Information Location Questions
Tips and Tricks for Matching Information from paragraph
- Answers are never in order
- Some paragraphs may not have an answer at all and some could contain more than one answer.
- Do this question at last. Each text will have several types of questions attached to it. If you do the matching information question last, you will have a good understanding of the passage by the time you get to it. This will make it easier and quicker to complete.
- This is not matching heading so you may not find your answer in the first and last sentence of the paragraph always
- You need to be aware of synonyms
- Search for the questions with names, numbers, places and dates information to match first. It is more easy to locate them.
What is Matching Information from Paragraph?
After a quick run through tips and tricks for matching information let’s understand what it is. A very common question in IELTS reading is locating the information from the passage with the help of the statement as the question. A piece of information is given, and you need to find it’s location on the passage.
Example:-
| Question 12: Choose the appropriate letter A-D and write it in box 12 on your answer sheet. 12. An alternative heading for the passage could be: A. An account on the protection of native flora and fauna B. Influential factors in assessing survival probability C. An economic rationale for the logging of forests D. Preventive measures for the extinction of a species |
These questions are formed of two parts of information:-
- Location word and
- support with key words
Let’s look at some of the location words (they help us to identify the location to look for)
| a description… an account … an explanation… an example … a definition… a reason … an analysis | a prediction… a recommendation… a cause … an effect… a problem … a solution … a comparison … |
Tips and Tricks for Matching Information from paragraphs
The Process
To understand the process let us take a passage and a question.
| Which paragraph contains the following information? NB You may use any letter more than once. 1 a cause of the loss of language 2 a reason for the study of linguistics | |
| A Ten years ago Michael Krauss sent a shudder through the discipline of linguistics with his prediction that half of the 6,000 or so languages spoken in the world would cease to be uttered within a century. This prediction was based upon the fact that many of the world’s languages were rapidly falling from use. In essence, younger generations are not being taught how to speak their local language or dialect and many indigenous communities have resorted to speaking the dominant language. Krauss maintained that unless scientists and community leaders directed a worldwide effort to stabilize the decline and conserve these endangered local languages, nine-tenths of the linguistic diversity of humankind would probably be doomed to extinction. | B Krauss’s prediction was little more than an educated guess, but other respected linguists had been expressing similar alarm. Kennith L. Hale of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has stated that eight languages on which he has done fieldwork have since passed into extinction. A 1990 survey in Australia found that 70 of the 90 surviving Aboriginal languages were no longer used regularly by all age groups. The same was true for all but 20 of the 175 Native American languages spoken in the U.S. |
Step by step process
| Step 1 Skim through the paragraphs to find the location words and other key words | Ten years ago Michael Krauss sent a shudder through the discipline of linguistics with his prediction that half of the 6,000 or so languages spoken in the world would cease to be uttered within a century. This prediction was based upon the fact that many of the world’s languages were rapidly falling from use. In essence, younger generations are not being taught how to speak their local language or dialect and many indigenous communities have resorted to speaking the dominant language. Krauss maintained that unless scientists and community leaders directed a worldwide effort to stabilize the decline and conserve these endangered local languages, nine-tenths of the linguistic diversity of humankind would probably be doomed to extinction. |
| Skimming result: Prediction of loss of the language in the world |
| Step 2 Go to questions, underline the location word (bold) in each question and other key words in the questions (italic). | 1 a cause of the loss of language 2 a reason for the study of linguistics |
| Step 3 Match your skimming notes of the paragraph and scanned question in terms of location words and key words. | Skimming result: Prediction of loss of the language in the world Scanned Question: 1 a cause of the loss of language |
| Step 4 Read intensively the part of paragraph containing these key words to determine if it contains the information or it’s synonym you need to locate, if not move ahead. | Ten years ago Michael Krauss sent a shudder through the discipline of linguistics with his prediction that half of the 6,000 or so languages spoken in the world would cease to be uttered within a century. cease to be uttered = loss Hence, Answer= A |