 Assalamu alaikum viewers, welcome to virtual university. One vital aspect of reading comprehension is the ability to assess and evaluate the text. This means, first of all that the reader should be fully aware of the reader's intention and of his point of view and possible bias. In order to evaluate a text, a student must be able to discriminate fact from opinions. And it is an important part of reading competence that the reader should be aware of the way his judgment is influenced one way or another. So far you have had practice in distinguishing facts from opinion. In today's lesson, you shall first have practice in distinguishing the writer's tone and second you shall look at argument, what is known as argumentation, which is very central to the material that we read. Readers make a point and then they support the point that they make and you as a successful reader must learn to recognize the point and recognize the support for the point the support not only the point, but the support that the writer is making about the point that he is made. Now there are five statements on your screen, look at these statements and each one of them expresses a different attitude and it is about these statements are about a shabby house. I hope you know the meaning of shabby, I will not tell you, but while we are reading while you are reading those statements you will realize what shabby means. Now label each statement by choosing the most appropriate tone from the word bank. Statement number one, this may be a shabby run down looking house, but since I lived here in my childhood it has a special place in my heart. Now notice that there is a tone, a special tone because of the use of the words it has a special place in my heart. This phrase gives the whole statement a sentimental tone, right? So if you choose or if you have chosen the word sentimental for this statement you were correct. It is the phrase it has a special place in my heart which gives the statement a sentimental tone. Look at the next one. This may not be the best looking house in the neighborhood, but it is not really that bad. Now the phrase it is not really that bad conveys a tone of tolerance. The speaker or the writer does not condemn the shabby house. This tone is tolerant, he accepts it. Number three, if only I had a decent job I would not be reduced to living in this ramshackle dump. Now the words, the phrase ramshackle dump conveys you that the writer, the speaker is not happy and the tone is bitter. He is not at all happy, he is miserable, he does not like it. So you would choose the word bitter to describe the tone. Number four, this place is in need of some costly renovation and I expect the landlord to get around to them any day now and it is the phrase I expect the landlord. I expect and that conveys a tone of optimism. The tone of this statement was optimistic. Number five, when I leave this joint I plan to empty rubbish bins of all the neighboring flats into it. So I can leave the place exactly as I found it. Well one look and I am sure you realize that the writer the tone is humorous. Now in these five statements these were a sample to show you how words create the tone. Now I helped you in this exercise. See if you can do the next one on your own but before we go on to that exercise I must tell you something about irony. This is a commonly used tone and one which you may not be familiar with. Now when writing has an ironic tone it says one thing and it means the opposite. Irony is found in everyday conversation as well as in writing. Now irony always involves discrepancy, discrepancy. Discrepancy means that something does not quite fit. The two things or whatever things they are talking about they do not go along with one another and it usually takes two forms situational and verbal. Now as I said earlier both forms are very common and I am sure you also indulge in being ironical a lot of the time. The first one situational irony it occurs when the discrepancy lies in the situation itself as the word tells you situational irony. Here the irony lies when the discrepancy lies in the situation itself. Now you expect something but something else happens. You expect one thing but something else happens or a situation calls for an expected response but something unexpected happens instead. Example, I do not know if you will appreciate this but the situation I am going to describe is highly ironical. Supposing there is a house or some place is on fire and you expect the fire fighter to aim a water hose or a water pipe on the fire but instead the fire fighter uses a petrol pipe or a petrol hose. He uses a pipe to spray petrol on a house that is already on fire that would that situation would be very ironical. You may have heard of a play or maybe if you have not I will just tell you there is a famous American playwright and he is written a play called a social event. This is about a very proud Hollywood couple and they are made who is an Afro American. She has an invitation to a special event to which this famous couple has not been invited. Now this situation and the writer uses this situation he exploits this situation. This would be an ironical situation indeed because the owners of the house the well known couple they are not invited but they are made has an invitation for this special event. Now that was situational irony. The other kind of irony is verbal irony. This occurs when there is discrepancy between what is said and what is meant. Usually the exact opposite or a near opposite is what is meant. For example a very eager cricket player he looks out of the window and he sees that it is raining he has been wanting to go out and play and when he sees that it is raining outside he may turn around and say oh great is not this fine. Now that would be verbal irony because he means exactly the opposite he cannot play. So he is being ironical. Now another example to illustrate verbal irony after you go to see a movie and you see that the performance of the main actor is simply horrible. And after seeing this terrible performance by an actor you might turn around and say now that is an actor who is sure to win the best actor award for this year. Now that again is an example to illustrate verbal irony. The person who says that word is being very very ironical. Now you will look at three short passages each of which illustrates a tone and you will find six words given in the word bank in the little box. Remember that the tone reflects the author's attitude it is the author's attitude that is being reflected in that statement. To find the tone of a paragraph ask yourself what attitude is being revealed by its words and phrases. The words are caring pessimistic objective optimistic angry critical. The first paragraph research on rats has shown that when animals live in crowded conditions they live disorderly violent lives. Human beings are no exception crowded cities are models of lawlessness and the traffic clogged roads encourage drivers to be aggressive. As urban areas continue to grow in population density these types of problems will also grow. That means more violence and more fighting over available resources. Out of those six words in the box choose one word which you think describes the tone of this paragraph number two those addicted to drugs probably feel terrible about themselves even if they do not show it and harsh judgments only worsen their self image. What these people need are programs to rehabilitate them in society as well as help rid themselves of their addictions. It is also important we should take a sympathetic view of their problem and open our hearts and minds to these troubled persons. Their addiction does not make them lesser citizens or it deserves them to be stripped of the dignity that is their birthright as human beings. Society must strive to create an environment of hope and help for these people who so desperately need it which word would convey the tone of this paragraph. Was it caring was it critical what was it number three when I hired Mughal carpets to install a new wall-to-wall carpet in my drawing room I relied on the company's reputation for quality work however I was deeply dissatisfied with the dreadful job their workers did in my room the carpet is poorly fitted as in one corner it is creased while in the other the floor shows through I am exasperated with the work of Mughal carpets and I am thinking of asking my lawyer to sue them now in those three paragraphs you have to choose you have been given six words do this on your own and you can send us emails about your answers now the next thing that we are going to talk about and that you will find when you are reading that the writer usually presents an argument a good argument is one in which you make a point and then you provide support for that point support to back up the point that you have made now your support may be persuasive or it may be logical evidence for example if you made this statement my neighbors are inconsiderate all right your neighbors are inconsiderate but you we expect you to provide supporting details which would enable others to see and judge whether your neighbors are really inconsiderate or not now if you added this phrase this sentence they play loud music all night their children play and scream loudly outside my house and the dog barks all night you have provided solid support to your earlier statement that my neighbors are inconsiderate to help you distinguish between point and support for that point or conclusion for the point that you made and reasons that you have given for that conclusion let us jointly do an exercise this is just to show you how to distinguish point the point of the argument and the supporting evidence that the writer provides this is just to train you how to distinguish between them now in the following group groups of statements that you will see on your screen one statement is the point and the others are support for that point you identify each point with a P right P standing for point and you identify the other statement the statement of support within s s will stand for support and people stand for point you have three statements three statements number one cats refuse to learn silly tricks just to amuse people number two cats seem to be more intelligent than dogs number three dogs will accept mistreatment but if a cat is mistreated it runs away now out of these three which one is the point that the writer makes and which one are support for that statement the point is cats seem to be more intelligent than dogs and the other two statements that dogs will accept mistreatment and that cats refuse to learn silly tricks these are evidence to support the point made in the sentence cats seem to be more intelligent than dogs let us look at the next one number two if workers go on strike they now lose their job their jobs to replacement workers that is one statement the other is conditions in factories are tougher than they used to be number three in many industries workers have had to take wage cuts three statements but one of them is the main argument and the others are supporting the point the author has made the point is conditions in factories are tougher than they used to be and the other two are supporting this statement number three often you will have to wait half an hour for a route number five bus and then three will turn up at once sometimes route number five buses will drive past you at a bus stop even though they are not full next when route number five seems route number five seems to be assigned the most ramshackle buses once that rattle and have broken seats and the last one whenever possible people should not ride the route number five bus now which out of these is the main point of the argument and which three are supporting points I shall not tell you you work this out for yourself now to be a skilled reader you need to learn about some common errors in reasoning that will help you to see the weak points in arguments as a skilled reader you ought to be able to see the fallacies are errors in argument sometimes it is not always that writers come up with good arguments but you as a skillful reader ought to be able to see through their arguments now these errors in reasoning are of two types type one is the kind that ignores the issue it sidesteps the issue instead of taking things to their logical conclusion instead of providing a good reason the writer may just go off the point and the other type is when the writer over generalizes or oversimplifies so there are two types of errors errors in reasoning when writers argue this is what we call argumentation when writers put forward an argument you will find that they sometimes without realizing may without realizing they there are errors in their reasoning and these errors are of two types one is the type where they ignore the issue and the other is when they may over generalize or oversimplify the issue the problem that they are discussing in the first type the fallacies that ignore the issue you will find that the writer may change the subject or indulge in circular reasoning he goes round and round he does not come to the point or he may give way to personal attack or he may create an imaginary opponent and the second type you will find in the second type of fallacies in the second type of error in reasoning you find that the writer over generalizes oversimplifies he may draw hasty conclusions on the basis of insufficient evidence he has not provided you enough evidence but he jumps to a conclusion and you as a good reader you will say haha what is this a minute ago he says this and now he jumps to a conclusion he has not there is not enough evidence you will learn these skills through practice reading sometimes writers assume that because a certain event follows an earlier event the subsequent event was cause of the earlier event or sometimes writers make false comparisons we say analogies or sometimes they come up with either or fallacies either it is this or it is that and it things are not like that in the real world may be in one or two instances but not all the time now first I shall show you examples of unsound reasoning and then you shall do a few exercises which will give you practice in spotting such errors in your reading the first type the first fallacies that ignore the issue and you find that there are three types one is when the writer changes the subject the second is circular reasoning and the third is personal attack let us take the first one changing the subject in this method of argument the writer tries to divert the audience's attention from the true issue by presenting evidence that has nothing to do with the argument let me repeat in this type of argument the writer tries to divert his audience's attention from the true issue by presenting evidence that has nothing to do with the argument example and if you read the newspapers you find this type of reasoning very common and it is very common with politicians example the honorable member of the national assembly is a capable leader he has a busy family life and he prays daily in the area mosque alright now the statement that he is made that he is a capable leader but is the is the writer providing you any evidence of this person being capable all he says is he mentions the members family life and he mentions the members religious life which sidesteps the issue of just how capable a leader he is now that was an example of sidesteps the main issue that was an example now there is this exercise for you read this paragraph and see you spot the sentence that is not related with the rest of the argument the proposed dam is going to be a disaster the plans were drawn up nearly 30 years ago when when the affected area was lightly was lightly settled now a generation later the area is thickly populated and hundreds of families would be displaced if the dam is built there are already many forces working for the break up of the family unit in Pakistan these days the environment will also be negatively affected by the construction of the dam hundreds of birds will lose their natural habitat and may die out now which sentence in this paragraph is not a sound argument in support of the author's conclusion that the proposed dam is a disaster I am sure you had no difficulty in spotting the sentence and the sentence was there are already many forces working for the break up of the family unit in Pakistan these days this sentence is not related now the second type is circular reasoning in this the supporting reason is the same as the conclusion example Mr. Abed is a great science teacher because he is so wonderful at teaching well the author does not the writer does not say why Mr. Abed is a great teacher no real reason or reasons are given the statement merely repeats itself so this is what is called circular reasoning now try to spot circular reasoning in the following arguments number one since persons under 18 are too young to vote the voting age should not be lowered below age 18 number two taking vitamin C is healthy for it improves your well being now if you look closely at these arguments you will notice the reasons merely repeat an important part of the conclusion the careful reader wants to know the reasons the supporting evidence not a repetition in the first argument the author uses the idea that persons under 18 are too young to vote and he uses this idea as the conclusion as well as the reason of the argument no reason is advanced for why persons under 21 are too under 18 are too young to vote and in the second argument the word healthy which is used in the conclusion conveys the same idea as the word well being so you notice that conclusion and the reason are being used as one and these were samples of circular reasoning now let me just point this out that what we are doing today when we move on to the writing part of your course this should help you that when you are writing do not indulge in circular reasoning now the third part the third type of fallacies is the personal attack and this is very easy very very easy to indulge in and of course politicians this occurs very often in political debate under this type of wrong reasoning the issue which is under discussion is ignored and the writer or speaker focuses attention on the opponents character example if you have this statement that the honourable member of the national assembly the honourable member of national assembly assemblies views on the tax bill are not worthy of consideration his father also held similar views when he was a member of the national assembly now as you can see from this example it is the statement ignores the real issue the tax bill and instead of concentrate in instead of talking about the members the honourable member members views on the tax bill the writer focuses on personal character and you will find that it is always very easy to recognize personal attack now we will do a an exercise which one of the following statements contains an example of personal attack statement number one our cricket team is not going to win the the next world cup we have acquired the services of a useless coach number two we should support the Zilla Nazim's proposal of tax collection he has the biggest collection of wealth by not paying the taxes number three the people who oppose the new traffic ticketing system are not concerned about traffic rules I hope you have no difficulty in locating the items of personal attack you will notice that instead of in putting forward a reason a reason the writer indulges in personal attack now the second type of fallacies the fallacies that over generalize or oversimplify issues these are of four types writers usually generalize over generalize oversimplify in four ways number one when they draw up a hasty conclusion a hasty generalization is the false cause and the third is a false comparison and the fourth is an either or fallacy now hasty generalization these are very common this is a very common fallacy a person who draws a conclusion on the basis of insufficient evidence is making a hasty generalization now we look at an exercise I would like you to read these statements and these three statements are followed by four possible conclusions three of these are hasty generalizations which cannot logically be drawn from the evidence given and the fourth one is a valid conclusion choose the one conclusion you think is valid this is about a visit to the seaside at Karachi the first time I went to the seaside at Karachi my face got sunburned the second time I went to the seaside I couldn't swim because the water was too cold the third time I went to the seaside at Karachi I stepped on a starfish and had to go to the hospital to have the spikes removed from my foot you will find that there are four conclusions given at the end given on your screen which one would you choose as the most valid would you choose number a which says that the seaside is unsafe and should be close to the public or would you choose number B which says that the seaside is a polluted place or would you choose number C which says I have had a series of bad experiences or number D the seaside is not a place to visit which one did you choose obviously the correct answer and that would be C that I have had a series of bad experiences at the seaside now the second type of false generalizations or oversimplifications is the case of the false cause you have probably heard someone or the other say as a joke and this is very common something like I know there is going to be a dust storm because I washed my hair today now the two events mentioned have no connection whatsoever now this was just to tell you that how often in life we make such wrong assumptions we assume a cause and effect situations we assume that one thing took place and another thing takes place so we assume that there is a cause and effect relationship and these are not easy to analyze why because people tend to oversimplify by ignoring other possible causes now to identify an argument using a false cause look for alternative alternate causes look at the following argument the Atlas Star Company was more prosperous before Mr. Hamid joined it as chairman clearly he is the cause of its decline now this these two statements are a clear example of false cause event A Mr. Hamid became company chairman event B the Atlas Star Company's income declined well other causes could have been responsible for this decline may be the policies of the previous chairman have now begun to affect the company or perhaps market conditions have changed it is easy but it is incorrect mind you it is incorrect to assume that just because A came before B therefore A caused B this is an example of false reasoning now do an exercise in this exercise which one of the following statements contains an example of false cause number one you better get a good job you better get a job soon or face the fact that you are lazy and want to live off others number two Murray has terrible weather I visited there for a week last July and it rained continuously number three after visiting my friend today I came home with a headache I must be allergic to his house now is there if you look at those statements they are examples of false causes one doesn't cause the other these are samples of hasty conclusions let us look at false comparison and this is the third type of error in reasoning when you assume that two things are more alike than they really are for instance in this example this is an example of a false comparison in our village we leave our doors unlocked all the time so I don't think it's necessary over here so I don't think it's necessary for you in the city to have your locks on your front doors now to judge whether or not the above statement is a false comparison consider the two situations consider if the two situations are alike the two situations are not alike one is in a city where they where they may be a lack of security and people want to have locks on their doors the situation in the city in the village is different so you can't this is a false comparison let us do an exercise decide which one of the following statements contains an example of false comparison number one you will either have to work hard at the job or face the fact that you will be turned out number two it doesn't hurt your colleagues getting to work on foot and it won't hurt you either number three of course ban on pillion riding will work in Pakistan it's worked in other countries hasn't it now these three statements were examples of false comparison you decide which one of them is false comparison number four number D the either or fallacy we often assume that there are two sides there are only two sides to a question right we offer only two choices when actually more exists in an either or fallacy consider the following example those who oppose unrestricted speech are in reality in favor of censorship this statement ignores the fact that a person can believe in free speech and at the same time believe in laws that prohibit people from making false statements which damage another person's reputation that is slander now remember there are only some issues some problems that have two sides only for example for instance you either pass the exam or you don't but a lot of other problems other issues have several facets have several sides so this is also a wrong way of looking at things wrong reasoning look at this next exercise and decide which one of the following statements contains an example of either or fallacy number one the maid servant went off early went off duty early and then the bracelet was discovered missing so she must have stolen it number two eat your apple or you won't grow up strong and healthy number three as I as I don't use a ballpoint pen to write so it's not necessary for you to use one either these are all false examples of either or fallacy now in today's lesson we looked at different ways to develop effective reading and clear thinking and these we and these were to identify purpose and tone and evaluate arguments these were aimed at developing advanced critical levels of comprehension in the next lesson you shall look at another way of developing comprehension so much for today see you next time Allah Hafiz.