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Wangqh2696122 Posted 15 years ago
Grammar
Can any teacher tell me how to decide on a title?
When I do reading comprehension----a kind of test question, I am frequenly asked to decided on the best title. Can you tell me some principles?
The following is an example:
Read the passage and choose the best title for it:
A.Once a teacher, always a teacher.
B.A teacher’s devotion.
Mom was a teacher most of her life. When she wasn’t in the classroom, she was educating her children or grandchildren: correcting our grammar; starting us on collections of butterflies, flowers or rocks; or inspiring a discussion on her most recent “Book of the Month Club” topic. Mom made learning fun.
It was sad for my three brothers and me to see her suffering in her later years. At eighty-five, she suffered a stroke and she went continuously downhill after that.
Two days before she died, my brothers and I met at her nursing home and took her for a short ride in a wheelchair. While we waited for the family members to lift her weak body back into bed, Mom fell asleep. Not wanting to wake her, we moved to the far end of the room and spoke softly.
After several minutes our conversation was interrupted by a weak sound coming from across the room. We stopped talking and looked at Mom. Her eyes were closed, but she was clearly trying to communicate with us. We went to her side.
“Whirr,” she said weakly.
Where?” I asked. “Mom, is there something you want?” “Whirr,” she repeated a bit stronger. My brothers and I looked at each other and shook our heads sadly.
Mom opened her eyes, sighed, and with all the energy she said, “Not was. say were!”
It suddenly occurred to us that Mom was correcting brother Jim’s last sentence, “If it was up to me ...”
Jim leaned down and kissed her cheek. “Thanks, Mom,” he whispered. We smiled at each other and once again shook our hands … this time in awe of a remarkable teacher.
The following is an example:
Read the passage and choose the best title for it:
A.Once a teacher, always a teacher.
B.A teacher’s devotion.
Mom was a teacher most of her life. When she wasn’t in the classroom, she was educating her children or grandchildren: correcting our grammar; starting us on collections of butterflies, flowers or rocks; or inspiring a discussion on her most recent “Book of the Month Club” topic. Mom made learning fun.
It was sad for my three brothers and me to see her suffering in her later years. At eighty-five, she suffered a stroke and she went continuously downhill after that.
Two days before she died, my brothers and I met at her nursing home and took her for a short ride in a wheelchair. While we waited for the family members to lift her weak body back into bed, Mom fell asleep. Not wanting to wake her, we moved to the far end of the room and spoke softly.
After several minutes our conversation was interrupted by a weak sound coming from across the room. We stopped talking and looked at Mom. Her eyes were closed, but she was clearly trying to communicate with us. We went to her side.
“Whirr,” she said weakly.
Where?” I asked. “Mom, is there something you want?” “Whirr,” she repeated a bit stronger. My brothers and I looked at each other and shook our heads sadly.
Mom opened her eyes, sighed, and with all the energy she said, “Not was. say were!”
It suddenly occurred to us that Mom was correcting brother Jim’s last sentence, “If it was up to me ...”
Jim leaned down and kissed her cheek. “Thanks, Mom,” he whispered. We smiled at each other and once again shook our hands … this time in awe of a remarkable teacher.
Top answer
I am familiar with this type of question, and I have to say that most of the examples I have encountered are more straightforward, meaning to say: It's easier to decide because the options are very different from each other and the respective text makes it quite obvious. This is one of those cases, where both answers could be argued for easily in a discussion. I would go for B, simply because what stays with me after reading it, is how this woman spends all her energy, of which she has so little left at that point, to teach her children, so she is very devoted to the job.
- I am familiar with this type of question, and I have to say that most of the examples I have encountered are more straightforward, meaning to say: It's easier to decide because the options are very different from each other and the respective text makes it quite obvious.
- This is one of those cases, where both answers could be argued for easily in a discussion.
- I would go for B, simply because what stays with me after reading it, is how this woman spends all her energy, of which she has so little left at that point, to teach her children, so she is very devoted to the job.
- There is no point at which we get the idea that she ever tried to stray from being a teacher but couldn't help it, which is what answer A would point to.
- You could go for A saying she remains a teacher, even in her weakest of moment's but that seems relatively far fetched to me.
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6 Answers
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I am familiar with this type of question, and I have to say that most of the examples I have encountered are more straightforward, meaning to say: It's easier to decide because the options are very different from each other and the respective text makes it quite obvious.
This is one of those cases, where both answers could be argued for easily in a discussion.
I would go for B, s
This is one of those cases, where both answers could be argued for easily in a discussion.
I would go for B, s
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But I don't think the two options are worlds apart; actually, they are intertwined in meaning: Option A also implies her devotion.
The given answer is A. Maybe the question designer takes the essay from:http://www.gi
The given answer is A. Maybe the question designer takes the essay from:http://www.gi
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In this case, I'd say A, without a doubt. She is at the end of her life, but she is still a teacher. She was once a teacher, she will always be a teacher, until her last breath.
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Can you tell me some tips? Or, why, in this particular case is B improper?
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Treu that, but i wasn't seeing it like this before.
This shows very well how this kind of question can be ineffective in determining reading comprehension, because I don't think I genreally misunderstood the story, or had a completely different idea of what it was about, than anyone who would have gone for A. It just shows I was seeing it from a different perspective...
This shows very well how this kind of question can be ineffective in determining reading comprehension, because I don't think I genreally misunderstood the story, or had a completely different idea of what it was about, than anyone who would have gone for A. It just shows I was seeing it from a different perspective...
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I still hold the oppinion that B isnt "improper" as a solution,just that, after what Grammar Geek said, A seems more likely.
As I said before, there is no "rule" you can be practicing, like you could with Grammar (e.g. "ago" with Simle Past").
You have to read the story, and logically think about what fits best.
Mostly the answer will be more obvious than in this case...
As I said before, there is no "rule" you can be practicing, like you could with Grammar (e.g. "ago" with Simle Past").
You have to read the story, and logically think about what fits best.
Mostly the answer will be more obvious than in this case...
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