One of the most common question in the Reading Comprehension section of Verbal Ability is related to identifying source of passage: 'From where is the passage taken?'. In this article of MBAUniverse.com, Sidharth Balakrishna, CAT expert, author and IIM Calcutta alumnus guides you on answering such question in CAT 2010 and other MBA entrance exams.
Balakrishna mentions that there are basically three sources from which the passages are taken. They are newspaper, a technical or scientific journal and an opinion column. In order to identify the source of the passage, you need to identify the hints and use certain clues.
In part one of this article Balakrishna guides you on how to identify a newspaper passage.
"The style of writing in a newspaper will be different from that in a technical journal. Similarly, the style of a newspaper report shall be different from that of an opinion column," says Balakrishna.
Balakrishna gives the following suggestions for identifying a passage from Newspaper:
The story in a newspaper will provide context and the language shall be relatively simple. This indeed is a defining characteristic of an article from a newspaper. After all, a newspaper is meant for the general public, and for people who may not be experts in the English language. Thus the choice of words, phrases etc will be relatively simple and easy to understand.
If some technical or scientific term is mentioned, it is likely that an explanation will be provided of what the term means.
Such an article will typically be about an event that has occurred. So a newspaper article can be spotted by the subject of the article: it could be some sports-related, or economic or political event, some conference or meeting etc.
Newspaper articles are generally short. Thus, they may contain the basic details about an event or issue but are unlikely to be too detailed.
For example, if speaking about a scientific discovery, they are likely to focus on the conclusion and the result of the experiment, rather than the manner in which the experiment was conducteddetails about the experiment itself are likely to be few.
Newspaper reporters will inform the reader as to what occurred, what was stated by the various parties etc. Thus, you are likely to see the statements made by people, often in quotes. Indeed, the presence of such quotes is a defining characteristic of a newspaper story.
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