IELTS Reading: True/False/Not Given Questions

Hi, everybody.

Welcome to www.engvid.com.

I'm Adam.

In today's video, I'm going to talk to you about the IELTS reading section, and very

specifically we're going to look at one question type that I think most people have the most

trouble with.

The question type is when you have to give a yes, no, or not given, or true, false, not

given based on questions or statements and the reading passage.

Okay?

So, what I have here is a sample paragraph, okay?

We're going to look at a - the whole passage is about the aurora borealis.

Now, for those of you who might not know what that is, if you've heard about northern Canada,

in the north of Canada you can go in the light - sorry, in the sky at night, you can see

all kinds of different colored lights all over the sky.

It's actually very beautiful, very interesting natural phenomenon, and that's called the

aurora borealis.

There's another aurora in the south, but that's a different story altogether.

Now, if I'm speaking a little bit fast, that's because, again, this is for the IELTS, those

of you taking the IELTS.

You need to practice your listening skills as well, so I'll speak a little bit faster

than normal.

Now, the main problem that people have with this type of question, with a yes, no, not

given, true, false, not given, is that they don't exactly know where to look, and they

spend way too much time looking for the answer to the not given section.

So, there's a few things you need to understand.

First of all, you have to find the general area where the answers should be in the reading

passage, and then you very carefully have to read the sentence in the question part,

and the sentences in the actual reading.

They will never match them exactly, okay?

They might actually try to trick you by using some of the same words from the passage in

the question, but if it's too similar, don't trust it.

What they will generally do is paraphrase, okay?

That's where they're testing your understanding of vocabulary, that's where they're testing

your understanding of grammar as well, okay?

So, paraphrasing is a very important skill.

So, when you paraphrase, you're taking a sentence and you're expressing it in a different way,

but you're keeping the same meaning, so that's what they're testing.

Can you look at the question sentence, and can you understand that the way it's basically

expressed in the passage is the same, or are they different?

Or do they seem kind of similar, but there's something missing, so the answer's actually

not given?

So, I'm going to read to you, this is just one paragraph from this passage, okay?

Obviously, there was something before, there will be something after, but it doesn't matter.

We can look at the one paragraph and be able to look at the questions and try to understand

them, okay?

So, first I'll read it for you.

"Although the Earth is constantly hit with all manner of particles and rays, its magnetic

shield deflects most of them away from the planet's surface.

Particles discharged from the sun also interact with this shield, where they combine with

atoms and molecules of oxygen, nitrogen, and other elements.

These combinations result in light emissions of varying colours, most commonly observed

as pink, green, violet, blue, and occasionally orange and white."

Orange and white.

"Yellow and green lights"-sorry, I missed that-so, yellow and green lights-"are a common

reaction to interactions of these particles with oxygen."

So, there's the information.

Now, I can't really fit the questions on the board, so I'm going to read them out to you,

and then you'll see them coming soon enough.

Number one.

You'll generally get three to five of these, so I'm just going to do three.

I'm going to do one true, one false, one not given.

Obviously, once you know the first two, you'll know the third one, but that's okay.

First, "People on Earth are not at risk, since particles emitted by the sun never reach them."

Okay?

Again.

"People on Earth are not at risk, since particles emitted by the sun never reach them."

True or false?

Well, one thing you always have to pay attention to in these expressions is extreme words.

The extreme word here is the word "never".

Okay?

"Never".

So, "People on Earth are not at risk".

Okay?

Are we looking at anything on Earth?

Are we looking at any...

Do we see anything about people?

Well, people on Earth, they're generally on the surface, so we're basically around here,

we're looking for the information.

"Since particles emitted by the sun"-"emitted", discharged, synonyms, by the sun, from the

sun-"never reach them".

Okay, so particles discharged.

Okay, so here we have...

We looked at the surface.

"Particles and rays, its magnetic shield deflects most of them from the planet's surface."

Now, what does "most of" mean?

Does it mean all?

No, it doesn't.

So that means that some particles and rays do get through to the surface, which means

that some people are sometimes at risk.

So, the problem here is the word "never".

So right away, you know that this question is...

Or this statement is actually false.

And you'll notice that they changed a lot of the words to make sure that you understand

the same meaning.

Okay, that's one.

Next one.

"Orange", auroral lights, "are not caused by interactions with oxygen, but rather with

nitrogen."

So, this one should be pretty easy to find, more or less.

Here we have orange.

That's what we're talking about.

Okay?

So, let's read the whole sentence.

"These combinations result in light emissions of varying colours, most commonly observed

as pink, green, violet, blue, and occasionally orange and white.

Yellow and green are a common reaction to interactions of these particles with oxygen."

So, you're thinking, okay, yellow and green is oxygen, so orange must be with nitrogen,

because that's the other element we had here somewhere.

Okay.

Oxygen, nitrogen, and other elements.

Now, does it say that orange comes from the interactions with nitrogen?

It doesn't say that, right?

First of all, there's nitrogen.

Second of all, there are other elements.

Orange could be a combination of hydrogen, it could be a combination of helium, whatever

else is in the air.

Right?

So, it doesn't necessarily have to come from nitrogen.

And "occasionally orange and white", so orange and...

Orange is not a very common colour anyway, so if it were common, it would probably be...

If it were with oxygen, it might be a bit more common, but it's a little bit more rare,

it's more occasional, so it probably interacts with some other element that we don't know

about because that element is not...

There isn't as much of this element in the air...

In the...

In the sky, in the atmosphere.

So, this question, "but", sorry, before I go on, it doesn't mean that it's not nitrogen.

We don't know.

It could be from the nitrogen, it could be from other elements.

We don't have any sentence that tells you what colours come from the interaction with

nitrogen.

So, this answer is "not given".

It sometimes, and quite often, they will make the sentence and the question appear like

something that's in the passage.

They're trying to trick you.

Don't be tricked.

If you don't very clearly see the connection or the answer, the fact of what's in the passage

and what's in the thing, then don't...

Don't be afraid to say "not given".

Some of the answers will be not given; you just have to find the right ones.

Now, of course, the last one is going to be true because I told you there's one of each.

So, the magnetic shield that protects the earth does so by often turning aside the things

that hit it.

Okay?

The magnetic shield that protects the earth does so by often turning aside the things

that hit it.

That hit it, like particles, rays, etc.

So, again, we're talking about the magnetic shield.

It protects the earth.

Okay?

So, the magnetic shield deflects, deflects, turn aside.

So, here's the particle, boom, boom, that's a deflection.

Turning aside, same idea, so it's a synonym.

Protects the earth by turning away, okay?

Magnetic shield deflects most of them.

What are "them"?

Particles and rays, and all the other things that are hitting it.

So, this one is true, it's just a very direct paraphrase.

Okay?

So, that's the key here.

This is the key to this type of question.

Make sure that the paraphrase matches what's in the passage.

Look for extreme words to make sure you're not...

Sometimes it's just one word that makes the whole sentence not true.

And remember, the more...

The more number of similar words you see in the question that are the same as the passage,

the more you should distrust this sentence and think "false" or "not given".

And again, "not given", the key to "not given" is to know where to look to begin with, and

then to not be afraid.

Now, if you're looking, looking, looking, looking for the answer and it's not there,

it's not there.

Don't continue to look.

This is how people waste a lot of time on the reading section and then have problems

at the end of their hour because they spend so much time looking for an answer that isn't

there.

Okay?

So, that's the key.

So, I hope this was a bit helpful.

I'll give you some more examples in the quiz at www.engvid.com.

Don't be afraid to go there and try this out.

Okay?

If you want more help with IELTS, especially writing section, visit my site, www.writetotop.com

or my YouTube channel, Write To Top.

I do lots of stuff.

I specialize in the writing section of the IELTS, so please come visit.

If you like this video, please give me a like.

Don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel.

And come again and I'll give you more IELTS tips, TOEFL tips, vocab, grammar, etc.

See you again soon.

Bye-bye.