DEPARMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE

FACULTY OF MODERN LANGUAGES AND

COMMUNICATION
UNIVERSITY PUTRA MALAYSIA

BBI 3420
CRITICAL READING AND THINKING
Mid Term Assessment
Take Home Test (20%)

Given 31/03/2009
Due 2/4/2009

Semester 5 2008/2009

Instructor : Dr, Zalina Mohd Kasim

Name : SUDHEEP RAMASAMY

Matric Number : B10127
Question C

SENTENCE 1

Rap and Hip Hop are a bad influence on children

i) The sentence is ambiguous. There is no further information about what type if children.

ii) Children can be referred to

- an adult of a parent

- a young girl or boy

- person of any ages that are children to a parent

iii) There is nothing mentioned about what kind or in which way the bad influences are.

iv) It can be a path of destruction of self or others

v) The writer’s stand could be to promote his/her type if music where the rap and hip hop
are originated from African American and she/he could be a Caucasian who are racist,
probably.

vi) The person who makes this statement can be a politician or a social care person or a
researcher who just want to get feedback of this statement from the public.

vii) The issues or problems are the destruction of moral values when the artist wrote lyrics
that are giving bad impression about something or someone. The children also follow the
dressing code and the hairstyles of their favorite artist.
Question C

SENTENCE 2

UNIVERSITY STUDENTS SHOULD PAY FOR THEIR OWN EDUCATION

i) The sentence is ambiguous. The sentence didn’t mention about the percentage or how
much money the students should pay in order to study.

ii) There are no term and conditions on who and when someone should pay. Maybe the
students who got low marks should pay and the students who got higher marks are
not obligated to pay for their studies.

iii) No information about the amount

iv) The writer’s stand is to emphasize to the university students about getting good marks so
that they no need to pay for the fees and to create awareness on the important of
repayment of their education loan.

v) An education loan department officer could make this statement because a lot of students
are not paying back their education loan or it can be a professor of an university.

vi) Parents who want their children to be independent on managing their pocket money into
studies and other things

vii) The issues are the students who didn’t payback their education loan accordingly and it
brings big difficulty to the organization to give the loan to more eligible students.
Question C

SENTENCE 3

READING CAN HAVE POSITIVE IMPACT ON SOCIAL LIFE

i) The sentence is ambiguous. The target group is not mentioned, which or whom it will
have positive impact.

ii) Is it to whoever reads more or to those who didn’t read at all? These reading materials are
not specified in this sentence.

iii) The writer’s stand is to emphasize the important of reading in changing our life style and
activities. Reading all kinds of materials can give more positive impact on how a
person is living his/her life in regards to his/her community/group/society.

iv) The reading ratio per person in Malaysia is very much less than other countries and we
must take steps to encourage people to read for them to change their life and together
with their society and country.
Question C

SENTENCE 4

THE INCREASING NUMBER OF ILLEGAL FOREIGN WORKERS HAS

CONTRIBUTED TO THE RISING OCCURRENCE OF CRIME IN MALAYSIA.

i) It is not ambiguous because the rising crime rate is caused by illegal foreigners. This
clearly shows who are involved more and the reason is they want to survive without
any legal permit. The place also defined here as Malaysia. So the information about
the occurrence place is clearly stated.

ii) The writer is pretty sure that the cause of the crime rate to shoot up is the illegal
foreigners and not legal foreigners. The citizens of Malaysia cannot be blamed fully
because the illegal immigrants are jobless and the only thing that they would do to get
some money is by involved in crimes.

iii) The police head officer - statistics shows that the crimes are done by foreigners that
don’t have legal permit to stay and work in Malaysia. It is also as a warning to those
staying without permit and visa.

iv) Socialist and researchers - who care about the society and the safety levels in
Malaysia

v) Victims of the crime - the people who experienced crime that affect them.