Systematic Material For Reading Comprehension

[nuisance]

Topic:
Sociology
Scope:
Effect of the great migration on the western social thought
why the author is writing?
He/She is trying to find out the after-effects of great migration on the western social thought

[tatimatla]

Awesome thread Kant bhai...where were you four months back?

[Subodh Kant]

Originally Posted by tatimatla

Awesome thread Kant bhai...where were you four months back?

usually I score well in RC. So I thought there is no need of any specialized for this area of CAT preparation.

Also every one was cool in this side till this year CAT.

[Subodh Kant]

Originally Posted by Subodh Kant

The great migration of European intellectuals to the United States in the second quarter of the 20th century prompted a transmutation in the character of Western social thought. ...........

First, what's the topic?
Second, what's the scope?
Why the author is writing?

Reply.

First, what's the topic?
The migration of European intellectuals to the United States in the second quarter of the 20th century.

That's clear.
Second, what's the scope? (How can we narrow the topic?)
Well, the passage looks as if it will discuss the effects of this migration on social thought.

So, using what we know about topic and scope, we can easily deduce why the author is writing.

His purpose, we might say, is "to explore how the arrival of European thinkers during the period 1926-1950 changed Western social thought."

And notice the implied structure of what will follow. Don't you expect the author to first describe the migration westward and then explain what the "transmutation" was? (And it probably will be in that order; CAT authors are nothing if not logical.)

The author will never say, "Here's why I write." But unless you figure out why he is writing, you won't be able to analyze why each piece—each paragraph and each detail—is there and how it's being used.

[Subodh Kant]

Test yourself: TSP

If you came across the following first sentence of a typical passage, could you identify the TOPIC , SCOPE and PURPOSE (TSP)

1. Cyberspace is often thought of as a realm of freedom, even of fun.
Topic -
Scope -
Purpose -

2. As Asia faces the global economy of the future, it is necessary to take stock of the once arcane issue of intellectual property.
Topic -
Scope -
Purpose -

3. The idea that the human species could alter something as huge and complex as the earth’s climate was once the subject of an esoteric scientific debate.
Topic -
Scope -
Purpose -

4. ‘Footie totty, ‘tennis babes’, ‘brolly dollies’ - these cliched images of women for whom the biggest decision of the day is a leg wax or a manicure still persist.
Topic -
Scope -
Purpose -

5. It is a leap to go from writing poems about ruins to making ruins to represent poems, but early eighteenth century England did just this.
Topic -
Scope -
Purpose -

6. The story of jazz is a miniature history of the modern mind.
Topic -
Scope -
Purpose –

7. Warhol was one of the few artists of his time to acknowledge the capitalist nature of art capitalism.
Topic -
Scope -
Purpose -

8. Perhaps more than any other single experience, the Irish migrations of the nineteenth century have captured the modern popular imagination as the most disturbing, indeed by some accounts the most tragic, chapter in the recent history of human relocations.
Topic -
Scope -
Purpose -

9. Visiting South Korea at the end of 1998 was rather like visiting a once-proud friend who has suddenly been engulfed by a profound identity crisis.
Topic -
Scope -
Purpose -

10. The growth of the new nationalism and social and political ‘particularism’ – summarized by Michael Walzer in 1992 as ‘the new tribalism’ – is one of the most profound ‘crises’ in the familiar sphere of political culture at the end of the twentieth century.
Topic -
Scope -
Purpose -

11. The overwhelming majority of people who develop problems with anorexia nervosa and bulimia – regardless of nationality or social class – are female.
Topic -
Scope -
Purpose -

12. Now for the more conservative approach to the Grandmother Paradox: time travelers don’t change the past because they were always a part of it.
Topic -
Scope -
Purpose -

13. Montana Scalp’s provocative statement about her intentions in writing Mrs. Dalloway has regularly been ignored by the critics, since it highlights an aspect of her literary interests very different from the traditional picture of the ‘poetic’ novelist concerned with examining states of reverie and vision and with following the intricate pathways of individual consciousness.
Topic -
Scope -
Purpose -

14. To teach is to create a space in which obedience to truth is practised.
Topic -
Scope -
Purpose -

15. Innovations, development of new products, to extend the lines and expand the markets of existing products by adding new features, styles, packaging, pricing — all these inexorably belong to the arsenal of devices by which a modern company competes.
Topic -
Scope -
Purpose -

16. Science does not grow by simple accumulation.
Topic -
Scope -
Purpose -

17. It was late October, and the lights had been dimmed in the Beckman conference center at the University of California at Irvine. The chief technology officer of Total Entertainment Network (TEN), a gaming company, was demonstrating how a group of players in cyberspace could match wits in an animated shoot-’em-up called Quake.
Topic -
Scope -
Purpose -

18. Beijing’s trendy taverns generally have two distinct sets of patrons.
Topic -
Scope -
Purpose -

19. Talk with ever-voluble Sun Microsystems Inc. CEO Scott McNealy, and you may hear one of his favorite quips: “Conventional wisdom doesn’t contain a whole lot of wisdom.” He believes it because of his own experience.
Topic -
Scope -
Purpose -

20. With its dimpled aluminum facade and TV-screen-shaped windows, Pittsburgh’s Alcoa Building once exemplified the power and pizzazz of the classic corporate skyscraper.
Topic -
Scope -
Purpose -

[sid_dharth]

Originally Posted by Subodh Kant

liked the thread????????

Arrey Sirji

Aapne thread shuru kiya aur woh pasand nahi aaye aisa ho hi nahi sakta!!!

Its an awesome thread & again a gr8 initiative!!!

[Subodh Kant]

No replies to the questions posted?

[nuisance]

1. Cyberspace is often thought of as a realm of freedom, even of fun.
Topic –It deals with Cyberspace.
Scope –To discuss the general perception about cyberspace.
Purpose – Author will present what people think about cyberspace and then probably will discuss why this is so?

2. As Asia faces the global economy of the future, it is necessary to take stock of the once arcane issue of intellectual property.
Topic –It’s regarding intellectual property.
Scope –To discuss effect of global economy on intellectual property in Asia.
Purpose – Author wants to draw attention to the importance of intellectual property issue in the wake of Asia facing the global economy.


3. The idea that the human species could alter something as huge and complex as the earth’s climate was once the subject of an esoteric scientific debate.
Topic –changing climate of the Earth
Scope –To Discuss the effect of activities of humans on changing climate of Earth
Purpose – Author wants to discuss the changing climate of the Earth, which was once thought to be esoteric scientific debate.He will probably elucidate what is the effect of activities of humans on earth's climate and why it is no longer an esoteric debate.

4. ‘Footie totty, ‘tennis babes’, ‘brolly dollies’ - these cliched images of women for whom the biggest decision of the day is a leg wax or a manicure still persist.
Topic –To discuss the general perception about women.
Scope –To discuss how women are still thought to be worried with trivialities.
Purpose – Author will describe the common perception held about women and then probably will refute the argument.

5. It is a leap to go from writing poems about ruins to making ruins to represent poems, but early eighteenth century England did just this.
Topic –To describe early eighteenth century England.
Scope –To discuss the bearing of England on the world in eighteenth century.
Purpose – Author will probably discuss how England ruined most of the world by exploitation in 18th century.

Subodh bhai,
That's my understanding.First correct these five then I will post the next set.

[varun nakra1]

@subodh bhai....Kaash aap CAT06 se kaafi pahley PG par aatey,so VA wudn hav screwed me like it did...This is simply mindblowing indeed....No words...

[Subodh Kant]

unable to reply in details

I am adding the original passage. Plz see urself.