Close Reading- Linking Questions

[mrsanderson]

Hi everyone.

Here are some notes from the linking question exercises we have been doing in class:

“But,” said Solomon, scratching one of the small fly-bites that were troubling all of us, “if we could return here in 50 years, this village would be different. There will be streets, electricity, and proper buildings. As Ethiopia modernises, places like this will be
made more comfortable for people. Hamed Ela will probably be a big town.”

And that is where Solomon was wrong. As Ethiopia modernises, the Afar will leave their desert home. They will drift into the towns and cities in the highlands. Their voracious herds of goats will die. Their camels will no longer be of any use. The only
remembrance this place will have of the humans it bred will be the stone fittings of their flimsy, ruined stick huts, and the mysterious black rock burial mounds that litter the landscape.

7. Explain why the sentence “And that is where Solomon was wrong” (line 30) is an effective link between the paragraphs contained in lines 26 to 35.

To answer this question, we would use the simple formula:

Quotation + link back; quotation + link forward

You begin with a short quotation from the linking sentence, then show what ideas this links back to. Next, use a different short quotation from the link sentence, then show what ideas this introduces and links forward to.

Use this structure for your answer:

The words . . . (quote from link sentence) refer back to the idea of . . . (give the idea) which was mentioned . . . (say where)
The words . . . (quote from link sentence) introduce the idea of . . . (give the idea) which comes up in . . .

So the answer would look like this:

The words "and that" refer back to the idea of progress and growth which was mentioned in the previous paragraph.

The words "was wrong" introduce the idea of the rebuttal or negative change which comes up in the next paragraph.


If you have any questions about linking questions, post them here!

[mrsanderson]

Righto.

Here is another example, from the Int 1 past paper from today (Dog Tired of Being Dumped, P&N, 2002/2003):

She has, for example, Rye, a hunting dog dumped by his owners and found running loose in the Berkshire countryside. "He was so frightened and nervous of people that it took a week to catch him," says Vicky. "And he was so emaciated that he had to spend a week on a drip after he was brought in to fatten him up. My most recent acquisition is a chihuahua called Darcey who was handed in to a polic station in Brighton in a highly stressed state. Within moments of coming into my home, however, he started strutting around as if he'd always been there.

But happy endings are unusual in the world of abandoned dogs. Around 122,000 dogs are abandoned each year, and of those 50,000 are destroyed by local authorities and dog handling agencies because there are not enough suitable homes or rescue places.

Q:"But happy endings are unusual in the world of abandoned dogs."

How does this sentence help the writer move from the main idea of the previous paragraph to the main idea of the next one?

If we were to follow our formula:

Quotation + link back; quotation + link forward

then our ideal answer would look like this:

The words "happy ending" refer back to the idea of things working out for the dogs which was mentioned in the previous paragraph.

The words "are unusual" introduce the idea of how rare this actually is which comes up in the next paragraph.

If you'd like any more examples, or are having trouble with this generally, let me know.

[Mike]

Mar 5, 2010 8:29:55 GMT mrsanderson said:

Hi everyone.

Here are some notes from the linking question exercises we have been doing in class:

“But,” said Solomon, scratching one of the small fly-bites that were troubling all of us, “if we could return here in 50 years, this village would be different. There will be streets, electricity, and proper buildings. As Ethiopia modernises, places like this will be
made more comfortable for people. Hamed Ela will probably be a big town.”

And that is where Solomon was wrong. As Ethiopia modernises, the Afar will leave their desert home. They will drift into the towns and cities in the highlands. Their voracious herds of goats will die. Their camels will no longer be of any use. The only
remembrance this place will have of the humans it bred will be the stone fittings of their flimsy, ruined stick huts, and the mysterious black rock burial mounds that litter the landscape.

7. Explain why the sentence “And that is where Solomon was wrong” (line 30) is an effective link between the paragraphs contained in lines 26 to 35.

To answer this question, we would use the simple formula:

Quotation + link back; quotation + link forward

You begin with a short quotation from the linking sentence, then show what ideas this links back to. Next, use a different short quotation from the link sentence, then show what ideas this introduces and links forward to.

Use this structure for your answer:

The words . . . (quote from link sentence) refer back to the idea of . . . (give the idea) which was mentioned . . . (say where)
The words . . . (quote from link sentence) introduce the idea of . . . (give the idea) which comes up in . . .

So the answer would look like this:

The words "and that" refer back to the idea of progress and growth which was mentioned in the previous paragraph.

The words "was wrong" introduce the idea of the rebuttal or negative change which comes up in the next paragraph.


If you have any questions about linking questions, post them here!

[Vernell]

Nicely put. Thankls a lot!
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