From the course: Test Prep: PSAT

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Using signposts in reading passages

Using signposts in reading passages

From the course: Test Prep: PSAT

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Using signposts in reading passages

- So what's in nearly every reading passage on the PSAT are one or more signposts that you can use as clues to help understand part or all of the passage better. In this video, I'll discuss some common signposts that you can recognize and use them. So signposts are really useful clues to meaning. The first one I want to talk about is the Shift. So Shifts are words that change the direction of a sentence. Now these are words like but or however, despite, although, while. And here's an example of what it does. "I didn't study for the test, but I still passed." So the word but creates a shift in meaning of the sentence. And this is useful if you don't understand what part of the sentence means. If there's a Shift, you know that there's going to be a contrast in the sentence, and that can help you understand, perhaps, the part that you don't understand. These also signify shifts in meaning within passages. So if you do see one of these, really good idea to pay attention to what comes…

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