answers requiring complete sentences

For any question that requires you to write down answers in complete sentences (e.g. questions with two lines provided, True/ False q uestions), you
will act ually need to highlight t wo essent ial t hings in t he quest ion, t he "tense" word and t he keywords. I will usually advise my children t he following:

- Circle tense word

This is a word t hat indicat es whet her t he answer should be in present or past t ense e.g. did, was, had, shot et c.

- Underline the keywords

Keywords allow you to know where to look for t he answer and also what t ype of answer you are looking out for.
Are you ready? I shall illust rat e t he above by looking at t he fact ual and inferent ial quest ions.

1. Factual

To get to t he answer, use t he following st eps:

1. Circle the tense word in t he quest ion.

2. Highlight the keywords in t he quest ion.
3. Highlight and number the answer in t he passage.

Let me demonst rat e using an example:

Q1: Why was the authors father on the move in the authors early life? [1m]

Step 1: Circle the tense word in the question.

This st ep ensures t hat you always use t he correct t ense when you writ e down t he answer.

In t his case, you need to use t he past tense because of t he word was.

Step 2: Highlight the keywords in the question.

Ident ifying t he keywords helps you to locat e where t he answer is in t he passage and ensures t hat you give t he relevant answer .

The word why tells you that you should be looking for a reason for t he writ ers fat her being on t he move. Loo k for t he phrase on t he move in t he
passage. The answer should be locat ed close to where t his phrase is found.

Step 3: Highlight and number the answer in the passage.

Number ing t he answer makes it easier for you to check it lat er on.
A: He was searching for a job.

For Fact ual quest ions, it is import ant to remember to only include relevant det ails and to omit any unnecessar y informat ion.

2. Inference

The st eps are similar to t he ones for Fact ual quest ions but inst ead of looking for t he answer, you should be looking for clues. Let me show you by using an
excerpt :

Q2: What was Zheng Nians occupation? [1m]

Step 1: Circle the tense word in the question.

Step 2: Highlight the keywords in the question.

It is import ant t hat you underst and t he meaning of occupat ion. It means what someone works as or does for a living.

Step 3: Highlight and number the clues in the passage.

The passage does not explicit ly st at e what Zheng Nians occupat ion was but t here are clues to indicat e what it was. You need to ident ify t hese and t hen infer
what his job could be.
These clues indicat e t hat Zheng Nian might be a const ruct ion worker since t he paragraph draws a similarit y bet ween him and t h e ot her st rangers.

A2: He was a construction worker.

For a more in-dept h loo k into t he Inference quest ion, refer to our post on Answering Inferent ial Quest ions.

What do I need to highlight: Answers requiring numbers/ quote from the passage

For quest ions which require you to write in numbers or pick out an exact word/ phrase/ sentence from t he passage, you will not need to highlight t enses.
However, highlight ing of keywords are st ill ext remely import ant as all the answers need to have come from the passage ! Let 's t ake a look at two such t ypes
of quest ions.

3. Sequencing

To answer t his quest ion t ype, you should:

1. Locat e t he event s in t he passage and highlight them in a different colour from t he one you used for ot her quest ions. This allows you to see the
events clear ly.
2. Number the events in t he correct order.

Remember to ascertain when t he event happened and NOT when it appears in t he passage. For inst ance, an event t hat appears in t he last paragra ph might
actually be t he first one t hat happened.

Let s take a look at t he example below:

Q3 Write 1, 2, 3 and 4 in the blanks below to indicate the order in which the events occurred in the story. [1m]

______ The aut hors grandmot her hugged the aut hor.

______ The aut hors grandmot her sat in t he kit chen.

______ The aut hors grandmot her had an argument wit h t he aut hors mot her.

______ The aut hors fat her left t he house.

Step 1: Locate the events in the passage and highlight them in a different colour.

Step 2: Number the events in the correct order.

A3:

__2__ The authors grandmother hugged the author.

__1__ The authors grandmother sat in the kitchen.

__4__ The authors grandmother had an argument with the authors mother.

__3__ The authors father left the house.

As you can see from t he above example, even t hough t he argument bet ween t he aut hors grandmot her an d mot her appears first in t he last paragraph, t he event
of her fat her leaving t he house actually happened first because of t he word earlier.

Hence, you need to read carefully and look out for such words when trying to arrange t he event s in t he correct s equence.

4. Vocabulary in Context

In order to answer t his quest ion, follow t hese st eps:

1. Highlight the keywords in t he quest ion.

This is crucial because t he keywords will t ell you whet her you should look for a word, phrase or sent ence. They may also t ell you where to look for t he
answer and whet her it should be a synonym or an antonym of t he one given in t he quest ion.

2 Locat e t he correct paragraph.

3. Highlight and number the answer.

Let s work toget her on t he example below:

Q4: WHICH 6-WORD PHRASE IN PARAGRAPH 2 TELLS US THAT VAL WAS DRAGGED UNDERWATER? [1M]

Step 1: Highlight the keywords in the question.

Step 2: Locate the correct paragraph.

In t his inst ance, you should be looking at paragraph 2.

Step 3: Highlight and number the answer.

Hauled means to be pulled, which has the same meaning as dragged while t he phrase t he darkness below is similar to underwater . Do count t he
number of words in t he phrase to ensure t hat your answer will be precise. Here, t he highlight ed phrase is exactly 6 words. If your answer cont ains 5 words or
7 words, it will be marked wrong immediately . Be very aware to fulfil t he condit ions given!

For t his t ype of quest ion, you are usually given a box to writ e t he answer in so you do not need to answer in a complet e sent ence.

Somet imes, t he quest ion might look like t his:

If t he quest ion is phrased t his way, you would need to answer in a complet e sent ence. You can st art your answer wit h: The se ntence is or It is

The answer to t he above quest ion should look l ike t his:

A: It is Each time we moved, we had fewer boxes, not more..

Take note of t he punct uat ion in t he answer as well.