Lesson 14 – True, False, Not Given
Today we are going to look at True, False, Not Given questions
This type of question is much the same as the Yes, No, Not given that we looked at yesterday
Let’s begin with some tips and advice
- We learnt yesterday that Yes, No, Not Given is mostly concerned with the opinions and ideas of the writer. In contrast True, False , Not Given can cover any idea and topic in the text.
- True statements agree with the information in the text
- False statements contradict the information or they can be a negative meaning in the text or simply not the same as the text yest connected.
- Not Given means that you don’t have the relevant information to be able to answer the question. Sometimes some of the information is there but the actual heart of the question is not.
- Look for comparisons as these will help.
- Check for relationships in the past and the future – the question may refer to these.
- Deal with each statement individually and match carefully with the text.
- Check negative words be aware of exactly what these mean in the context – they may be the key to the answer.
- As with Yes, No, Not given – change the statement into a question it will be easier to answer.
- Look over the tips for Yes, No, Not given in lesson 13 as these are also relevant here.
Key skills to develop:
Yes, No not Given are easy to answer as long as you pay attention to ALL the words
- Practise going back and forth from question to text to question matching each of the words
- Make sure you check all the words as one word can change the answer (e.g. if the text says “some people go to the cinema” and the question says “some people go to the cinema often” the answer would be NG as we don’t know how often they go it can’t be false – people do go to the cinema and it can’t be true – because we don’t know how often they go)
- Go back and look at the things to practise for Y,N,NG (lesson 13) as they are also relevant here
Learn to match meanings in the question with the text
- try writing your own T,F,NG exercises – this helps you to understand how they work
- I’ve added an exercise to share here – it’s a short text – put some T/F/NG sentences into the Facebook group and ask people to answer them don’t forget to answer other people’s.
Don’t forget, if there is anything you don’t understand or can’t find send a message via Contact us
Let’s have a go at a True, False, Not Given exercise
Here are two exercises for you.
http://www.gapfillers.co.uk/default.aspx?atk=1308
This second exercise just tests True and False
http://www.gapfillers.co.uk/default.aspx?atk=617
While you are doing the reading exercises don’t forget to make a note of any words and phrases that you would like to include in your own writing. You should be compiling a list of these and learning how to use them in sentences.
Don’t forget, if there is anything you don’t understand or can’t find send a message via Contact us
Now you’re done!
Good luck and let’s make great progress with IELTS!