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Reading Practice: Analysing B1+ Level Texts
Text types and their features
| Text type | Features | Language |
|---|
| Newspaper article | Headline, lead paragraph, inverted pyramid structure | Formal, passive voice, reporting verbs, quotes |
| Opinión essay | Thesis, arguments, counterarguments, conclusión | Formal connectors, hedging language, modals |
| Blog post | Personal voice, informal tone, direct address | Contractions, phrasal verbs, rhetorical questions |
| Narrative extract | Characters, setting, plot, dialogue | Past tenses, descriptive adjectives, figurative language |
| Informative text | Clear structure, headings, facts, data | Present tense, impersonal style, technical vocabulary |
Inference and implication
B1+ reading requires you to go beyond the literal meaning and understand what the text implies (suggests without stating directly):
Ejemplo
Text: "After the third complaint, the mánager finally agreed to replace the product."
Literal meaning: The mánager replaced the product after three complaints.
Inference: The mánager was reluctant to help. The customer had to insist. The service was poor.
Identifying the author's purpose and tone
- Purpose: to inform, to persuade, to entertain, to instruct, to criticise, to warn.
- Tone: formal, informal, serious, humorous, sarcastic, neutral, critical, optimistic, pessimistic.
Dealing with unknown vocabulary in exams
- Do NOT panic. You are not expected to know every word.
- Read the whole sentence/paragraph first.
- Identify the word class (noun, verb, adjective, adverb).
- Look for context clues (definitions, examples, contrasts).
- Check for familiar roots, prefixes, or suffixes.
- If you still cannot guess, move on and come back later.
Ejercicios
1. Read the following passage and identify: a) the text type, b) the author's purpose, c) the tone.
"If you think getting up at 5 am to meditate will magically fix your life, I have some bad news. The self-help industry has convinced millions of people that success is just one morning routine away. But the reality is far more complicated. True personal growth takes years of consistent effort, honest self-reflection, and yes, the occasional failure."
2. What inferences can you make from this sentence: "The restaurant had been open for six months, and already the owners were looking for buyers."?
3. Find words in the text above that could be defined from context and explain how you would guess their meaning.
Test de autoevaluación
1. "Skimming" means:
a) Reading every word carefully
b) Reading quickly for the general idea
c) Searching for specific information
d) Translating unknown words
2. In True/False/Not Given questions, "Not Given" means:
a) The information is probably false
b) The text does not mention this information
c) The text implies it is false
d) The answer is unknown
3. Identifying the author's tone means understanding:
a) The topic of the text
b) The attitude and feeling behind the writing
c) The grammar structures used
d) The number of paragraphs
4. When you find an unknown word, you should first:
a) Look it up in a dictionary
b) Skip it entirely
c) Try to guess its meaning from context
d) Ask the teacher
5. An inference is:
a) A fact stated directly in the text
b) A conclusión drawn from evidence in the text
c) A vocabulary definition
d) A summary of the text