eng8-R3· UNIT 4. MANNERS AND RULES· ~22 min

Unit 4 Reading: A magazine article on etiquette mistakes

Follow the article’s argument from familiar rules to overcommitment and polite refusal.

The magazine article begins with etiquette rules learned from adults, contrasts them with common mistakes, and then focuses on saying yes when a person means no. Read its advice as the writer’s position: the article argues that an honest, polite refusal can be better than agreeing and leaving a promise unfinished. Its three refusal tips say not to apologise and give all sorts of reasons, not to lie and to remain polite, and not to say you will think about a request when you do not want to accept it. It also attributes a claim about approval, freedom, and happiness to psychologists. In a gap-completion task, use both sides of the gap: pronouns connect to earlier nouns, transition words signal contrast or result, and the following sentence must develop the inserted idea.

Key terms

impolite — Not polite; rude.
approval — The feeling of having a positive opinion of someone or something.
disturb — To interrupt someone and stop them from continuing an activity.
attributed claim — An idea presented as coming from a named person or group, such as the psychologists mentioned in the article.
Track the article’s structure
SectionMain moveReading check
Familiar rulesLists etiquette learned from adultsIs the behaviour presented as a good example?
Common mistakesContrasts polite rules with disturbing behaviourDoes a transition mark the contrast?
Saying yesExplains overcommitment and unkept promisesWhat consequence follows the choice?
Polite refusalOffers the article’s solution and tipsIs the refusal honest, direct, and polite?
✎Use both sides of a gap
  1. 1Before: The passage says adults taught children how to behave.
  2. 2After: The passage lists seats, doors, coughing, and other rules.
  3. 3Link: A sentence about rules learned from those adults connects both sides.
✎Preserve the article’s conclusion
  1. 1Past belief: The article says children once believed that saying no to a parent’s or teacher’s request was rude.
  2. 2Problem: Constant agreement can create busyness, stress, and unkept promises.
  3. 3Conclusion: The article recommends learning to refuse honestly and politely.
🚫Do not universalize examples

The article lists particular behaviours as etiquette mistakes; it does not prove that every place follows one identical custom.

💡Follow the contrast

However marks the move from rules people learned successfully to mistakes they may still make.

⚠️Keep opinions attributed

The statement about approval and true happiness is presented as a claim by psychologists in the article.

Rules

  1. 1Separate familiar good-etiquette examples from the mistakes the article later lists.
  2. 2Treat the belief that saying no to a parent’s or teacher’s request was rude as a childhood belief described by the article, not as its conclusion.
  3. 3Keep advice and opinion attributed: write the article says or the article attributes when summarizing its claims.
  4. 4For a gap, check what the previous sentence prepares and what the next sentence explains.
  5. 5Use reference words such as them, this, and in this way to trace links between sentences.
  6. 6Choose a summary that preserves qualifiers and does not turn one article’s example into a universal rule.

Practice

4 easy · 4 medium · 4 hard

Up to 10 random questions per test

EasyMediumHardMixed