Reading Skills: Definitions and Transitions
2023-03-04
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1Hello! This week on Ask a Teacher, we will answer a question about reading skills like finding definitions and transitions.
2Greetings from Ecuador,
3Could you please provide me any information and guidance to improve my reading skills and share them with my English students?
4Thank you in advance for your help and support,
5Angel
6Thanks for writing to us, Angel. When we read, we are reading someone's piece of writing.
7So, we can bring writing skills to the activity of reading.
8Finding transitions and definitions can help us with our reading.
9Transitions are words and phrases that connect ideas.
10Transitions help with organizing thoughts in writing.
11They help develop ideas smoothly. Identifying transitions while reading can help us better understand what we are reading.
12Transitions can be found within paragraphs, between paragraphs, and between longer divisions of text.
13There are several kinds of transitions.
14Time-order transitions are words like "first," "next," "second," "finally," and "lastly."
15They establish the order of events or ideas.
16There are also transitions that show a relationship between ideas.
17For example, we can show contrast between ideas by using "however" or "nonetheless."
18We can show results by using the phrases "as a result" or "consequently."
19Here is an example paragraph from a recent story called, "Five Ways That the Ukraine War Has Changed the World."
20What transitions are used?
21"Before the war, much of the grain and vegetable oil sent to the Middle East and Africa came from Ukraine and Russia.... Now, countries are thinking about ways to provide their own food and energy."
22Two time-order transitions, "before" and "now," are used to show the time relationship between events that happened.
23Spotting the transitions and knowing what they mean can be helpful when reading.
24We can also find definitions within the text to help us better understand unfamiliar words.
25There are a few ways to do this.
26We can find verb phrases like "is/are," "is defined as," "is called," "means, or "is a type of."
27Noticing these phrases within the story can help us learn new vocabulary.
28Here is an example from the article, "Study: Better Instruments Needed to Discover Life on Mars."
29"Such testing is carried out in areas where bodies of water once existed.
30This is because those areas, called deltas, contain higher levels of ancient microbes to study.
31The Red Stone area was a river delta about 100 million years ago."
32We can see from this example, that "called" is used.
33The term "delta" is in an earlier paragraph, too.
34A delta is a kind of body of water, a place where a river meets the sea.
35We even have an example with The Red Stone area as a river delta.
36Another way to show definitions is through punctuation like dashes or commas.
37Here is an example from our American Presidents stories: "George Washington: Reluctant." This example uses two ways of showing a new word.
38"He established a group of advisors - called the cabinet - as well as the nation's official money.
39Here, we see that the writer uses dashes and "called" to give an informal definition of the group of advisors."
40And, we can find definitions by reading further into the text.
41Here is an example from another recent story called, "'Imperfect' Models in Italy Redefine Beauty."
42"Sonia Spartá is one of the models. The 28-year-old from Sicily has a condition called hyperpigmentation or unusual skin coloring. It results in dark spots on her face and body."
43The word that is defined is "hyperpigmentation."
44The definition is found right after the conjunction "or," which shows the definition.
45But if you read further into the next sentence, you can find out more about Sonia's condition.
46The writer uses the verb "results" to show the relationship between the condition of hyperpigmentation and its results.
47Please let us know if these explanations and examples have helped you, Angel!
48What question do you have about American English? Send us an email at learningenglish@voanews.com
49And that's Ask a Teacher.
50I'm Faith Pirlo.
1Hello! This week on Ask a Teacher, we will answer a question about reading skills like finding definitions and transitions. 2Question: 3Greetings from Ecuador, 4Could you please provide me any information and guidance to improve my reading skills and share them with my English students? 5Thank you in advance for your help and support, 6Angel 7Answer 8Thanks for writing to us, Angel. When we read, we are reading someone's piece of writing. So, we can bring writing skills to the activity of reading. Finding transitions and definitions can help us with our reading. 9Transitions 10Transitions are words and phrases that connect ideas. Transitions help with organizing thoughts in writing. They help develop ideas smoothly. Identifying transitions while reading can help us better understand what we are reading. 11Transitions can be found within paragraphs, between paragraphs, and between longer divisions of text. 12There are several kinds of transitions. Time-order transitions are words like "first," "next," "second," "finally," and "lastly." They establish the order of events or ideas. 13There are also transitions that show a relationship between ideas. 14For example, we can show contrast between ideas by using "however" or "nonetheless." We can show results by using the phrases "as a result" or "consequently." 15Here is an example paragraph from a recent story called, "Five Ways That the Ukraine War Has Changed the World." 16What transitions are used? 17"Before the war, much of the grain and vegetable oil sent to the Middle East and Africa came from Ukraine and Russia.... Now, countries are thinking about ways to provide their own food and energy." 18Two time-order transitions, "before" and "now," are used to show the time relationship between events that happened. 19Spotting the transitions and knowing what they mean can be helpful when reading. 20Definitions 21We can also find definitions within the text to help us better understand unfamiliar words. There are a few ways to do this. 22We can find verb phrases like "is/are," "is defined as," "is called," "means, or "is a type of." Noticing these phrases within the story can help us learn new vocabulary. 23Here is an example from the article, "Study: Better Instruments Needed to Discover Life on Mars." 24"Such testing is carried out in areas where bodies of water once existed. 25This is because those areas, called deltas, contain higher levels of ancient microbes to study. The Red Stone area was a river delta about 100 million years ago." 26We can see from this example, that "called" is used. The term "delta" is in an earlier paragraph, too. A delta is a kind of body of water, a place where a river meets the sea. We even have an example with The Red Stone area as a river delta. 27Another way to show definitions is through punctuation like dashes or commas. 28Here is an example from our American Presidents stories: "George Washington: Reluctant." This example uses two ways of showing a new word. 29"He established a group of advisors - called the cabinet - as well as the nation's official money. 30Here, we see that the writer uses dashes and "called" to give an informal definition of the group of advisors." 31And, we can find definitions by reading further into the text. 32Here is an example from another recent story called, "'Imperfect' Models in Italy Redefine Beauty." 33"Sonia Spartá is one of the models. The 28-year-old from Sicily has a condition called hyperpigmentation or unusual skin coloring. It results in dark spots on her face and body." 34The word that is defined is "hyperpigmentation." The definition is found right after the conjunction "or," which shows the definition. But if you read further into the next sentence, you can find out more about Sonia's condition. The writer uses the verb "results" to show the relationship between the condition of hyperpigmentation and its results. 35Please let us know if these explanations and examples have helped you, Angel! 36What question do you have about American English? Send us an email at learningenglish@voanews.com 37And that's Ask a Teacher. 38I'm Faith Pirlo. 39Faith Pirlo wrote this lesson for VOA Learning English. 40___________________________________________________________ 41Words in This Story 42paragraph - n. a part of a piece of writing that usually that begins on a new line and often is made up of a few sentences 43contrast -n. a difference between things or the act of comparing two things to show their differences 44punctuation -n. the marks (such as periods and commas) in a piece of writing that make its meaning clear 45dash - n. a horizontal line that represents a break in meaning; often used before a definition 46conjunction - n. grammar: a word that joins together sentences, clauses, phrases, or words 47Do you have a question for the teacher? We want to hear from you. We have a new comment system. Here is how it works: 48Each time you return to comment on the Learning English site, you can use your account and see your comments and replies to them. Our comment policy is here.