7 Inferring
　　Sometimes a writer will suggest or express something indirectly in a text. In other words， a writer will imply something and leave it to the reader to infer or understand what is meant. When writers do this， they rely to some extent on the knowledge of their readers - knowledge of a subject or cultural knowledge， for example. Inferring a writer‘s meaning is sometimes important in the process of understanding a reading text.
　　8 Understanding text organization
　　Writers structure， or organize， their writing in many different ways. Recognizing the way in which a text has been organized will help you understand its meaning more fully. A writer may want， for example， to outline a situation， discuss a problem and propose a solution. This will usually result in a particular pattern of organization. Or a writer may want to compare and contrast two ideas and will choose one of two basic structures commonly used to compare and contrast.
　　Another feature related to organization is a writer‘s use of time. To give an account of events or describe a process， writers will often use a chronological order， in which events are recounted in thesgroupsin which they have occurred. Other writers will choose to organize an account of events in different ways， perhaps with repeated contrasts between past and present time.
　　9 Assessing a writer‘s purpose
　　Once you understand the organization of a text， you can then recognize the writer‘s purpose more clearly. The text organization a writer selects will partly depend upon his or her particular purpose. A writer may want to inform or persuade， and he or she will select a structure or pattern of organization according to this purpose.
　　A writer may also intend to do both of these things in a written text - to inform as will as persuade. In such cases it is often helpful to try to assess which of these purposes seems to be more important or dominant.
　　10 Evaluating a writer‘s attitude.
　　Writers are not necessarily neutral or objective when they write， particularly if the are trying to persuade readers to agree with their opinions. It is important that you recognize what an author‘s attitude is in relation to the ideas or information being presented. This is because such attitudes can influence the ways in which information is presented. You will be looking at ways in which a writer’s attitude may be identified. You will also practice evaluating how relatively neutral or biased his or her attitude may be.
　　DEMONSTRATION - TEXT AND QUESTIONS
　　Do not read the following text and questions first. Go directly to the How to Answer section which will show you the most efficient way of answering the questions.
　　YOUR POST OFFICE
　　at your service
　　At our main offices we are introducing，swheresappropriate， a number of changes to help improve the standard of service provided to our customers.
　　Similar developments are taking place at many of our agency offices.
　　Improvements：
　　more staff at peak periods for faster service a single queuing system for fairer service special service windows for some transactions Post-Shops in main offices with their own separate service till for greeting cards， stationery， stamps and gifts the refurbishment of a number of main offices to provide a better environment new vending machine services such as cash-change machines， and phonecard and stamp dispensers for faster service extended opening hours at selected main offices a new range of air package services. Questions 1-3 Do the following statements agree with the information given in the reading passage above？ Write：
　　TRUE if the statement is true
　　FALSE if the statement is false
　　NOT GIVEN if the information is not given in the passage
　　in the correct boxes on your answer sheet.
　　1. All offices will have more staff throughout the day.
　　2. There will be special service windows for cash transactions at all main offices.
　　3. It will be possible to obtain some items from machines in many offices.
　　Question 4
　　Using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS answer the following question.