Interpretatievraag
A question asking what a figurative, ironic or implicit phrase in the text really means.
5 of our B2 reading items. The stem quotes a phrase — Wat bedoelt de recensent met …? or Wat bedoelt de tekst met 'iets wat op geen balans staat'? — or asks what something shows (Wat tonen de twee vitrines volgens de recensent aan?). Unlike an argumentatie question, you are not naming a sentence's job in the argument; you are translating words that do not mean what they literally say, or drawing the conclusion the writer only hints at. The answer is almost never in the quoted phrase itself; it is in the sentence around it.
How the exam tests this
Lezen for Programma II: about 35–36 multiple-choice questions over roughly 6 texts in 100 minutes, computer-marked. The wrong options on interpretation items come from: the literal meaning of the image (Dat ze in het verhaal letterlijk ziek en kortademig zijn); a concrete noun that the image seems to name (Een geldbedrag for something that is on no balance sheet); details lifted from the same paragraph but attached to the wrong claim; and paired answers where one half is right and the other half is not. Reading the phrase alone costs the mark; reading its sentence earns it.
What is wrong with this sentence?
Dat ze in het verhaal letterlijk ziek en kortademig zijn
Most candidates write it exactly like this and lose the mark without knowing why.
The rest of this lesson
The rule, the worked examples, the exceptions and what to do in the exam room open with Mastery, together with every other lesson for this exam.
See plans