2019-11-05 TOEFL: word roots, reading summary

Greg Malivuk
[email protected]
http://www.pastebin.com/u/gmalivuk - notes from all classes
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https://ed.ted.com/lessons/why-do-cats-act-so-weird-tony-buffington
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Word Roots (list 1) - With your partners, try to think of one or two words to explain the meaning of each root.
ab (abduct, abdicate, abnormal) = away/down
ad (advocate, addition, advance) = to/onto (Many words that start with ‘a’ and a double consonant come from this root.)
aer/aero (aerial, aerate) = air
agri/agro (agriculture, agribusiness, agrarian) = field/farming
ambi (ambidextrous, ambiguous, ambivalent) = both
amb/ambul (amble, ambulatory, ambulate) = walk/move
ami/amo (amiable, amorous) = love/affection
andro (android, androgen) = male/man (The root for female is “gyno”.)
anim (animate, animal) = movement/motivation
ann/enn (annual, millennium, anniversary) = year
ante/anti (antecedent, anteroom, anticipate) = before/in front of
anthropo (anthropology, philanthropy) = human/humanity
anti (antibacterial, antisocial) = against (Similarly, the root ‘op-’ also means “in front” and “against”.)
aqua (aquamarine, aqueduct, aquarium) = water (sometimes specifically fresh water in lakes and rivers)
arch (monarch, hierarchy, archbishop) = top / most important (first in importance)
archa (archaeology, archaic) = old (first in time)
art (artist, artifact, artisan) = skill
astro (astronomy, astrology) = star
aud/audi (audience, audible) = hear
auto (automatic, autograph) = self / by itself
bell (belligerent, rebellious) = war
bene (benefit, benevolent) = good (The opposite root is “mal”.)
bi (bilingual, bilateral, bisexual) = two
bio (biology, biography, biosphere) = life
cept/ceive (intercept, receive, except, perceive, concept, deceive) = catch/capture
cardi/cardio (cardiac, cardiology) = heart
carn (carnivore, carnal) = meat/flesh (“meat” if it’s dead or nonhuman, “flesh” if it’s alive or human)
cede/ceed (intercede, exceed, recede, proceed) = go
cent (century, centimeter, centennial) =  hundred
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hear = perceive sound (with or without attention)
listen (to) = pay attention to sound
see = perceive light or an image (with or without attention)
look (at) = pay attention to an image or appearance
watch = pay attention to actions
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TOEFL: 3.5-4 hours, 4 sections, 120 points (30/section), $205
1 reading: 54-72 minutes, 3-4 passages, 10 questions per passage
2 listening: 40-60 minutes, 2-3 conversations (5 questions) and 3-4 lectures or discussions (6 questions)
	(10-minute break)
3 speaking: 17 minutes, 4 tasks, 3m45s speaking time
4 writing: 55 minutes, 2 tasks, 20+30 minutes of writing time
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Reading Question Types:
- vocabulary
- fact
- negative fact
- purpose
- paraphrase
- inference
- sentence insertion
- summary
- reference/pronouns (probably not on the test any more, but still a useful skill)
- categorize/organize (probably not on the test, but it is still on some practice tests)
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Cambridge exercise R22 - Is each statement a correct summary, a minor detail, or not mentioned?
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BREAK
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3 S N D
4 D N S
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Delta p. 151 - Without reading the text, which of these statements look like minor details?
A - minor detail (it doesn’t say anything connected to pianos)
F - minor detail (it’s unlikely that there’s a full paragraph about this point)
You’d have to see the text to recognize that C is not mentioned, but even without knowing that you’re guaranteed to have at least two correct answers.
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For summary questions, you get 2 points for all three correct choices, 1 point for just two correct choices, and 0 points if you made two or more mistakes.
If you don’t answer it, you’ll get exactly 0 points on this question.
If you randomly guess, you’ll get an average of 0.55 points on this question.
If you can (correctly) eliminate one answer, you’ll get an average of 0.8 points.
If you can eliminate two answers, you’ll get an average of 1.25 points.
(If you can eliminate three answers, then you get everything correct for 2 points.)
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p. 152 - Take 3 minutes to identify the most important ideas in the answer choices. Compare your answers. Why are the other answer choices wrong?
A - yes
B - not mentioned (We know he painted oils, but we don’t know what he was best known for.)
C - yes
D - not mentioned, and if it were mentioned it would be a minor detail
E - minor detail (It just talks about one painting and doesn’t tell us anything important about it.)
F - yes
p. 153 - Do the same with passage 2 about moraines.
A - not mentioned
B - yes (this summarizes paragraph 1)
C - minor detail (It’s true that rivers sort rocks like this, but the text is about moraines.)
D - minor detail (It’s true but doesn’t include the main point.)
E - yes (this summarizes the important information from paragraph 2)
F - yes (this is a summary of paragraph 3)
- Correct summary answers are usually about one or more full paragraphs of the text. If an answer choice is about something only mentioned in one or two sentences of the text, it’s probably a minor detail.
- Answer choices that mention something important but don’t connect it to the rest of the passage are also probably minor details.
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Take 9 minutes to complete exercise 1.8.A (p. 154-156). Then compare your answers.
3 B D E
4 A B E
5 A C E
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Homework: Cambridge exercise R23 - Choose the three most important ideas from the answer choices.