Battle Against the Machines

Battle Against the Machines

By Theresa Sim

​Types of Comprehension Questions

Detail	Inference	​
​ Quote or state details directly from the text	​ Read between the lines: Make educated guesses based on the text	​ How does the writer do this? What are some literary techniques…? What are their effects on you and the text?

​Detail Inference ​ ​ Quote or state details directly from the text ​ Read between the lines: Make educated guesses based on the text ​ How does the writer do this? What are some literary techniques…? What are their effects on you and the text?

Multiple Choice

1. Refer to the title and paragraph 1. How is the phrase ‘relentless march’ (soldiers in war) (line 3) appropriate in describing the effect of artificial intelligence on employment?

• Detail

• Infer

• Craft

Multiple Choice

2. The writer describes human transcribers as ‘an endangered species’ (lines 6-7).

Explain fully why this is so.

• Detail

• Infer

• Craft

Multiple Choice

3. The writer claims that Ms Leonard has ‘thrived, despite the advent of automated services and advancing A.I. technology’ (lines 7-8).

 

List two examples that the writer provides in paragraph 3 to support this.

• Detail

• Infer

• Craft

Multiple Choice

4. ‘She looks up people’s names, names of places and acronyms to get them right.’ (lines 19-20) 

What do you think the writer’s purpose is in including this line?

• Detail

• Infer

• Craft

Multiple Choice

5. What does the comment “Ellie doesn’t leave blanks in the scripts” suggest about Ms Leonard’s attitude towards her transcription work?

• Detail

• Infer

• Craft

Multiple Choice

6. Refer to the transcription “Mary Smith works at Stanford University as its premier roboticist.” (lines 32-33)

 

How can a human transcriber arrive at the conclusion that Mary Smith is ‘smart’ and ‘ambitious’ (line 35) for which a software transcriber cannot?

• Detail

• Infer

• Craft

​Conclusion: You need to know the Types of Comprehension Questions in order to answer

Detail	Inference	​
​ Quote or state details directly from the text	​ Read between the lines: Make educated guesses based on the text	​ How does the writer do this? What are some literary techniques…? What are their effects on you and the text?