Page 151 - LTC - TOEFL PREP MODULE

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sKILL 2: RECOGNIZE THE ORGANIZATION OF IDEAS
In the Reading Comprehension section of the TOEFL test, there will sometimes be ques-tions
about the organization of ideas in a passage. In this type of question, you will be asked to
determine how the ideas in one paragraph (or paragraphs) relate to the ideas in another
paragraph (or paragraphs).

Example

The passage:
If asked who invented the game of baseball, most Americans
would probably reply that it was Abner Doubleday. At the
beginning of this century, there was some disagreement over how
Line the game of baseball had actually originated, so sporting-goods
(5) manufacturer Spaulding inaugurated a commission to research the
question. In 1908 a report was published by the commission in
which Abner Doubleday, a U.S. Army officer from Cooperstown,
New York, was given credit for the invention of the game. The
National Baseball Hall of Fame was established in Cooperstown in
(10) honor of Doubleday.
Today, most sports historians are in agreement that
Doubleday really did not have much to do with the development of
Baseball. Instead, baseball seems to be a close relation to the
English game of rounders and probably has English rather than
(15) American roots.

The question:
The second paragraph
(A) provides examples to support the ideas in the first paragraph
(B) precedes the ideas in the first paragraph
(C) outlines the effect of the idea in the first paragraph
(D) refutes the idea in the first paragraph

To answer this question it is necessary to look at the main ideas of each of the two
paragraphs. The main idea of the first paragraph is found in the first sentence of the first
paragraph: most people believe that Abner Doubleday invented the game of baseball. The
main idea of the second paragraph is found in the first line of the second paragraph:
historians generally agree that Doubleday did not invent baseball. The second paragraph
therefore contradicts or refutes the information in the first paragraph. The best answer to
this question is answer (D).

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