{"id":965,"date":"2013-03-20t23:08:56","date_gmt":"2013-03-20t23:08:56","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/sat\/?p=965"},"modified":"2015-04-15t22:59:18","modified_gmt":"2015-04-15t22:59:18","slug":"key-words-in-sat-reading-comprehension","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/sat\/key-words-in-sat-reading-comprehension\/","title":{"rendered":"key words in sat reading comprehension"},"content":{"rendered":"

in spoken english, there\u2019s a pattern of stressing syllables and words that makes a sort of rhythm. the sat reading comprehension<\/a> doesn\u2019t have any questions about that, exactly, but we can learn a bit from it. and why we stress those sounds has something to do with finding important information in sat reading comp.<\/p>\n

to get a feel for the rhythm, look at the nonsense word \u201czippity-doo-dah.\u201d well, don\u2019t just look at it\u2014say it out loud. really. it\u2019s important that you hear how it sounds. oh, wait. did you just say that in a room full of people while looking at your screen? i bet you feel pretty weird, now. sorry about that. just tell everybody you\u2019re preparing for the sat. they\u2019ll understand. i promise.<\/p>\n

anyway, did you hear the rhythm of it? that\u2019s what\u2019s important. now, for a real english phrase. so maybe don\u2019t say this one out loud\u2026 just say it in your head. altogether now: \u201chow did you do that?\u201d did you notice that it sounds a lot like \u201czippity-doo-dah?\u201d it has the same rhythm, and that\u2019s not by chance.<\/p>\n

\u201czippity-doo-dah\u201d is supposed to sound like english, but the only way to make nonsense words english-like is to give them stress patterns similar to how we speak. having trouble hearing it? try listening to this song that mimics english<\/a> (and not getting it stuck in your head). it may be nonsense, but it follows our rhythm patterns.<\/p>\n

so what\u2019s that rhythm for, anyway?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

why we stress certain words in spoken english<\/h2>\n

one of the reasons we stress words is to highlight the important pieces of the sentence. if you had just done a magic trick, and i asked you \u201chow did you do that?\u201d i\u2019d stress how <\/i>and do <\/i>because those are key to the meaning. if i were a sign-language using gorilla and i signed \u201chow do?\u201d, you\u2019d get the question just as clearly even without the other words.<\/p>\n

of course, it\u2019s a lot more complicated than that\u2026 but this isn\u2019t a linguistics class, and i\u2019m not going to pretend i\u2019m a linguistics professor. besides, the sat doesn\u2019t test that. the point is that we need stresses in spoken english to make focal points obvious.<\/p>\n

but in writing, we don\u2019t have so much flexibility with stresses. academic writing especially ends up being a bit flat, sometimes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

transition words highlight important rc details on the sat<\/h2>\n

it\u2019s for that reason that in writing, we end up using a whole lot of linking words\u2014or at least more varied ones. for instance, how many words do we use to contrast two thoughts when we speak? usually, it\u2019s just the word \u201cbut.\u201d how about when we write?<\/p>\n

all of the words and phrases below show contrast, and most of them are much more common in writing than in speech:<\/p>\n

but<\/i><\/p>\n

however<\/i><\/p>\n

yet<\/i><\/p>\n

on the other hand<\/i><\/p>\n

nonetheless<\/i><\/p>\n

nevertheless<\/i><\/p>\n

even so<\/i><\/p>\n

although<\/i><\/p>\n

though<\/i><\/p>\n

despite that<\/i><\/p>\n

in spite of that<\/i><\/p>\n

regardless<\/i><\/p>\n

in any case<\/i><\/p>\n

still<\/i><\/p>\n

be that as it may<\/i><\/p>\n

granted, there are a number of different shades of meaning in that list, but a lot of them are interchangeable. and most of them carry a lot<\/i> more emphasis than little ol\u2019 \u201cbut.\u201d<\/p>\n

they\u2019re heavily stressed (not gaining-weight stressed, just emphatic stressed)<\/p>\n

because they\u2019re supposed to point to an important contrast. just using \u201cbut\u201d might not show the importance because we can\u2019t make the word really loud and forceful in writing like we can in speech. we can\u2019t write \u201cbuuuut\u2026\u201d like we can say it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

what does this mean for sat reading comp?<\/h2>\n

on your sat, when you see transition words in sat reading passages<\/a>, pay special attention to what comes after them and make note of it.<\/a> it\u2019s not always the case that the detail itself turns out to be important, but the relationship between ideas is going to have a very real effect on the meaning of the overall structure of the passage.<\/p>\n

if you see \u201cfor example\u201d or \u201cfor instance,\u201d then you know that a point is important enough that it has to be explained. if you see \u201cnot only did\u2026\u201d or \u201cwhat\u2019s more\u2026,\u201d then you know that there\u2019s a list of details which probably illustrate some bigger message. think: what do those details have in common?<\/p>\n

there are a whole lot of words that can illuminate the organization<\/a> of an sat reading passage. you don\u2019t have to learn any new vocabulary here, but it\u2019s a good idea to sort through that list to see what the most common sat words<\/a> are that you should probably know for the passages.<\/p>\n

and that big-picture structure<\/a> is one of the most important critical reading tips<\/a> to increase your cr score. <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

in spoken english, there\u2019s a pattern of stressing syllables and words that makes a sort of rhythm. the sat reading comprehension doesn\u2019t have any questions about that, exactly, but we can learn a bit from it. and why we stress those sounds has something to do with finding important information in sat reading comp. to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[91],"tags":[46,85,44],"ppma_author":[24883],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nkey words in sat reading comprehension - magoosh blog | high school<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/sat\/key-words-in-sat-reading-comprehension\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_us\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"key words in sat reading comprehension\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"in spoken english, there\u2019s a pattern of stressing syllables and words that makes a sort of rhythm. the sat reading comprehension doesn\u2019t have any questions about that, exactly, but we can learn a bit from it. and why we stress those sounds has something to do with finding important information in sat reading comp. to […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/sat\/key-words-in-sat-reading-comprehension\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"magoosh blog | high school\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/magooshsat\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-03-20t23:08:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-04-15t22:59:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"lucas fink\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@magooshsat_act\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@magooshsat_act\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"lucas fink\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"article\",\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/sat\/key-words-in-sat-reading-comprehension\/#article\",\"ispartof\":{\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/sat\/key-words-in-sat-reading-comprehension\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"lucas fink\",\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#\/schema\/person\/c06e6a007d0b81117c00610ed88b6c7d\"},\"headline\":\"key words in sat reading comprehension\",\"datepublished\":\"2013-03-20t23:08:56+00:00\",\"datemodified\":\"2015-04-15t22:59:18+00:00\",\"mainentityofpage\":{\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/sat\/key-words-in-sat-reading-comprehension\/\"},\"wordcount\":820,\"commentcount\":2,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"sat reading comprehension\",\"sat reading section\",\"sat strategies\"],\"articlesection\":[\"sat\"],\"inlanguage\":\"en-us\",\"potentialaction\":[{\"@type\":\"commentaction\",\"name\":\"comment\",\"target\":[\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/sat\/key-words-in-sat-reading-comprehension\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"webpage\",\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/sat\/key-words-in-sat-reading-comprehension\/\",\"url\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/sat\/key-words-in-sat-reading-comprehension\/\",\"name\":\"key words in sat reading comprehension - 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