APTIS Reading for Text Cohesion 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Read the text: 'The charity launched its fundraising campaign in spring. ___ By summer, it had exceeded its original target by 40%.' Which sentence best fills the gap?
- Charities often struggle to reach their financial goals.
- The campaign featured online donations, local events, and corporate sponsorships. (Correct answer)
- Fundraising requires a great deal of planning and commitment.
- The spring season is traditionally busy for nonprofit organizations.
Correct answer: The campaign featured online donations, local events, and corporate sponsorships.
Listing the specific methods used logically bridges the campaign launch with the strong financial result that followed.
Question 2: Which word or phrase correctly replaces the blank to show addition? 'The new policy reduced waste by 30%. ___, it lowered production costs significantly.'
- In contrast
- However
- In addition (Correct answer)
- Nevertheless
Correct answer: In addition
'In addition' signals that a second positive outcome is being added to the first.
Question 3: In the APTIS reading cohesion section, a 'lexical chain' refers to which of the following?
- A series of grammar rules applied across sentences
- A group of words related by topic that create thematic unity across a text (Correct answer)
- A list of connective phrases used to order events
- A set of synonyms inserted to avoid pronoun repetition
Correct answer: A group of words related by topic that create thematic unity across a text
A lexical chain is a sequence of semantically related words that helps maintain the topic and coherence throughout a text.
Question 4: Sentence: 'The experiment failed because the equipment malfunctioned, the data was corrupted, and the team ran out of time.' What cohesion device is used here?
- Ellipsis
- Substitution
- Parallelism (Correct answer)
- Anaphora with pronouns
Correct answer: Parallelism
Parallelism presents three reasons in a consistent grammatical structure (noun phrase + past verb), creating coherence through pattern.
Question 5: Which sentence should be removed to improve the cohesion of this paragraph? 'Climate change is altering weather patterns globally. Droughts are becoming longer and more severe. Flooding events are increasing in frequency. Italy is famous for its cuisine. Crop yields in vulnerable regions are declining.'
- Droughts are becoming longer and more severe.
- Flooding events are increasing in frequency.
- Italy is famous for its cuisine. (Correct answer)
- Crop yields in vulnerable regions are declining.
Correct answer: Italy is famous for its cuisine.
The sentence about Italian cuisine is completely unrelated to the paragraph's focus on climate change and its agricultural effects.
Question 6: A student rearranges these sentences. Which order is most cohesive? A. It also strengthens the immune system. B. Regular exercise improves cardiovascular health. C. Experts recommend at least 150 minutes per week. D. Furthermore, it enhances mental well-being.
- B, A, D, C (Correct answer)
- C, B, D, A
- A, D, B, C
- D, A, C, B
Correct answer: B, A, D, C
B introduces the main claim, A and D add further benefits using cohesive devices ('also,' 'furthermore'), and C concludes with a practical recommendation.
Question 7: What does 'ellipsis' contribute to text cohesion?
- It replaces a word with a synonym to avoid repetition.
- It omits words that are understood from context, creating concise links between clauses. (Correct answer)
- It uses a pronoun to refer back to a previously mentioned noun.
- It introduces a contrasting idea to balance an argument.
Correct answer: It omits words that are understood from context, creating concise links between clauses.
Ellipsis omits recoverable elements (e.g., 'She can swim and he can [swim] too'), reducing redundancy while maintaining meaning.
APTIS Reading for Text Cohesion 3
Read the text: 'The charity launched its fundraising campaign in spring. ___ By summer, it had exceeded its original target by 40%.' Which sentence best fills the gap?