YES
if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer
NO
if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
NOT
GIVEN
if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
The main difference between
True/False/Not Given
questions and
Yes/No/Not Given
questions is that the former is based on
factual information
in the Reading passage
while the latter asks you interpret the views or claims of the writer.
A
view
is a personal opinion.
A
claim
is a statement made by the writer and presented as a fact.
Look at these extracts and decide whether you think they are views or claims.
1
Like hundreds of developments nationwide, they were the results of post-war urban
renewal.
2
While much of Detroit began a steep decline soon after, Lafayette Park stayed afloat.
3
Detroit has an abundance of beautiful housing options.
4
There is a kind of austere uniformity to the Lafayette Park townhouses when viewed
from the outside.
5
Indeed, the best design doesn’t force a personality on its residents.
Books, Films and Plays
The novelist's medium is the written word, one might almost say the printed word; the
novel as we know it was a born with the invention of printing. Typically the novel is
consumed by a silent, solitary reader, who may be anywhere at the time. The
paperback novel is still the cheapest, most portable and
adaptable form of narrative
entertainment. It is limited to a single channel of information - writing. But within that
restriction it is the most versatile of narrative forms. The narrative can go, effortlessly,
anywhere: into space, people's heads, palaces, prisons and pyramids, without any
consideration of cost or practical feasibility. In determining
the shape and content of
his narrative, the writer of prose fiction is constrained by nothing except purely artistic
criteria.
This does not necessarily make the task any easier than that of the writer of plays and
screenplays, who must always be conscious of practical constraints such as budgets,
performance time, casting requirements, and so on. The very
infinity of choice enjoyed
by the novelist is a source of anxiety and difficulty. But the novelist does retain
absolute control over his text until it is published and and received by the audience.
He may be advised by his editor to revise his text, but if the writer refused to meet this
condition no one would be surprised. It is not unknown for a well-established novelist
to deliver his or her manuscript and expect the publisher to print it exactly as written.
However, not even the most well-established playwright or screenplay writer would
submit a script and expect it to be performed without any rewriting. This is because
plays and motion pictures are collaborative
forms of narrative, using more than one
channel of communication.
The production of a stage play involves, as well as the words of the author, the
physical presence of the actors, their voices and gestures as orchestrated by the
director, spectacle in the form of lighting and 'the set', and possibly music. In film, the
element of spectacle is more prominent in the sequence of visual" images,
heightened
by various devices of perspective and focus. In film too, music tends to be more
pervasive and potent than in straight drama. So, although the script is the essential
basis of both stage play and film, it is a basis for subsequent revision negotiated
between the writer and the
other creative people involved; in the case of the
screenplay, the writer may have little or no control over the final form of his work.
Contracts for the production of plays protect the rights of authors in this respect. They
are given ‘approval' of the choice of director and actors and have the right to attend
rehearsals. Often a good deal of rewriting takes place in the rehearsal period and
sometimes there is an opportunity for more rewriting during previews before the official
opening night.
In film or television work,
on the other hand, the screenplay writer has no contractual
right to this degree of consultation. Practice in this respect varies very much from one
production company to another, and according to the nature of the project and the
individuals involved. In short, while the script is going
through its various drafts, the
writer is in the driver's seat, albeit receiving advice and criticism from the producer and
the director. But once the production is under way, artistic control over the project
tends to pass to the director. This is a fact overlooked by most journalistic critics of
television drama, who tend (unlike film critics) to give all the credit or blame for
success or failure of a production to the writer and actors. ignoring
the contribution, for
good or ill, of the director.