What is Meaning IELTS Reading Answers

Sep 2, 2023

What is Meaning IELTS Reading Answers is a general reading subject that explores What is Meaning. What is Meaning IELTS reading answers have a total of thirteen questions. The specified topic generates a single type of question: True/False/Not Given. Candidates should read the IELTS Reading passage thoroughly in order to recognize synonyms, identify keywords, and answer the questions below. IELTS reading practice papers, which feature topics such as What is Meaning IELTS Reading Answers. Candidates can use IELTS reading answers to enhance their performance in the reading section.

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Section 1

Read the Passage to Answer the Following Questions

What is Meaning IELTS Reading Answers

Why do we respond to words and symbols in the waves we do? The end, product of education, yours and mine and everybody's, is the total pattern of reactions and possible reactions we have inside ourselves. If you did not have within you at this moment the pattern of reactions that we call "the ability to read." you would see here only meaningless black marks on paper. the trained patterns of response, you are (or are not) stirred to patriotism by martial music, your feelings of reverence are aroused by symbols of your religion, and you listen more respectfully to the health advice of someone who has "MD" after his name than to that of someone who hasn't. What I call here a "pattern of reactions", then, is the sum total of the ways we act in response to events, to words, and to symbols.

Our reaction patterns, or our semantic habits, are the internal and most important residue of whatever years of education or miseducation we may have received from our parents' conduct toward us in childhood as well as their teachings, from the formal education we may have had, from all the lectures we have listened to, from the radio programs and the movies and television shows we have experienced, from all the books and newspapers and comic strips we have read, from the conversations we have had with friends and associates, and from all our experiences. If, as the result of all these influences that make us what we are, our semantic habits are reasonably similar to those of most people around us, we are regarded as "normal," or perhaps "dull." If our semantic habits are noticeably different from those of others, we are regarded as "individualistic" or "original." or, if the differences are disapproved of or viewed with alarm, as "crazy."

Semantics is sometimes defined in dictionaries as "the science of the meaning of words"- which would not be a bad definition if people didn't assume that the search for the meanings of words begins and ends with looking them up in a dictionary. If one stops to think for a moment, it is clear that to define a word, as a dictionary does, is simply to explain the word with more words. To be thorough about defining, we should next have to define the words used in the definition, then define the words used in defining the words used in the definition and so on. Defining words with more words, in short, gets us at once into what mathematicians call an "infinite regress". Alternatively, it can get us into the kind of run- around we sometimes encounter when we look up "impertinence" and find it defined as "impudence," so we look up "impudence" and find it defined as "impertinence." Yet-and here we come to another common reaction pattern- people often act as if words can be explained fully with more words. To a person a who asked for a definition of jazz, Louis Armstrong is said to have replied, "Man. when you got to ask what it is, you'll never get to know," proving himself to be an intuitive semanticist as well as a great trumpet player.

Semantics, then, does not deal with the "meaning of words" as that expression is commonly understood. P. W. Bridgman, the Nobel Prize winner and physicist, once wrote, "The true meaning of a term is to be found by observing what a man does with it, not by what he says about it.' He made an enormous contribution to science by showing that the meaning of a scientific term lies in the operations, the things done, that establish its validity, rather than in verbal definitions. Here is a simple, everyday kind of example of "operational" definition. If you say, "This table measures six feet in length," you could prove it by taking a foot rule, performing the operation of laying it end to end while counting, "One...two ...three.… four... But if you say- and revolutionists have started uprisings with just this statement, "Man is born free, but everywhere he is in chains!" -what operations Could you perform it to demonstrate its accuracy or inaccuracy?

But let us carry this suggestion of "operationalism" outside the physical sciences where Bridgman applied it, and observe what "operations" people perform as the result of both the language they use and the language other people use in communicating to them. Here is a personnel manager studying an application blank. He comes to the words "Education: Harvard University," and drops the application blank in the wastebasket (that's the "operation") because, as he would say if you asked him, "I don't like Harvard men." This is an instance of "meaning" at work-but it is not a meaning that can be found in dictionaries.
If I seem to be taking a long time to explain what semantics is about, it is because I am trying, in the course of explanation, to introduce the reader to a certain way of looking at human behavior. I say human responses because, so far as we know, human beings are the only creatures that have, over and above that biological equipment which we have in common with other creatures, the additional capacity for manufacturing symbols and systems of symbols. When we react to a flag, we are not reacting simply to a piece of cloth, but to the meaning with which it has been symbolically endowed. When we react to a word, we are not reacting to a set of sounds, but to the meaning with which that set of sounds has been symbolically endowed.

A basic idea in general semantics, therefore, is that the meaning of words (or other symbols) is not in the words, but in our own semantic reactions. If I were to tell a shockingly obscene story in Arabic or Hindustani or Swahili before an audience that understood only English, no one would blush or be angry; the story would be neither shocking nor obscene-induced, it would not even be a story. Likewise, the value of a dollar bill is not in the bill, but in our social agreement to accept it as a symbol of value. If that agreement were to break down through the collapse of our government, the dollar bill would become only a scrap of paper. We do not understand a dollar bill by staring at it long and hard. We understand it by observing how people act with respect to it. We understand it by understanding the social mechanisms and the loyalties that keep it meaningful. Semantics is therefore a social study, basic to all other social studies.

Section 2

Solution and Explanation

Questions 27-31
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D. Write the correct letter in boxes 27-31 on your answer sheet.

27. What point is made in the first paragraph?

The aim of education is to teach people to read
Everybody has a different pattern of reactions.
Print only carries meaning to those who have received appropriate ways to respond.
The writers should make sure their works satisfy a variety of readers.

Answer: C
Supporting statement: “...you listen more respectfully to the health advice of someone who has "MD" after his name than to that of someone who hasn't...”
Keywords: respectfully, advice
Keyword location: para 1, line 7-8
Explanation: The passage suggests that the meaning conveyed by print, or written words, is only accessible to individuals who have acquired the necessary patterns of response or skills to interpret and understand them. In other words, print carries meaning to those who have been educated or trained in reading and comprehension.

28. According to the second paragraph, people are judged by

the level of education.
the variety of experience.
how conventional their responses are.
complex situations.

Answer: C
Supporting statement: “...If our semantic habits are noticeably different from those of others, we are regarded as "individualistic" or "original." or, if the differences are disapproved of or viewed with alarm, as "crazy."...”
Keywords: alarm, crazy
Keyword location: para 2, line 9-10
Explanation: The passage does not explicitly mention or discuss the judgment of individuals based on the conventional nature of their responses. However, it does emphasize the existence and influence of learned patterns of response to events, words, and symbols.

29. What point is made in the third paragraph?

Standard ways are incapable of defining words precisely.
A dictionary is most scientific in defining words.
A dictionary should define words in as few words as possible.
Mathematicians could define words accurately.

Answer: A
Supporting statement: “...about defining, we should next have to define the words used in the definition, then define the words used in defining the words used in the definition and so on...”
Keywords: defining, words
Keyword location: para 3, line 6-7
Explanation: The passage points out that when we attempt to define a word, we often rely on other words to provide the explanation. However, this process raises the question of how we define the words used in the definition, and the words used to define those words, creating an endless loop.

30. What does the writer suggest by referring to Louis Armstrong?

He is an expert of language.
Music and language are similar.
He provides insights to how words are defined.
Playing trumpet is easier than defining words.

Answer: C
Supporting statement: “...Louis Armstrong is said to have replied, "Man when you got to ask what it is, you'll never get to know," proving himself to be an intuitive semanticist as well as a great trumpet player....”
Keywords: trumpet, semanticist
Keyword location: para 3, line 15-16
Explanation: The writer suggests that people often assume words can be fully explained by using more words, despite the inherent challenges and limitations of this approach.

31. What does the writer intend to show about the example of "personnel manager"?

Harvard men are not necessarily competitive in the job market.
Meaning cannot always be shared by others.
The idea of operationalism does not make much sense outside the physical science.
Job applicants should take care when filling out application forms.

Answer: B
Supporting statement: “...Here is a personnel manager studying an application blank. He comes to the words "Education: Harvard University," and drops the application blank in the wastebasket...”
Keywords: manager, application
Keyword location: para 5, line 4-5
Explanation: The passage implies that meaning cannot always be shared or universally understood by others. It presents a scenario where a personnel manager, upon seeing the words "Education: Harvard University" on an application blank, discards it in the wastebasket based on his personal bias or dislike of Harvard men.

Questions 32-35
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 3? In boxes 32-35 on you answer sheet, write
TRUE - if the statement is true
FALSE - if the statement is false
NOT GIVEN - if the information is not given in the passage

32. Some statements are incapable of being proved or disproved.

Answer: TRUE
Supporting statement: “..Defining words with more words, in short, gets us at once into what mathematicians call an "infinite regress"....”
Keywords: words, mathematicians
Keyword location: para 3 ,line 7-8
Explanation: Yes, there are certain statements that are inherently incapable of being proved or disproved. These statements are often referred to as "unfalsifiable" or "non-falsifiable."

33. Meaning that is personal to individuals is less worthy to study than shared Meanings.

Answer: NOT GIVEN
Explanation: There is no instance in the passage that suggests that meaning which is personal is less worthy compared to shared meaning.

34. Flags and words are eliciting responses of the same reason.

Answer: TRUE
Supporting statement: “...here we come to another common reaction pattern- people often act as if words can be explained fully with more words....”
Keywords: reaction, fully
Keyword location: para 4, line 12-13
Explanation: Flags can elicit emotional responses and evoke certain associations or meanings for individuals who have cultural or personal connections to them.

35. A story can be entertaining without being understood.

Answer: FALSE
Supporting statement: “...the story would be neither shocking nor obscene-induced, it would not even be a story....”
Keywords: shocking, obscene
Keyword location: para 6, line 5-6
Explanation: In some cases, a story or narrative can indeed be entertaining without being fully understood or comprehended. This can happen when the story relies heavily on visual elements, such as stunning visuals or captivating performances, that evoke emotions or engage the audience without requiring a complete understanding of the plot or underlying themes.

Questions 36-40
Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A-H, below Write the correct letter, A-H, in boxes 36-40 on your answer sheet.

36. A comic strip

Answer: B
Supporting statement: “... comic strips we have read, from the conversations we have had with friends and associates, and from all our experiences....”
Keywords: conversations, associates
Keyword location: para 2, line 6-7
Explanation: Comic strips, like other forms of media and storytelling, have the potential to influence individuals' thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors.

37. A dictionary

Answer: E
Supporting statement: “...dictionary does, is simply to explain the word with more words...”
Keywords: dictionary, words
Keyword location: para 3, line 5-6
Explanation: Yes, it is true that a dictionary can provide inadequate explanations of meaning in certain cases. Dictionaries are useful tools for understanding the general definitions and meanings of words, but they may not capture the full depth and nuance of a word's meaning in every context.

38. Bridgman

Answer: G
Supporting statement: “...P. W. Bridgman, the Nobel Prize winner and physicist, once wrote, "The true meaning of a term is to be found by observing what a man does with it, not by what he says about it....”
Keywords: physicist, observing
Keyword location: para 4, line 2-3
Explanation: Bridgman advocated for a method known as operationalism, which focused on defining concepts based on the operations or actions associated with them.

39. A story in a language the audience cannot understand

Answer: A
Supporting statement: “...no one would blush or be angry; the story would be neither shocking nor obscene-induced, it would not even be a story....”
Keywords: blush, obscene
Keyword location: para 7, line 4-5
Explanation: A story in a language that the audience cannot understand would be meaningless to them. Storytelling relies on the effective communication of ideas, themes, and emotions to engage and connect with the audience.

40. A dollar bill

Answer: D
Supporting statement: “...Likewise, the value of a dollar bill is not in the bill, but in our social agreement to accept it as a symbol of value. ...”
Keywords:
Keyword location: para 7, line 6-7
Explanation: While a dollar bill is a tangible object with a specific value, its significance and meaning are derived from the social and economic systems in which it operates.