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Course: LSAT > Unit 1
Lesson 9: Reading Comprehension – Articles- Getting started with Reading Comprehension
- Catalog of question types | Reading comprehension
- Main point | Quick guide
- Recognition | Quick guide
- Clarifying meaning | Quick guide
- Purpose of reference | Quick guide
- Organizing information | Quick guide
- Inferences about views | Quick guide
- Inferences about information | Quick guide
- Inferences about attitudes | Quick guide
- Applying to new contexts | Quick guide
- Principles and analogies | Quick guide
- Additional evidence | Quick guide
- Primary purpose | Quick guide
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Inferences about attitudes | Quick guide
How does the author feel about this?
Authors write things for a variety of reasons.
- To report facts (without bias or opinion)
- To report facts reported by someone else in a study (without bias or opinion)
- To persuade the reader of the merits of some position (positive attitude)
- To disprove or attack a position (negative attitude)
You will encounter questions that ask directly about the author’s attitude, or about the attitudes of people or groups that are mentioned. While not explicitly stated, these attitudes can be discovered from both the language and content of the passage.
Examples
Most inference about attitude questions go something like this:
- “Which one of the following most accurately identifies the attitude shown by the author in the passage toward _____”
- “The authors' attitudes toward _____ can most accurately be described in which one of the following ways?”
- “The author would be most likely to characterize _____ as...”
- “The attitude of the author of passage A toward _____ differs from that of the author of passage B in that author A is more”
Another variation of this question type may ask you to consider words or phrases that appear in the passage and to identify those that indicate the attitude of the author—or of people or groups mentioned in the passage—toward some specific thing:
- “The author’s attitude toward the ‘thesis’ mentioned in line 56 is revealed in which one of the following pairs of words?”
Strategies
Top tip: Charge it! Is the attitude or tone charged positively ( + ) or negatively ( – )? Pay attention to whether authors, by employing a certain tone or by choosing to use certain words, betray any attitude other than neutrality toward the material they are presenting. Similarly, it’s a good idea to pay attention to whether any of the people mentioned in the passage are portrayed as having a positive or negative attitude towards the ideas presented.
Use + and – to quickly note your impressions as you read. When you get to the question, ask yourself: "on a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being the most negative and 5 being the most positive, where does the author’s attitude fall?"
Beware! Tone can change: Sometimes an initially positive tone is tempered later by an expression of reservations, or an initially dismissive tone might be moderated later by a grudging admission of something worthwhile. The most accurate description of the author’s overall attitude will reflect this, and you should choose among the options accordingly.
Common wrong choice types
The wrong choices for this kind of question are usually just choices that are too positive, too neutral, or too negative to accurately reflect the author’s tone.
However, while these questions usually ask about the author’s attitude, sometimes they can ask about someone other than the author described in the passage. Make sure to note this before you answer the question—there will likely be a tempting wrong choice reflecting the author’s attitude thrown into the mix!
Comparative Reading variants
Occasionally, you will encounter an inference about attitude question on a Comparative Reading set. Sometimes, they will ask you about a shared attitude between the two passages:
- “The authors' attitudes toward _____ can most accurately be described in which one of the following ways?”
Here, you know from the way the question is worded that the authors share the same attitude toward the topic at hand. So you already know that there’s an implicit or explicit point of agreement; your task is to pick the choice that best reflects what that is.
You may also see a variant that asks you to compare contrasting attitudes:
- “Which of the following best describes the difference between the authors’ attitudes towards _____?”
Want to join the conversation?
For the paragraph titled "Charge It!" what are some key words that we should be looking for? The author is unlikely to express their direct opinion and especially in passages with more fact than anything else, it can be incredibly difficult to tell where they stand.(8 votes)
Hi Riley! The author doesn't always express an opinion, so if you're finding it "difficult to tell where they stand", you're not necessarily wrong! In some passages, the author is simply reporting on something—for example, the history of how certain events unfolded. In other passages, you'll see instances such as the following:
* Despite this, the researchers' hypothesis isn't plausible.
* The second theory is somewhat more compelling than the first.
Look for indicators such as these to help you understand where the author's opinion lies!(18 votes)
