Dr. Byrnes' TOEFL Reading Self-study Course: Sample Lecture
Paraphrase questions with punctuation marks
The TOEFL sentence to be paraphrased often looks complicated because it is long and has many different sentential elements and stylistic devices such as dashes, colons, semicolons and appositives. If you do not know how these devices are used in academic writing, you might not be able to understand the sentence clearly. We examined their functions in the introduction to the paraphrase question section In this section we examine paraphrase questions that utilize these stylistic devices.
Dashes
In the TOEFL, dashes are mainly used to mark that the information enclosed is extra. So you can simplify, or even eliminate, the information after a dash as there is no loss of the essential idea. Consider this sentence:
Example (medium)
Moreover, when planetesimals—small, solid objects formed in the early solar system that may accumulate to become planets—condense within a forming star system, they are inevitably made from heavy elements because the more common hydrogen and helium remain gaseous.
Planetesimals may remain in star systems when hydrogen and helium combine with less common heavier elements.
Planetesimals are composed of heavy elements because hydrogen and helium stay in the form of gasses.
Planetesimals are small, solid objects that condense within a forming star system and may become planets.
When planetesimals accumulate to form planets, they inevitably contain gaseous as well as heavy elements.
Analysis
Information between the dashes, “small, solid objects formed in the early solar system that may accumulate to become planets” is extra information, describing what planetesimals are. So this information is inessential. When we omit this inessential information, this is what is left:
Moreover, when planetesimals condense within a forming star system, they are inevitably made from heavy elements because the more common hydrogen and helium remain gaseous.
The main clause is “they (= planetesimals) are inevitably made from heavy elements,” so, it is the most important information. The information led by ‘when’ and ‘because’ clauses, are second-most important information since these subordinating conjunctions provide dependent ideas. So, this is the schema of the above sentence:
When X, Y because Z
where
X = Moreover, when planetesimals—small, solid objects formed in the early solar system that may accumulate to become planets—condense within a forming star system,
Y = they (= planetesimals) are inevitably made from heavy elements
Z= because the more common hydrogen and helium remain gaseous.
Y is the essential information, and X and Z are secondary information. Between X and Z, Z is more important since Z is the cause of Y. This is a way to paraphrase the sentence:
Planetesimals are made of heavy elements since the more common hydrogen and helium remain gaseous during the condensation process.
With this, let’s consider the choices:
Planetesimals may remain in star systems when hydrogen and helium combine with less common heavier elements.
A entirely misrepresents the highlighted sentence.
Planetesimals are composed of heavy elements because hydrogen and helium stay in the form of gasses.
B paraphrases the essential information “Y because Z.”
Planetesimals are small, solid objects that condense within a forming star system and may become planets.
C leaves out Y, the essential information.
When planetesimals accumulate to form planets, they inevitably contain gaseous as well as heavy elements.
D does not represent Y correctly.
Answer: B
Question 1 (easy)
The story of moa species and their demise raises ecological issues on the vulnerability of species to human-caused changes -- including altered vegetative cover of the landscape, change in the physical environment, and modification of the flora and fauna of a region by eliminating some species and introducing others.
The extinction of moa suggests the vulnerability of species to human-caused changes to the species’ environment.
Some species, such as moa, are vulnerable to changes in their environment.
The environmental changes that moa experienced included modifications to plant and animal life and the introduction and elimination of certain animal species.
The story of moa raises issues that are important for ecologists to consider.
Question 2 (high)
The tropics contain a larger surface area of land than higher latitudes—a fact that is not always evident when we examine commonly used projections of Earth’s curved surface, since this tends to exaggerate the areas of land in the higher latitudes—and some biogeographers regard the differences in diversity as a reflection of this effect.
Some biogeographers believe that the tropics have larger surface areas than they actually do because of the distortions produced by projections of Earth's curved surface.
High levels of diversity in the tropics are sometimes attributed to the fact that the tropics have more surface area of land than the higher latitudes do, though distortions in commonly used projections may seem to suggest otherwise.
Because biogeographers disagree on whether or not the tropics are correctly represented in projections of Earth's surface, it is difficult to determine the relationship their surface area has to their diversity.
Most biogeographers agree that the tropics contain a larger surface area of land than higher latitudes do but they disagree on whether or not the tropics' level of diversity is a reflection of that larger surface area.
Semicolons
The light microscope cannot resolve detail finer than 0.2 micrometers, about the size of the smallest bacterium; consequently, no matter how many times its image of such a bacterium is magnified, the light microscope cannot show the details of the cell’s internal structure.
Analysis
X = The light microscope cannot resolve detail finer than 0.2 micrometers, about the size of the smallest bacterium;
Y = consequently, no matter how many times its image of such a bacterium is magnified,
Z = the light microscope cannot show the details of the cell’s internal structure.
Now, rewrite the highlighted sentence schematically with connecting words or symbols intact.
X; consequently, no matter how Y, Z
The main connective of the sentence is a semi-colon, which joins two independent clauses (we learn the use of semicolons later in this chapter). X and Z are independent clauses, and Y is a dependent clause as it is followed by a subordinating conjunction “no matter how.” These are the relationships among ideas:
X is the cause, and Z is the effect.
Y is the concussion to Z
Since X is the reason (or cause) for Z, and X and Z are independent clauses, to connect X and Z, we need to use a coordinating conjunction that indicates a reason or result, which are for and so. And since Y is a dependent clause, it can be either omitted or shortened to a prepositional phrase. So these are examples of paraphrases:
Possible paraphrase: For X, Z (even if Y)
Possible paraphrase : X, so Z ( despite Y)
So this is a way to paraphrase the sentence:
The light microscope cannot resolve detail finer than 0.2 micrometers, so it cannot show the details of the cell’s internal structure despite the maximum magnification.
With this, let’s examine each option:
A light microscope has the power to greatly magnify a bacterium that is smaller than 0.2 micrometers.
A describes a false statement. A light microscope does not have the power to magnify a bacterium that is smaller than 0.2 micrometers. So A is not the answer.
A light microscope can only resolve objects 0.2 micrometers or larger, so it cannot show the interior form of a cell.
B corresponds to what we find.
The smallest bacterium has a complex internal structure that can be seen with a light microscope.
C inserts information that is not mentioned, The smallest bacterium has a complex internal structure.’ It also makes a false statement. The internal structure cannot be seen with a light microscope. So C is not the answer.
The greater the magnifying power of a light microscope, the greater its ability to resolve the internal structure of a cell.
D describes a false statement since there is a limit in magnifying power of a light microscope. So D is not the answer.
Answer：B
Question 3 (hard)
If the pores are large, the water in them will exist as drops too heavy for surface tension to hold, and it will drain away; if the pores are small enough, the water in them will exist as thin films, too light to overcome the force of surface tension holding them in place, then the water will be firmly held.
Surface tension is not strong enough to retain drops of water in rocks with large pores but it is strong enough to hold on to thin films of water in rocks with small pores.
Water in rocks is held in place by large pores and drains away from small size pores through surface tension.
Small pores and large pores both interact with surface tension to determine whether a rock will hold water as heavy drops or as a thin film.
If the force of surface tension is too weak to hold water in place as heavy drops, the water will continue to be held firmly in place as a thin film when large pores exist.
Question 4 (hard)
For example, some early societies ceased to consider certain rites essential to their well-being and abandoned them; nevertheless, they retained as parts of their oral tradition the myths that had grown up around the rites and admired them for their artistic qualities rather than for their religious usefulness.
A society’s rites were more likely to be retained in the oral tradition if its myths were admired for artistic qualities.
The artistic quality of a myth was sometimes an essential reason for a society to abandon it from the oral tradition.
Some early societies stopped using myths in their religious practices when rites ceased to be seen as useful for social well-being.
Myths sometimes survived in a society’s tradition because of their artistic qualities even after they were no longer deemed religiously beneficial.
Colons
Question 5 (hard)
(There were three sources of power: animal or human muscles; the wind, operating on a sail or windmill; and running water.) Only the last of these was suited at all to the continuous operating of machines, and although waterpower abounded in Lancashire and Scotland and ran grain mills as well as textile mills, it had one great disadvantage: streams flowed where nature intended them to, and water-driven factories had to be located on their banks whether or not the location was desirable for other reasons.
Running water was the best power source for factories since it could keep machines operating continuously, but since it was abundant only in Lancashire and Scotland, most mills and factories that were located elsewhere could not be water driven.
The disadvantage of using waterpower is that streams do not necessarily flow in places that are the most suitable for factories, which explains why so many water-powered grain and textile mills were located in undesirable places.
Since machines could be operated continuously only where running water was abundant, grain and textile mills, as well as other factories, tended to be located only in Lancashire and Scotland.
Running water was the only source of power that was suitable for the continuous operation of machines, but to make use of it, factories had to be located where the water was, regardless of whether such locations made sense otherwise.
Appositives
In TOEFL paraphrase questions, the highlighted sentence often includes appositives. An appositive usually is a noun or noun phrase that renames another noun right beside it. But verbal phrases can function as appositives too:
We watched Sirius, the brightest star in the sky.
Her dream, to write a best-selling novel, finally came through. (infinitive phrase)
Since the main role of an appositive is to rename an earlier noun or pronoun, it is a useful device to add some more information in a sentence.
The information added by the appositive can be either extra information or the identifier of the object in discussion. When it adds extra information, commas are used to indicate that the information is inessential. When it identifies the object in discussion, commas are not used since the information is essential to understand the sentence.
For example,
Dogs, the most loyal companions, age differently from humans.
The phrase ‘the most loyal companions’ is an appositive of ‘dogs,’ adding extra information. So commas are used. Now consider this example:
The popular US president Abraham Lincoln was known for his eloquent speeches.
Here we do not put commas around the appositive, ‘Abraham Lincoln,’ because it is essential information. Without the appositive, the sentence would be, "The popular US president was known for his eloquent speeches." We wouldn't know who the president is without the appositive, Lincoln.
Question 6 (hard)
Ramsay then studied a gas that was present in natural gas deposits and discovered that it was helium, an element whose presence in the Sun had been noted earlier in the spectrum of sunlight but that had not previously been known on Earth.
Ramsay found evidence of helium in the spectrum of sunlight before he discovered that the element was also contained in natural gas deposits on Earth.
Ramsay thought he had discovered a new element present in natural gas deposits, but he was wrong since that element had been previously observed elsewhere on Earth.
After Ramsay had discovered a new element, called helium, in natural gas deposits on Earth, he also found evidence of its presence in the Sun.
Ramsay later discovered that helium, an element that was already known to be present in the Sun, was also present in natural gas deposits on Earth
Question 7 (hard)
It is significant that the earliest living things that built communities on these islands are examples of symbiosis, a phenomenon that depends upon the close cooperation of two or more forms of life and a principle that is very important in island communities.
Some of the earliest important examples of symbiosis—the close cooperation of two or more living things—occur in island communities.
Symbiosis—the close cooperation of pairs or small groups of living organisms—is especially important in these island environments.
The first organisms on these islands worked together closely in a relationship known as symbiosis, which is particularly important on islands.
It is significant to note that organisms in the beginning stages of the development of island life cannot survive without close cooperation.