5.1. Matching Headings
Give each paragraph the heading that says what the whole paragraph is about, one step at a time.
Reading Passage 2 has four paragraphs, A-D. Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below. Write the correct number, i-vii, for questions 14-17.
- iTwo proposals from across the Atlantic
- iiThe cost of running a railway network
- iiiA world in which noon was a local matter
- ivHow the signal reached the public clocks
- vSetting a clock by the church wall
- viThe argument that never went away
- viiOne town, two times
- 14Paragraph A14
- 15Paragraph B15
- 16Paragraph C16
- 17Paragraph D17
The short version
You give each paragraph the heading that says what the whole paragraph is about.
There are always more headings than paragraphs. Some are never used.
A heading that repeats a word from the paragraph is usually a trap.
Do the paragraphs you are sure of first, and rule out each heading as you use it.
What you have to do
The passage is split into paragraphs labelled A, B, C and so on. Above it is a list of headings numbered i, ii, iii, and there are more headings than paragraphs. For each paragraph you choose the one heading that describes what that whole paragraph is about. A heading is used once at most.
What a heading really describes
Every paragraph has a job: give the history of something, explain a cause, describe a problem, recommend a change. A heading is a short summary of that job. It is not a list of the words in the paragraph. A paragraph can mention cost in every sentence and still be about why a plan was turned down. The heading has to say that.
Step by step
- 1Look at the headings first, not the passage
Read the whole list once. Notice which headings are about the same subject, because those are the pairs to be careful with later. Do not try to remember them all. You will come back to the list for every paragraph.
- 2Read one paragraph for what it does
Read its first sentence and its last sentence carefully, then run your eye over the middle. Ask: what is this paragraph here to do? Note two words for it, such as history or why it failed.
- 3Match your two words, not a keyword
Go back to the list and find the heading closest to your two words. If a heading repeats a word from the paragraph, check it twice. Does it describe the whole paragraph, or only one sentence in it?
- 4Rule out as you go
When you are sure, choose that heading and rule it out for the other paragraphs. Start with the paragraphs you are surest of. Each one you place leaves fewer choices for the hard ones.
- 5If two headings still fit, or none does
Reread only the first sentence of the paragraph and pick the heading that fits it best. Choose it and move on. Never leave a box empty, and never spend more than a minute on one paragraph.
Quiz time3 questions
Each question gives you one paragraph and three headings. Practise the judgement, not the searching.
What is this paragraph here to do?
Read the paragraph, then choose the heading that covers all of it.
Read thisThe first night buses in the city were not run for people coming home from the theatre. They were laid on in 1913 for print workers and market porters, whose shifts ended long after the last tram. The routes copied the tram lines exactly, because that was where those workers lived.
Which heading fits the paragraph?
The same passage, next paragraph
Read the paragraph, then choose the heading that covers all of it.
Read thisPassengers after midnight are a different crowd today, and the timetable has followed them. Most journeys now begin in the entertainment district and end in the suburbs, so the routes fan outwards from the centre instead of tracing the old industrial edge of the city. The last tram line closed in 1962.
Which heading fits the paragraph?
When you are stuck, use the first sentence
You have a minute left and only the first sentence of a paragraph. Choose the heading that fits it.
Read thisCutting a night route saves far less than the timetable suggests.
Which heading fits a paragraph that opens like this?
Try a full set
Below is a three-paragraph passage with the task set as the test sets it. Work the five steps in order: headings first, one paragraph at a time, two words in your notes, then match and rule out each heading you use.
The first timber ferry piers on this estuary were not built as places to stroll. They were landing stages for coal, grain, and livestock that roads could not take in bulk. A pier that failed to reach deep water at low tide was useless, however handsome it looked from the town. Early shareholders measured success in tons landed, not in tickets sold to walkers. Steel and concrete replaced most of those decks after a run of fires and winter storms between 1890 and 1920. Timber burned, and a single pile failure could close a pier for a season. Steel allowed a longer span and a heavier crane. The change was an engineering decision, not a fashion. A few surviving wooden arms were kept only where the channel was too shallow for a heavier structure. What remains is now argued over as heritage. Local historians want the last timber arms listed and repaired. Harbour masters treat the same structures as a navigation hazard: rotting piles sit just below the waterline and are hard to mark. The useful question is not whether old wood is attractive. It is who pays for a repair that no longer lands cargo, and whether a warning buoy would cost less than a rebuild.
The full set2 questions
Match the three paragraphs
This first set gives one heading per paragraph so you can practise the method. Real papers add extras, as the next question shows. Match each paragraph to what it does.
Now with extra headings
A real paper offers more headings than paragraphs. Choose the best heading for Paragraph 2, the one about steel and concrete.
Which heading fits Paragraph 2?
Tips
- Do the easy paragraphs first
Every heading you place removes one option from every remaining paragraph. Start where you are certain.
- Extra headings are meant to fit something
The spare headings usually describe a detail that appears inside a paragraph rather than the paragraph as a whole.
- Two words in your notes beat rereading
Once a paragraph has its two words, you never need to read it again. Match from your notes, not from the text.
Recap
Headings first, then one paragraph at a time, then match and rule out each heading you use.
Match what the whole paragraph does, not a word it shares with a heading.
There are more headings than paragraphs, and a shared word is usually the trap.
Next: matching a fact or an opinion to the place it came from.