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

a.
See what’s on the TV.
b.
Check what’s in the fridge.
c.
Get the basic facts of the case.
The answer, of course, is 
c
, get the basic facts of the case: the who, what, when, where, how, and why. What
happened? To whom? When? Where? How did it happen? And why?
As a reader faced with a text, you go through a similar process. The first thing you should do is establish the
facts. What does this piece of writing tell you? What happens? To whom? When, where, how, and why? If you can
answer these basic questions, you’re on your way to really comprehending what you read. (You’ll work on
answering the more difficult question—“
Why
did it happen?”—in Lesson 2.)
L E S S O N
Getting the
Essential
Information
L E S S O N S U M M A R Y
The first step in increasing your reading comprehension is to learn how
to get the basic information. Like a good detective, start with the basic
facts. To get the facts, be an active reader and look for clues as you
read.
1
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W h a t A r e t h e F a c t s ?
Let’s start with a definition. A 
fact
is:
■
Something that we know for certain to have
happened
■
Something that we know for certain to be true
■
Something that we know for certain to exist
Much of what you read, especially today in this
“Information Age,” is designed to provide you with
facts. You may read, for example, about a new office
procedure that you must follow; about how the new
computer system works; about what happened at the
staff meeting. If you’re taking a standardized test, you’ll
probably have to answer reading comprehension ques-
tions that ask about the facts in a reading passage.
These facts are not always easy to determine, especially
if the writing is dense or complicated. To make it sim-
pler, ask yourself these questions as you read: What
facts am I expected to know? What am I to learn or be
aware of? What happened? What is true? What exists?