Reading Comprehension Success in 20 Minutes a Day, 3rd Edition

Lesson 16: Finding an implied main idea.
You practiced looking for clues in structure, language, and style,
as well as the facts of the passage, to determine the main idea.
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Lesson 17: Understanding implied causes and effects.
You learned to “read between the lines” to determine
causes and make predictions about effects.
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Lesson 18: Emotional and logical appeals.
You learned that arguments that appeal to readers’ emotions
must be supported by logic, as well in order, to be convincing.
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Lesson 19: Finding the theme in literature.
You used your detective skills to find the main idea implied by
the structure, language, style, and action in a work of literature.
L E S S O N
Drawing
Conclusions:
Putting It All
Together
L E S S O N S U M M A R Y
This lesson wraps up your study of reading comprehension by review-
ing everything you’ve learned so far.
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1 4 3

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P r a c t i c e
Today, you’ll practice these skills in combination with
skills covered earlier in this book:
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Finding the facts
■
Determining the main idea
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Determining the meaning of unfamiliar words
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Distinguishing between fact and opinion
■
Chronological order
■
Order of importance
■
Cause and effect
■
Comparison and contrast
■
Point of view
■
Diction
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Language and style
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Tone
If this seems like a monumental task, don’t worry:
It isn’t. You’ve already mastered some of these skills and
should be very comfortable with the others. In fact, you
will probably be surprised at how easy you find this
exercise to be.
Practice Passage
Are you ready? Read the following essay. Remember,
read actively and make observations in the space pro-
vided on the next page. Then answer the questions
that follow. This will give you a chance to see how well
your reading skills are coming along.
Although many companies offer tuition reimburse-
ment, most companies only reimburse employees
for classes that are relevant to their position. This is
a very limiting policy. A company that reimburses
employees for all college credit courses—whether
job related or not—offers a service not only to the
employees, but to the entire company.
One good reason for giving employees uncon-
ditional tuition reimbursement is that it shows the
company’s dedication to its employees. In today’s
economy, where job security is a thing of the past
and employees feel more and more expendable, it is
important for a company to demonstrate to its
employees that it cares. The best way to do this is
with concrete investments in them.
In turn, this dedication to the betterment of
company employees will create greater employee
loyalty. A company that puts out funds to pay for the
education of its employees will get its money back by
having employees stay with the company longer. It
will reduce employee turnover, because even
employees who don’t take advantage of the tuition
reimbursement program will be more loyal to their
company just knowing that their company cares
enough to pay for their education.
Most importantly, the company that has an
unrestricted tuition reimbursement program will
have higher quality employees. Although these
companies do indeed run the risk of losing money
on employees who go on to another job in a differ-
ent company as soon as they get their degree, more
often than not, the employee will stay with the com-
pany. And even if employees do leave after gradua-
tion, it generally takes several years to complete any
degree program. Thus, even if the employee leaves
upon graduating, throughout those years, the
employer will have a more sophisticated, more
intelligent, and therefore more valuable and pro-
ductive employee. And, if the employee stays, that
education will doubly benefit the company: Not
only is the employee more educated, but now that
employee can be promoted so the company doesn’t
have to fill a high-level vacancy from the outside.
Open positions can be filled by people who already
know the company well.