SKILL 2: RECOGNIZE THE ORGANIZATION OF IDEAS

This section of the TOEFL test, sometimes we will find questions about the organization of the ideas in a passage. In this types of question, you will be asked to determine how the ideas in one paragraph (or paragraphs) relate to the ideas in another paragraph (or paragraphs). So that recognizing how to find specific information in the reading passage, especially main ideas more over main topic.

Where to find the answer?

The answer to this type of question can generally be determined by looking at the first sentence of the appropriate paragraphs, so you must take this skill into account when you are in the reading section.

Example:

If asked who invented the fame of baseball, most Americans would probably reply that it was their belief that Abner Doubleday did. They believe this because the story about Doubleday is part of the tradition of baseball.

Doubleday was given credit for this invention early in the twentieth century when sporting-goods manufacturer Spaulding inaugurated a commission to research the question of who invented baseball. In 1908, a report was published by the commission in which Abner Doubleday, a U.S. Army      officer from Cooperstown, New York, was given credit for the invention of the game. The National Baseball Hall of Fame was established in Cooperstown in honor of Doubleday.

Today, most sports historians are in agreement that Doubleday really did not have much to do with the development of baseball. Instead, baseball seems to be a close relative of the English game of rounders and probably has English rather than American roots

The question:

    In this passage

(A)  an idea is presented and then refuted

(B)  a concept is followed by examples

(C) a cause if followed by an effect

(D)  a belief is supported with reasons

Look at the main idea in each paragraph. If you study the information in the first lines of the paragraphs, you can determine that the third paragraph contradicts or refutes the information that is presented in the first two paragraphs. Therefore the correct answer is (A).

If you want to know more about this skill, watch the next video: CLIC HERE FOR WATCHING THE VIDEO