ACADEMIC ENGLISH 2

Critical Thinking Skills

Pages 158-179
 PART 2- Critical Thinking Skills - Economics
Implication and Inference
Pages 158-179

OUTCOMES

1. Understand Implication and Inference

2. Make strong inferences and avoid weak ones

3. Distinguish between deliberate implications and direct statements

4. Paraphrase

5. Identify and use equivalent and near-equivalent expressions

 Critical Thinking Skills
1. Understanding Implication and Inference
Pages 159

§ Clear, direct ideas => Easy to understand

A reading passage
§ Indirect ideas (implications)
=> Not easy to understand

§ Consider the given information

Making inferences § Process the information logically
§ Bring in knowledge of the topic
 Critical Thinking Skills
1. Understanding Implication and Inference
Pages 159

Understanding implications Readers get the full 1. what an author states

and Inferences meaning of a reading 2. what authors imply

Supporting Skill 1 Supporting Skill 2

Making strong Distinguishing
inferences & avoid between
weak ones deliberate & direct
statements
 Critical Thinking Skills
1. Understanding Implication and Inference
Pages 159
 Critical Thinking Skills
1. Understanding Implication and Inference
Pages 159
 Critical Thinking Skills
1. Understanding Implication and Inference
[Pages 160]
 Critical Thinking Skills
1. Understanding Implication and Inference

[Pages 160]
 Critical Thinking Skills
1. Understanding Implication and Inference
Noticing Activity Pages 160
 Critical Thinking Skills
1. Understanding Implication and Inference

Noticing Activity Vocabulary: Read the passage “ Accounting in Context”, on the page 159
Then match each vocabulary item with the best definition. [MyEnglishLab]

1 A
2 B
3 C
4
D
5
E
6
F
 Critical Thinking Skills
1. Understanding Implication and Inference
Noticing Activity: Read the following paragraph “Melting Profits” hen choose the statements
that are good inferences. [MyEnglishLab]
When discussing the downside of transportation in trade, economists often refer to the ”iceberg transport
cost”. Many goods deteriorate during shipping, just as an iceberg being towed through the sea to a purchaser
would melt away inexorably during delivery, or, where actual deterioration doesn't occur, costs in terms of tariffs,
fuel costs, or other fees would apply. Where iceberg transport cost comes into play, it is assumed to vary directly
with either the distance traveled or the time it takes to travel. And given time and dance, the cost amounts some
fixed proportion of the total value of goods eventually sold. It thus varies on an ad valorem basis—meaning that
losses are higher the higher the value of the goods sold. For an exaggerated illustration, imagine that you order
a pizza from a very strange delivery service—the driver is allowed to eat one bite of pizza for every mile he or she
covers driving to your house. If you live far away and order only a small pizza, there won't be much left by the
time it arrives. To properly assign cost, this example would have to stipulate that you will pay for only as much
pizza as actually arrives. In other words, it’s the seller who loses out in monetary terms. The pizza analogy is
incomplete, however. More realistically an economist might invoke the image of a shipload of apples that were
all fresh at the start of a trip from Seattle to South Africa and apply the same criteria of deterioration and
distance-related agglomeration of fees to arrive at ad valorem loss. It's no coincidence that the exporters who
have most successfully traded in items that incur iceberg transport costs are those with the largest fleets and
most streamlined delivery channels. They can not only control potential damage factors and minimize distance /
time but can also ship high enough volumes to have sufficient leftover product to generate sales that offset costs
 Critical Thinking Skills
1. Understanding Implication and Inference

Noticing Activity:
Read the paragraph. Then choose the statements that are good inferences. [MyEnglishLab]

Good Inferences
q The metaphor of an iceberg is meant to imply slow loss.
q In shipping, distance and time are two ways of expressing "length of travel”.
q It's common for industries living near oceans to buy ice in the form of icebergs.
q Ad valorem measurements are highest when each unit of a product has the
highest market value.
q The pizza-delivery example is the one most commonly used in economics classes
to illustrate "iceberg transport costs."
q "Iceberg transport cost" is greater now that the climate is changing and icebergs
melt faster.
q The principle of "iceberg transport cost" shows that long-distance trade is
unprofitable.
q "Iceberg transport cost" is a part of the overall cost of production.
 Supporting Skill 1
2. Making Strong Inferences and Avoid Weak Ones
[page 161]
 Supporting Skill 1
2. Making Strong Inferences and Avoid Weak Ones
[page 161]
 Supporting Skill 1
2. Making Strong Inferences and Avoid Weak Ones
[pages 161-163]
 Supporting Skill 1
2. Making Strong Inferences and Avoid Weak Ones
[pages 161-163]
 Supporting Skill 1
2. Making Strong Inferences and Avoid Weak Ones
[MyEnglishLab]
Exercise 1: Read the passage “Negative Externalities and Market Failures” actively. Then
choose the correct answers to complete the statements, making strong inferences about the passage.
1. Modern capitalism rests upon Adam Smith's (1723-1790) foundational insight that self-seeking
rational actors, in their pursuit of profits, can both generate wealth and improve social welfare along the way.
At the least, ideally, the participants profit from a transaction in a way that does not harm society. Sometimes,
though, economic transactions can be detrimental to third parties. This spillover effect is called a negative
externality—a cost that is borne by a third party (or parties) while the transactors privately profit.
Consequently, these costs are not reflected in market prices and are not factored in by buyers and sellers in
their monetary cost-benefit calculus. A situation with negative externalities is referred to as a market failure.
2. The most obvious cases of negative externality involve environmental damage—most grievously,
climate change. The dearest of these involve decisions made before the environmental-science revolution of
the 1950s and 1960s. Consider the production of leaded gasoline, which started in the 1920s. The original
decision by gasoline producers to add a compound containing the metal lead was made based on producers’'
desire to make their product more attractive to gasoline buyers, whose car engines ran more smoothly with
leaded gas. Their decision did not take into account the serious damage that lead in the environment can do
to humans, especially children. The market failed because it failed to compensate those who were adversely
affected, which thereby allowed traders to profit privately at social expense. The situation was redressed only
after its harmful effects were discovered and the US government banned the sale of leaded gasoline in 1996.
 Supporting Skill 1
2. Making Strong Inferences and Avoid Weak Ones
[MyEnglishLab]
Exercise 1:Choose the correct answers to complete the statements
1 The author implies that Adam Smith's ideas would correctly predict that rational
actors can be counted on to do what is profitable for them, ________.
a. but which invariably leads to market failure
b. which is also socially beneficial if there are no negative externalities
2 From the form of the word, you can infer that externality means "________.”
a. something outside a transaction
b. something that is irrational
3 The author implies that leaded gas seemed like a good idea because gasoline
producers _____.
a. knew they would not have to bear its costs
b. knew their customers would like it
4 The author implies that negative externalities demonstrate that ________.
a. the market always works to society's benefit
b. the market alone cannot be relied upon to maximize social welfare
5 The author implies that governments ________.
a. may have to step in if markets fail
b. should not interfere even if markets fail
 Supporting Skill 2
Distinguishing between Deliberate Implications
and Direct Statement

[pages 164]
 Supporting Skill 2
Distinguishing between Deliberate Implications
and Direct Statement
Exercise 2: Situation 1: A worker at a coal company is interviewed by an environmental news website

[pages 165]
 Supporting Skill 2
Distinguishing between Deliberate Implications and
Direct Statement
Exercise 2: [pages 165]
Situation 2: A British politician writes a blog post about some recent trade actions by the US Government
 Supporting Skill 2
Distinguishing between Deliberate Implications
and Direct Statement
Exercise 2: B, C: Read the following paragraphs and choose the correct answer
[pages 165-166]

1. What is the author

implying about Murad
IV in the paragraph 1?
a. He drank a lot of coffee.
b. His people feared him
c. He was a hypocrite
d. His government sold coffee
Exercise 2: B, C: choose the correct answer[pages 165-166]
 Supporting Skill 2
Distinguishing between Deliberate Implications
and Direct Statement
Exercise 2: B, C: choose the correct answer [pages 165-166]
Exercise 2: B, C: choose the correct answer [pages 165-166]
 Supporting Skill 2
Distinguishing between Deliberate Implications
and Direct Statement
Exercise 2: B, C: choose the correct answer [pages 165-166]
 Exercise 2:
Choose the
correct answer

[pages 165-166]
 Supporting Skill 2
Distinguishing between Deliberate Implications
and Direct Statement [MyEnglishLab]
Exercise 2: Read the following passage. Then read the questions and choose the best answers.
ADAM SMITH AND INEQUALITY
[1] Because Adam Smith is the darling of many conservative, pro-business commentators, he is assumed
to have propounded economic inequality — with a concentration of wealth at the top—as good and normal. [2]
Pundits of that stripe—most of whom are not, by the way, professional economists—typically demur before
invoking Smith, saying that one almost hares to suggest that inequality could ever be beneficial. [3]
Nevertheless, they pin nonegalitarian views on poor Smith, who, being dead, cannot defend himself. [4] In
reality, Smith considered disproportionate wealth concentration a sign of economic imbalance. [5] Of the rare of
profits for business, Smith said that it is "always highest in the countries which are going fastest to ruin.”
[6] Smith was especially concerned about what economists called rentier wealth. [7] The term is
pronounced "rahn-TYAY.” [8] Rentier earnings are those from rents, dividends, and the mere ownership of
property. [9] Rentier income is like a fragile cousin of wages or other income that derives from the actual
production of goods or rendering of services. [10] Smith, like most economists except those at the far fringe of
the right, recognized that an economy skewed toward such unproductive wealth was weak, engaged in a sort of
unsustainable binge for a few people at the top. [11] It would be far better, Smith held, for the economy to
feature a solid structure of living wages for workers and a tax system that rewarded work over the mere collection
of rents.
q Then read the questions and choose the best answers.
 Supporting Skill 2
Distinguishing between Deliberate Implications
and Direct Statement [MyEnglishLab]
1 Why would "pundits" (see Sentence 2) use a phrase like "one almost hates to suggest … "?
a. To show they are aware that the question could offend some people
b. To indicate their strong feeling that inequality is bad
c. To express a need for the question to come from many people, not just one
2 The author uses an indirect phrase in Sentence 2 (the clause within dashes) to avoid expressing a
direct criticism. What is that criticism?
a. That Smith would disagree with the "pundits'" views b. That the "pundits" are only trying to get rich
c. That the "pundits" are not really experts in the field
3 In Sentence 3, what device does the author use to indicate that the opinion of the "pundits" is unfair?
a. He uses the adjective nonegalitarian. b. He uses the noun views.
c. He uses the noun phrase poor Smith.
4 What word does the author use in Sentence 8 to create an indirect criticism of one kind of wealth?
a. Rents b. Mere c. property
5 What criticism of rentier income does the author make indirectly in the first half of Paragraph 2?
a. The name of it is difficult to pronounce. b. It forces poor people to give money to the rich.
c. It is not as strong as income from wages.
6 What indirect criticism of rentier wealth does the author make in Sentence 10?
a. It doesn't provide long-term economic strength. b. It wastes resources that could be used in manufacturing.
c. It all goes to people who are politically very conservative.
 Reading-Writing Connection
4. Paraphrasing
WHY DO WE NEED TO PARAPHRASE? [page 168]

Use your
Write or Skills to
own
OFTEN
speak CRUCIAL
capture USEFUL words or
what you author’s
paraphras
read thoughts
e

PARAPHRASING

Express in different ways or Keep the essential

others’statements with your own words meaning the same
§ Change a few words
§ Shift in grammar
§ Work with idea groups
 Reading-Writing Connection
4. Paraphrasing
CHARACTERISTICS OF PARAPHRASES [page 168]

Same length of
original

Cite the source of Convey only the

the original to avoid essential meaning
plagiarism of the original

Keep the technical

Use the equivalent
terms , elements, or
expressions -50%
proper names
 Reading-Writing Connection
4. Paraphrasing
Writing Paraphrase Techniques [page 169]

1. Change active clauses into the passive, switching the order of

noun phrases => rearrange the important parts of a sentence

2. Break a long sentence into two sentences

TECHNIQUES

3. Change prepositional phrases into adjectives/ adverbs, or

change adjectives/ adverbs into prepositional phrases

4. Change the order of ideas in your paraphrase

A good paraphrase always show that you understand the passage well
 Reading-Writing Connection
Paraphrasing

EXERCISE 3: A. Read the passage. Notice the underlined sentences [pages 169-172]
 Reading-Writing Connection
Paraphrasing
EXERCISE 3: B. Refer to each underlined sentences in the reading, which corresponds with the
item below
(1) For instance, counting capital gains is deceptive because, technically, capital gains is not a source of income
but rather arises from revaluation of wealth. Nonetheless, some include it, and including it makes wealth appear
to be particularly concentrate in the upper percentiles of income earners. Meanwhile, counting government
benefits–which is typically only taken into account when calculating disposable income along with taxes– tends
to downplay the inequality.
(2) Families in more-secure income brackets- though not necessarily the very top income brackets- tend not only
to report higher earnings but also to have cash coming in from multiple earners.
(3) Government tax policies and transfers influence household disposable (see below), and thus two people
with the same gross income may have vastly different net incomes, depending on their life circumstances.
(4) The Census Bureau’s first category of income is money income, a term that is fairly expansive, counting all
forms of income that a person receives regularly but cot counting things like capital gains or government
benefits.
(5) They are not useful in looking at the top income earners because the bureau caps reporting at $999.999.
(6) Each definition is specifically designed by researchers to examine data in highly specific circumstances for a
particular reason, but those analytical concerns are not necessarily salient to- or even recognized by-ordinary
citizens who want to debate public policy.
 Reading-Writing Connection
Paraphrasing [page 171]
EXERCISE 3:
B. Refer to each
underlined sentences in
the reading, which
corresponds with the
item below, choose the
best paraphrase
 Reading-Writing Connection
Paraphrasing [page 171]

EXERCISE 3:
B. Refer to each
underlined sentences
in the reading, which
corresponds with the
item below, choose the
best paraphrase
 Language Skill
Identifying and Using Equivalent and
Near-Equivalent Expressions
Ability to Paraphrase and to [page 173]
understand paraphrases

Depends on strength of
vocabulary § Help you recognize expressions mean the same things

Use Equivalent or Near-

Equivalent Expressions § Use your own words more flexibly and less repetition

The Best Paraphrasing

with an equivalent Expressions § The same maening

Replace one idea group
with an near-equivalent Expressions § Close the meaning
 Language Skill
Identifying and Using Equivalent and
Near-Equivalent Expressions
[page 173]
 Language Skill
Identifying and Using Equivalent
and Near-Equivalent Expressions

EXERCISE 4: [page 173]

Read the passage. On the next page, match the equivalent/ near-equivalent expressions expressions
from the passage. Two of the expressions in the right column will not be used

[1]

[2]
[3]

[4]
[5]
[6]
 Language Skill
Identifying and Using Equivalent and Near-
Equivalent Expressions
[page 174]
 Language Skill
Identifying and Using Equivalent and Near-
Equivalent Expressions
Exercise 4 Practice: Read the passage, which contains the following items in bold. Then click on
the best equivalent expression for each. [MyEnglishLab]

1. issue: release / problem / children 5. advocates: lawyers / supporters / opponents

2. so-called: well-known / referred to as / invited 6. inflate: blow into / lie about / make larger
3. movement: gesture / relocation / campaign 7. redeem: save / exchange / restore
4. circulate: distribute / rotate / go off and on 8. back up: make strong / go in reverse / substitute for
 Language Skill
Identifying and Using Equivalent and
Near-Equivalent Expressions
EXERCISE 5: Read each Original and each Paraphrase, underline the equivalent or near-equivalent
expression for the words in bold in the Original. [page 174]
 Language Skill
Identifying and Using Equivalent and
Near-Equivalent Expressions
EXERCISE 5: Read each Original and each Paraphrase, underline the equivalent or near-equivalent
expression for the words in bold in the Original. [page 174]
 Language Skill
Identifying and Using Equivalent and
Near-Equivalent Expressions
Exercise 5 More Practice: Read the following paragraph. [MyEnglishLab]
 Language Skill
Identifying and Using Equivalent and
Near-Equivalent Expressions
Exercise 5 : Practice
Then complete the chart
with equivalent terms from
the paragraph. Use a
dictionary if needed.
[MyEnglishLab]
Critical Thinking Skills - Economics
Implication and Inference
[page 175]
 Critical Thinking Skills - Economics
Implication and Inference

HOMEWORK FOR TODAY

1. Review the lesson and complete the exercises in the session

2. Apply your Skills: pp.175-179
- Read the passage (pp.176,178) and do part B (p.175)
- Think about Visually and Language (pp.157, 158)
- Do a closer reading (myEnglishLab)
 Critical Thinking Skills - Economics
Implication and Inference
[MyEnglishLab]
A Closer Reading: Read the passage “ Public Good vs. Private Gain”. Then choose the correct answers.
 Critical Thinking Skills - Economics
Implication and Inference
[MyEnglishLab]
A Closer Reading: Read the passage “ Public Good vs. Private Gain”. Then choose the correct answers.