Verbal Reasoning Study Guide for the CLT

Character Motives

In literary texts that include storytelling, plot, and characters, analyzing character motives can help you understand why they do what they do and what impact their motives have on the other characters and the story as a whole. Character motives (also referred to as motivation) are the reasons or rationale behind a character’s behavior. As a reader, you may need to try to put yourself in a character’s shoes to determine what their motivation is, why they do what they do, and what purpose it may serve to the overall story.

Character History

One source of character motivation is a character’s history. If details are given about a character’s past, or if you can infer some of their history based on current thoughts, actions, or speaking, you may better understand what motivates them to act as they do. As in life, the experiences a character has growing up or before a given event impact their thoughts, behaviors, and interactions with others.

Character Actions

Another way to identify a character’s motives is to examine what the character does in the text. How do they act when they are around others? How do they act when alone? What do their actions and their interactions with others tell us about the type of people they are? Figuring out why they do what they do can help you understand the story on a deeper level.

Statements by Others

Sometimes, it’s not just about looking closely at a particular character, but considering how others relate to that character. Statements made by other characters to or about a particular character can also provide insight into their motives and actions in a story.

Typical Character Motives

Character motivation mirrors human motivation. Think about what makes people act the way they do and what inspires them to say or do what they say or do in life. While there are two main types of character motivation—internal and external—they can take many different forms in a text.

Internal motivation means that the impulse or motivation to act comes from within the character. They find inspiration from within to take action. External motivation means that some external, or outside, force pressures the character to take a certain action or respond in a particular way.

Some of the most common motives come from deep-seated human emotions: love, honor, courage, survival, revenge, belonging, curiosity, etc.

To determine a character’s motives, consider what makes them “tick.” Look at the relationships between the character you’re analyzing and other characters in the story. How do they interact? What motivates or influences them, based on their relationships with other characters, their history, or their psychology? Why do they do what they do?

Meaning in Context

Determining the meaning of words in context is an important reading comprehension skill. All readers occasionally encounter unfamiliar words as they read, so they apply several different strategies to help them determine a word’s meaning. Since you will only be asked the meaning of words as they are used in the text, the following are some strategies you could apply to determine word meaning.

The word meaning questions may also ask you to identify the answer that most closely means the same as a particular word from the passage. In that case, the answer options themselves may be unfamiliar words. Some of these strategies may help you determine their meaning, too.

Explicit Clues in Text

Authors want their audience to understand their writing, so even when they use challenging words, they often include textual hints to help the reader make meaning. Using the explicit clues an author includes in their writing is sometimes referred to as “using context clues.” Here are some types of context clues to look for.

Definitions

Sometimes, with academic, specialized, or unusual words, authors will include a definition within the text. These definitions are often set off by commas or parentheses, but sometimes, they are included as “regular” sentences within the text, either right before or right after the challenging word is used. They may not always be presented as explicit definitions. For example:

When she got sick, my 100-year-old great-grandmother saw a geriatrician, who is a doctor who specializes in caring for the elderly.

The judge handed down an arbitrary ruling in the case and did not seem to follow the rule of law at all.

Synonyms

While not as explicit as definitions, authors may include a synonym of a challenging word to help the reader make meaning. Synonyms are words that mean the same or a similar meaning as another word. For example:

Scientists worked to debunk, or disprove, the false claims made that the weather can be controlled and directed by humans.

Antonyms

Much like synonyms, the use of antonyms in a text can help readers determine the meaning of an unfamiliar word. Antonyms are words that mean the opposite of another word. For example:

The grumpy old man’s dour expression was in complete contrast to the soft, tender look of the young woman.

Examples

Sometimes, an author will provide an example of the word directly in the passage to help the reader understand the meaning.

Herbivores like goats, buffalo, and manatees can help keep plant populations under control by eating them, but if there are too many of these animals in a given area, food sources can become scarce.

Other Clues

Context clues like those outlined above are generally easy to identify within a text. However, other clues that can be used to determine word meaning may not be as explicit. Understanding how to break apart words and what roots and affixes mean, as well as considering the mood or tone of a text, can help you understand an unfamiliar word.

Root Words and Affixes

Much of the English language is based on Greek and Latin roots. Adding affixes (prefixes and suffixes) can change the meaning of a word or provide more information about it. For example, the word “illogical” is the result of a prefix, root, and suffix. As a prefix, il- means “not,” or “without.” The root logic, from the Greek word logos, means “of or relating to reason or thinking.” The suffix -al means of or relating to something. Put together, illogical means “not relating to reason” or “unreasonable.” A basic understanding of some of the most commonly used affixes and roots will help you make meaning of unfamiliar words if you can identify some of their parts.

Mood or Tone

Writers create a certain mood and tone within their writing. They are not synonymous, but both can help a reader understand an unfamiliar word in a text. Mood relates to how the text makes the reader feel. The mood of a text might be described as happy, lighthearted, serious, cautionary, depressing, etc. The tone refers to the author’s attitude toward the subject or audience. It can be conveyed through the writer’s word choice, or diction, and sentence structure. Determining the mood and tone of a text can help the reader understand an unfamiliar word because, for example, the author is probably not going to use a funny word in a serious text or a formal word in an informal text.

Cause and Effect Language

Understanding cause and effect language can also clue you into the meaning of an unfamiliar word you might encounter. Cause and effect language like therefore, as a result, or because can indicate an example or outcome is on its way and help the reader identify the relationship between familiar and unfamiliar words in a text.

Surrounding Context

If there seem to be no other context clues available to you, another option is to consider the surrounding context to determine word meaning. Try substituting all the answer choices in a sentence to see if they make sense. Even if you’re unfamiliar with a word, you may have encountered it at some point in the past, and your brain may suggest that it “sounds” right (or wrong) when you try to use it in a particular sentence. This should help you narrow down your answer choices.

Passage Structure

Writers write with intention. Nothing is by accident or chance. From their word choice to their sentence structure to the examples they include to the organization of a text overall, authors structure their writing largely based on their purpose and audience. News stories or articles are structured differently than scientific journals or personal essays. Fictional passages are structured differently than nonfiction texts. Understanding the distinctions between some of the different structural passages can help you identify which structure type an author has selected and why. While the answer options on the test may not be phrased as specific structure types, understanding their patterns will help you select the correct answer.

Description

Passages that are organized by description provide the reader with vivid mental images of the subject. A description that appeals to the five senses is used to help the reader gain a sense of the subject being described. It may include visuals and graphics to help you “see” the subject more clearly.

The description is usually presented in an organized, logical way. Think of describing your kitchen or bedroom. You would likely start at one location, then move through the room in a logical way rather than jumping from here to there. The same is true with descriptive structure—there is a logical presentation or unfolding of the description using signal words or phrases like for example, such as, or for instance. Description is often used in literary texts that tell a story.

Chronological Order

Chronological order is organized by time, usually from beginning to end. Sometimes referred to as sequence order, texts structured in this way might explain steps in a process or describe events over a particular period of time. Informational or expository texts may use chronological order to explain an event. Signal words like first, then, next, before, after, during, while, or finally indicate where in the chronology of the big picture a specific event takes place or when a specific step is done in the process.

Compare/Contrast

Texts organized as compare and contrast writing examine the similarities (compare) and differences (contrast) between two or more ideas or concepts. In compare/contrast, the paragraphs might switch back and forth to show a similarity and then explain a difference or several similarities might be presented, followed by several differences. Informational texts often use compare/contrast organization. Signal words and phrases such as also, just like, both, and too indicate comparison, while but, however, on the other hand, and conversely show contrast.

Problem/Solution

As the name suggests, a text organized as a problem/solution presents a problem or issue first, offers a potential solution (or several solutions), and then discusses how the solution addresses the problem. Problem/solution organization is often used in argument writing where the author makes a claim about an issue they see as a problem and then offers potential solutions to address that problem. In a problem/solution text, look for phrases such as “one potential solution is,” “to solve the problem,” “to address this issue,” or “this would help because.”

Cause/Effect

Similar to problem/solution, cause/effect organization in a text explains why something happened (the cause) and what happened as a result (the effect). Cause and effect structure is popular in argument writing, where the author explains how one event or issue led to a particular outcome or result. Look for signal words or phrases such as because, therefore, due to, or consequently.