Understanding texts
Understanding texts
Purposeful
Reading is purposeful. The way you read something will depend on your purpose. You read
different texts in different ways. In everyday life, you usually know why you are reading, you
have a a question and you read to find the answer. You usually know your way around your
favourite newspaper, so if you want to know the sports results, you go straight to the correct page,
or if you want to know what is on television tonight, you go straight to the television page. You
do not start on the first page. When you read a novel, it is different. You start at the beginning and
slowly move towards the end. In academic reading, you need to be flexible when you read - you
may need to read quickly to find relevant sections, then read carefully when you have found what
you want. General efficient reading strategies such as scanning to find the book or chapter,
skimming to get the gist and careful reading of important passages are necessary as well as
learning about how texts are structured in your subject.
Interactive
Reading is an interactive process - it is a two-way process. As a reader you are not passive but
active. This means you have to work at constructing the meaning from the marks on the paper,
which you use as necessary. You construct the meaning using your knowledge of the language,
your subject and the world, continually predicting and assessing. MacLachlan & Reid (1994) talk
about interpretive framing, which influences your understanding. They discuss four types of
framing:
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Extratextual framing - using your background knowledge and experience to
understand texts.
Intratextual framing - making use of cues from the text, such as headings and subheadings and referential words such as "this" and "that" to understand texts.
Circumtextual farming - using information from the cover of the book, title, abstract
etc. to understand the text.
Intertextual framing - making connections with other texts you are reading to help to
understand your text.
You need to be active all the time when you are reading and use all the information that is
available. It is useful, therefore, before you start reading to try to actively remember what you
know, and do not know, about the subject and as you are reading to formulate questions based on
the information you have. All the information given above can be used to help you formulate
question to keep you interacting.
Useful skills are:
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Understanding text structure/organisation. Understanding the text organisation will
help you understand the writer's purpose and where to find other information.
Understanding conceptual meaning, e.g. comparison, purpose, cause, effect
Understanding reference in the text, e.g. it, he, this, that, these those
Dealing with difficult words and sentences.
Critical reading Reading critically - evaluating arguments, weighing evidence,
recognising implications, and assumptions, the author's point of view.
Understanding texts
Understanding text structure/organisation.
Every text has a structure. It is not just a random collection of sentences. The parts that make up
the text are related in a meaningful way to each other. Recognising the way in which a text has
been organised will help you to understand it better. The writer may, for example, be explaining
two opposing points of view, or describing why something happens. Undestanding the text
organisation will help you understand what the writer is trying to do.
Try these exercises: Exercise 1, Exercise 2, Exercise 3, Exercise 4, Exercise 5, Exercise 6
Understanding texts
Understanding conceptual meaning
You will be able to increase both your speed of reading and your comprehension if you can
recognise some of the rhetorical functions that the writer is using. Writers use language, for
example, to analyse, to describe, to report, to define, to instruct, to classify, to compare, to give
examples, to explain, to give reasons, to argue and discuss and to draw conclusions. To
understand the text it is necessary to understand what the writer’s purpose is.
Examples
The following paragraph describes a building:
The largest building, in the very centre of the town, is boarded up completely and leans so far to
the right that it seems bound to collapse at any minute. The house is very old. There is about it a
curious, cracked look that is very puzzling until you suddenly realize that at one time, and long
ago, the right side of the front porch had been painted, and part of the wall - but the painting was
left unfinished and one portion of the house is darker and dingier than the other. The building
looks completely deserted. Nevertheless, on the second floor there is one window which is not
boarded; sometimes in the late afternoon when the heat is at its worst a hand will slowly open the
shutter and a face will look down on the town.
The following example classifies, and also describes.
The
Classification
of
Species
The group species is the starting point for classification. Sometimes smaller groups, subspecies,
are recognized, but these will not concern us until we discuss evolution. There are many larger
groups: genus, family, order, class, phylum, and kingdom. Let us begin with the first seven
species. We belong to the genus Homo and to these more inclusive groups: (1) the family
Hominidae, which includes, in addition to Homo, extinct men not of the genus Homo, and (2) the
order Primates, which includes also the lemurs, monkeys and apes. The three cats - lion, house
cat, and tiger - belong to the genus Fells. In general we can think of a genus as a group of closely
related species. The three cats also belong to the family Felidae. Generally a family includes
related genera. The first seven species, different enough to be put in three orders, are yet alike in
many ways. All are covered with hair, they nurse their young with milk, and their red blood cells
are without nuclei. Because of these and other resemblances they are combined in a still more
inclusive group, Class Mammalia. A class, therefore, is composed of related orders.
Understanding texts
The following paragraph pattern is one in which several things are compared or contrasted.
A one-million-fold increase in speed characterizes the development of machine computation over
the past thirty years. The increase results from improvements in computer hardware. In the 1940s
ENIAC, an early electronic computer, filled a room with its banks of vacuum tubes and miles of
wiring. Today one can hold in the hand a computing device costing about $200 that is twenty
times faster than ENIAC, has more components and a larger memory, is thousands of times more
reliable, costs 1/10,000 the price, and consumes the power of a light bulb rather than that of a
locomotive.
In this type of pattern, the purpose is to explain cause and effect.
One of the most important properties of a liquid is that its surface behaves like an elastic covering
that is continually trying to decrease its area. A result of this tendency for the surface to contract
is the formation of liquids into droplets as spherical as possible considering the constraint of the
ever-present gravity force. Surface tension arises because the elastic attractive forces between
molecules inside a liquid are symmetrical; molecules situated near the surface are attracted from
the inside but not the outside. The surface molecules experience a net inward force; and
consequently, moving a surface molecule out of the surface requires energy.
The following paragraphs gives arguments for and against.
One of the first men to make a commercial success of food conservation was Henry John Heinz.
He started by bottling horseradish, and he was so successful that in 1869 he founded a company
in Pittsburgh, USA. Like other Americans of his generation, Heinz made his name a household
word throughout the western world. At last, man seems to have discovered how to preserve food
without considerably altering its taste. The tins of food (Heinz tins!) which Captain Scott
abandoned in the Antarctic were opened 47 years after his death, and the contents were not only
edible, but pleasant.
The main argument against conserved foods is not that the canning of food makes it taste
different; rather, people complain that the recipes which the canning chefs dream up are tedious
or tasteless when it is eaten in great quantities. And a company like Heinz can only produce
something if it is going to be eaten in great quantities. The tomato is very pleasant to eat when it
is freshly picked. A regular diet of tomatoes alone could well prove tedious. The canning
companies try to cook the tomato in as many ways as possible. The Heinz factories in Britain use
millions and millions of tomatoes every year. They claim that if all the tomatoes were loaded on
to 15-ton lorries, the line of lorries would stretch for 60 miles.
But there are many people who do not like to eat food out of season. They like their food to be
fresh, and they like to cook it themselves in "the old-fashioned way". But it is very difficult for
modern man to realise what it is like to live without the advantages of pre-packageded and canned
food. European society in its present form could not cope without modern methods of food
processing. Imagine your local supermarket without all the cans of pre-packaged foods. There
wouldn't be much variety left, and what was left would have to be increased enormously in order
to give the same amount of food. The supermarket would turn into a chaos of rotting vegetables,
stale bread and unhealthy meat. The health problems would be insurmountable, unless we all
went into the country to support ourselves.
So next time you reject canned food as being tasteless or unimaginative, remember that you can
only afford to eat fresh food because canned food exists.
The following paragraph is a narrative; it tells a story.
Understanding texts
Harold I (of Norway), called The Fairhaired (860?-940?), was king of Norway (885?-933?), and
the first person to rule, at least nominally, the entire country. Harold inherited three small
domains in eastern, central, and western Norway from his father, Halfdan the Black, and set out
to conquer the rest of the country. After many years of campaigning, during which the chieftains
of western Norway offered the most stubborn resistance, Harold gained his final victory in the
Battle of Hafrsfjord, which probably took place around 885, although it may have been some
years later. Once in power, Harold ruled with a strong hand and consolidated his realm. One
result of his firm rule was the acceleration of the immigration that had begun shortly before to
pioneer settlements in Iceland. Many chieftains also fled to the Western (British) Isles, from
where they and their kinsfolk in the Orkneys, Shetlands, and Hebrides raided the Norwegian
coast. Harold was finally compelled to send a punitive expedition across the North Sea to flush
out these Vikings. For the same purpose he entered into an alliance with King Athelstan of
England; but he made no actual conquests. In his old age Harold abdicated in favor of his eldest
legitimate son, Eric Bloodaxe, who was deposed by his half brother Håkon I after a few years of
misrule.
For more information and examples see Writing: Functions.
Exercise
Try these exercises: Exercise 1
Identifying reference in the text.
Every text has a structure. It is not just a random collection of sentences. The parts that make up
the text are related in a meaningful way to each other. Recognising the way in which a text has
been organised will help you to understand it better. In order to understand the text, it is necessary
to understand how the sentences are related. Words like "it", "this", "that", "here", "there" etc.
refer to other parts of the text. You need to understand these connections or links.
There are four main types of links used in academic texts: reference, ellipsis and substitution,
conjunction and lexical cohesion (Halliday and Hasan, 1976).
Reference
Certain items of language in English have the property of reference. That is, they do not have
meaning themselves, but they refer to something else for their meaning.
The scientific study of memory began in the early 1870s when a German philosopher, Hermann
Ebbinghaus, came up with the revolutionary idea that memory could be studied experimentally.
In doing so he broke away from a 2000-year-old tradition that firmly assigned the study of
memory to the philosopher rather than to the scientist. He argued that the philosophers had come
up with a wide range of possible interpretations of memory but had produced no way of deciding
which amongst these theories offered the best explanation of memory. He aimed to collect
objective experimental evidence of the way in which memory worked in the hope that this would
allow him to choose between the various theories.
In this text "he" and "him" refers to "Hermann Ebbinghaus". In order to understand the text, you
need to know what these words refer to in the text.
Understanding texts
Similarly,
These theories all stem from some underlying assumptions about people. To a large extent
unproven, they tend to represent the dominant mood or climate of opinion at that time. Schein has
classified them as follows, and it is interesting to note that the categories follow each other in a
sort of historical procession, starting from the time of the industrial revolution.
Other words used in this way are "he", " him", "it", "this", "that", "these", "those", "here", "there"
etc.
Substitution and ellipsis
Substitution is the replacement of one item by another and ellipsis is the omission of the item. If
writers wish to avoid repeating a word, they can use substitution or ellipsis.
The scientific study of memory began in the early 1870s when a German philosopher, Hermann
Ebbinghaus, came up with the revolutionary idea that memory could be studied experimentally.
In doing so he broke away from a 2000-year-old tradition that firmly assigned the study of
memory to the philosopher rather than to the scientist. He argued that the philosophers had come
up with a wide range of possible interpretations of memory but had produced no way of deciding
which amongst these theories offered the best explanation of memory. He aimed to collect
objective experimental evidence of the way in which memory worked in the hope that this would
allow him to choose between the various theories.
Here, "so" means "studying memory experimentally". The writer has substituted "studying
memory experimentally" with "so". Other words that can be used are "one", "ones", "do", "so",
"not".
Ellipsis is substitution by zero.
Some of the water which falls as rain flows on the surface as streams. Another part is evaporated.
The remainder sinks into the ground and is known as ground water.
"Another part" means "Another part of the water" and "The remainder" means "The remainder of
the water".
Similarly,
The 74 species of African antelope share certain basic features: all are exclusively vegetarian and
bear one large and precocious calf each year.
Conjunction
Conjunction shows meaningful relationships between clauses. It shows how what follows is
connected to what has gone before.
The whole Cabinet agreed that there should be a cut in the amount that the unemployed were
receiving; where they disagreed was in whether this should include a cut in the standard rate of
Understanding texts
benefit. The opposition parties, however, were unwilling to accept any programme of economies
which did not involve a cut in the standard rate of benefit.
The word "however" shows that this statement is opposite to the ideas that have come before.
Other words used are "for example", "as a consequence of this", "firstly", " furthermore", "in spite
of this", etc.
Lexical cohesion
This is a way of achieving a cohesive effect by the use of particular vocabulary items. You can
refer to the same idea by using the same or different words.
Patients who repeatedly take overdoses pose considerable management difficulties. The problemorientated approach is not usually effective with such patients. When a patient seems to be
developing a pattern of chronic repeats, it is recommended that all staff engaged in his or her care
meet to reconstruct each attempt in order to determine whether there appears to be a motive
common to each act.
This first example illustrates an impulsive overdose taken by a woman who had experienced a
recent loss and had been unable to discuss her problems with her family. During the relatively
short treatment, the therapist helped the patient to begin discussing her feelings with her family.
Francis Bacon was born in London in 1561 and died there in 1626. His father was Sir Nicholas,
Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of Elizabeth I; his mother Anne Cooke, a well-educated and pious
Calvinist, daughter of Sir Anthony Cooke. His contemporary biographer, William Rawley,
remarked that, with such parents, Bacon had a flying start: he had "whatsoever nature or breeding
could put into him".
For cohesion to occur, it is not necessary for each word to refer to exactly the same item or even
be grammatically equivalent. All the words related to debt contribute to the cohesion.
In each of these cases the basic problem is the same: a will has been made, and in it a debtor is
left a legacy of liberatio from what he owes the testator. The question is, if he has subsequently
borrowed more from the testator, up to what point he has been released from his debts. It is best
to begin with the second case. Here there is a straightforward legacy to the debtor of a sum of
money and also of the amount of his debt to the testator. This is followed by a clause in which
there is a general damnatio and also a general trust that the legacies in the will be paid. The
debtor goes on to borrow more money, and the question is whether that is taken to be included in
the legacy too. The response is that since the words relate to the past, later debts are not included.
Other commonly used are "repetition", "synonyms" and "near synonyms", "collocations",
"super/sub-ordinate relationships" (e.g. fruit/apple, animal/cat) etc.
Exercises
Try these exercises: Exercise 1-10, Exercise 11,
Dealing with difficult words and sentences.
Understanding texts
Academic texts are often difficult: they have difficult ideas expressed in difficult language. From
a language point of view, there are several features that make the text difficult. They include
difficult words, difficult combinations of nouns and difficult sentences.
Difficult words.
It is unlikely that you will know every word in a text and even if you think you have seen every
word before, it is unlikely that you will have seen a particular word in its present context. It is
therefore necessary to work out the meaning of unfamiliar words in context and, perhaps, familiar
words in new contexts. This is necessary even if you have a dictionary as your dictionary does not
know the exact context in which the word is being used.
If you think your vocabulary level is too low for academic work there are three solutions: read,
read and read.
A. Is it necessary to know the exact meaning of a particular word? Often a rough meaning is
enough (does the word have a positive or negative meaning?). Remember that the purpose of
reading an academic text is to get information and it is possible to understand the text without
knowing the meaning of every word. It is not necessary to be able to explain, or translate, the
meaning of a word.
B. Look for definitions. The author may know a particular word may be new so explains. The
author may also be using the word in a new, or unusual way so will need to explain how it is
being used. This will be done by using a definition, an explanation, an example or by using a
synonym (a word with the same meaning). The phrases "called", "known as", "is the name
applied to", "in other words", "that is", "is said to be" are often used.
Examples:
1. The words "polybrachygyny" and "leks" are explained
Some male birds spend all their time mating and do not provide the female with any benefits
other than indications of their vigour. This condition, called polybrachygyny, means that males
that show the most effective displays are most persuasive in attracting females. These displays are
given at localised courting places called leks.
2. The phrases "free-running experiments" and "free-running rhythms" are explained.
Because there are no constraints placed upon the timing of the volunteer's activities in such a
time-free environment, these are called free-running experiments and the rhythms measured
during them are known as free-running rhythms.
3. Synonym in apposition or with "or"
A majority of experts agree that neandertaloids were the first members of our species, Homo
sapiens.
Understanding texts
Most metals are malleable; they can be hammered into flat sheets; nonmetals lack this quality.
Some metals are also ductile; they can be drawn out into thin wires; nonmetals are not usually
ductile.
Glandular fever, or infectious mononucleosis, is a serious disease.
Each transformed organism is fitted to or adapted to its habitat.
4. Example
We humans are Animalia: mobile, multicelled organisms that derive energy from ingestion
("eating").
Methadone is an example of a synthetic narcotic drug.
5. Description
The Anthropoidea, on the other hand, are sometimes called the "higher primates." They have
relatively larger and rounder skull cases, flatter faces, and mobile lips detached from the gums.
6. Explanation using "that is"
Each tribal group, identified by the language it speaks, is an exogamous unit; that is, people must
marry outside the group and therefore always marry someone who speaks another language.
7. Explanation using "-"
Today, the sense of anomie - alienation, disconnectedness - at Apple is major.
8. Explanation using "()"
This resource comprises linkers which connect sentences to each other, but excludes paratactic
and hypotactic (coordinating and subordinating) linkers within sentences.
C. Work out the meaning of the word or phrase.
'Twas
brillig,
Did
gyre
and
All
mimsy
And the mome raths outgrabe.
and
the
gimble
were
slithy
the
in
the
toves
wabe:
borogoves,
(From Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky")
There are two main approaches to doing this. It may not tell you the exact meaning of the word,
but it may help you to narrow down the possibilities so the text makes sense:
Understanding texts
1. You can analyse the word itself. You can look inside the word. You can use your knowledge of
similar words and look at how the word is constructed. Using this information you can find
information about (a) the meaning of the word as well as (b) grammatical information.
a. Affixes can help you work out the meaning of an unfamiliar word. For example, if you do not
know the meaning of the word "incomprehensible", you can work it out if you are familiar with
"comprehend" meaning understand, "in" meaning not, and "ible" meaning can. Therefore "an
incomprehensible sentence" refers to a sentence that you cannot understand.
In the Jabberwocky text above, we know "outgrabe" is a verb because "out-" is a common verb
prefix ("outwit", "outdo")
See Vocabulary building: Affixes and roots for more examples
b. It is not usually difficult to work out the grammatical category: noun, verb, adjective, adverb
etc. If the word ends in "-ing" or "-ed" it could be a verb; if the word ends in "-ly", it may be an
adverb; if the word ends in "-tion", it is possibly a noun. If the word ends in "-ise", it is probably a
verb. If you see a sentence like "The spid claned lanly", you can work out that "claned" is the past
tense of the verb "clane", and "lanly" is an adverb.
In the Jabberwocky text above, we know "borogroves", "raths" and "toves" are nouns because "s" is a common noun suffix, and "slithy" is an adjective because "-y" is a common adjective
suffix.
2. You can use the context. You can make use of the other words, phrases, sentences and
information around the problematic word. Using this information you can find information about
the meaning of the word as well as grammatical information. (a) Grammatical information can be
obtained from the place of the word in the sentence. (b) Information about the meaning of the
word can come from the meanings of the other words in the context.
a. By using your knowledge of typical English clause and phrase structure, you can often work
out the grammatical function of a particular word. Typical clause structures are SPO, SPA,
SPOC.
In the sentence, "The spid claned lanly", as articles usually precede nouns, you can also assume
that "spid" is a noun.
In the Jabberwocky text above, we know "slithy" is an adjective because it comes between "the"
and "toves".
b. Information about the meaning of the word can come from the meanings of the other words in
the context. Using your knowledge of the world and your subject can help. You can, for example,
make use of your knowledge of the relationship between object and purpose, "He took the ... and
drank", "She sat on the ..." or cause and effect, "The heavy ... caused the river to rise". Words and
phrases connected with "and", "moreover" or "in addition" will have related meanings and clauses
connected with "while" or "although" will have opposite meanings.
Understanding texts
You will need to use context even with simple words like "like", "too", "light", " fly", as they
have different meanings and grammatical forms. You will need to use the context to determine
which is being used in a particular situation.
Try this exercise: Exercise 1, Exercise 2, Exercise 3, Exercise 4, Exercise 5, Exercise 6.
Noun combinations
Combinations of nouns are common in academic texts. A "steel box" is a box made of steel and a
"computer programmer" is someone who programmes computers. The problem is to understand
the relationship between the nouns. A "hand towel" is a towel for drying your hands but a "bath
towel" is not a towel for drying the bath. A "paper bag" is a bag made out of paper, but a "hand
bag" is not a bag made out of hands and a "shopping bag" is not a bag made out of shopping.
Williams (1984, p. 149) distinguishes 10 different functions:
function
example
expansion
B of A
brewery warehouse
the warehouse of (owned by) the brewery
means
heat affected zone
the zone affected by heat
purpose
safety harness
a harness for purposes of improved safety
location
roof trusses
trusses in the roof
materials used
steel boxes
boxes made of steel
cause and effect frost damage
damage caused by frost
extent
tension areas
areas over which there is tension
characteristic
striation markings
markings characterized by striations
shape or form
web plates
plates in the shape of webs
representation
force and motion data data that represents force and motion
In order to understand these combinations, it is first necessary to identify the headword and work
backwards.
Difficult sentences
When a sentence cannot be understood even though all the vocabulary is known, it is often
because it is long and syntactically complex. There are a number of causes of difficulty:
A.
B.
C.
D.
complex nominal groups
nominalisation
co-ordination
subordination
Understanding texts
A. A nominal group is a head noun modified by adjectives, nouns, or other words which may
come before or after it. It is often the words that come after the head noun that cause most
difficulty.
1. In this example "unwillingness" is the head noun.
One reason for this may have lain in the unwillingness of biologists to accept the highly abstract
nature of his theory.
2. In this example "recommendations" is the head noun.
This side of the issue was entrusted to Lord Brabazon of Tara, whose committee was invited to
make recommendations on the types of aircraft that Britain should produce for the postwar
period.
In such a sentence, it is useful to try to identify the head noun.
B. Nominalisation is common in academic texts. This is the formation of a noun from a verb. In
the examples above, "unwillingness" is a noun from the verb "willing", and "recommendations" is
a noun from the verb "recommend". As if often the case with complex sentences, it is useful to
change the noun back to a verb and work out which nouns, functioning as subject and object, are
associated with it. In example 1 above, the subject of unwilling is "biologists".
C. Co-ordination is joining sentences together with words like "and" or "but". It is sometimes
difficult to decide exactly what is joined together.
1. In this sentence "or" joins "twenty-five sleepers" with "forty to forty-five day passengers".
In October 1944, Lord Knollys, the BOAC chairman, told a meeting held in the Ministry of
Aircraft production that the Brabazon Type 3 would be the airline's "bread and butter" aircraft for
Empire routes, carrying twenty-five sleepers or forty to forty-five day passengers.
2. Another example with "or".
It is addressed primarily to people who grew up in the embrace of the liberal tradition or who at
least have felt its attraction.
3. Similarly with "and".
In addition, Lautrec's dramatically reductive and stylized treatment of this painting suggests a
connection to the contemporary work of the Cloisonnists and to Gauguin's Synthetism.
4. And again.
The main grist to the mill of policing was working-class youth, but the perennial conflict between
youth and the police is one with ever-changing persona and is not the basis of political conflict.
D. Subordinate noun-clauses are often difficult to understand as they make it difficult for the
reader to understand which nouns function as subject or object of the verb. It is useful in such a
Understanding texts
situation to identify the basic structure of the sentence by identifying the main verb and then
asking various questions like "Who does what?"
1. In this example the main verb is "ought to blame". Ask who ought to blame whom.
Those commentators who blame Labour for not pursuing an alternative set of more socially just
proposals in the conditions of August 1931 ought to blame the electorate for not giving Labour
sufficient support to form a majority government in 1929.
In this case the "commentators" ought to blame the "electorate". "Which commentators" and
"Why" are useful follow up questions.
2. In this example, the main verb is "had divided". Ask who had divided what.
The minority in the Labour Cabinet who opposed the cut in the standard rate of benefit had
divided the Labour government, not on the question of whether the budget should be balanced,
but on the subordinate question of how the budget should be balanced.
It is also useful to try to make simple sentences using all the verbs and other information in the
text.
3. In the following text,
Professor Bernard Wasserstein of Brandeis University is shortly to publish a new biography of
Herbert Samuel, who was, in effect, leader of the Liberal party for the crucial months of 1931,
during Lloyd George's illness, and a central figure in the crisis.

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
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

Professor Wassertein is shortly to publish a new biography.
Professor Wassertein works at Brandeis University.
Herbert Samuel was leader of the Liberal party in 1931.
Lloyd George was ill.
Herbert Samuel was leader of the Liberal party during the illness.
Herbert Samuel was a central figure in the crisis.