Students struggle the most with the Global Conversation passages, especially when those passages are taken from the 16th to the 18th centuries. The difficulty often lies in the complicated sentence structures and unfamiliar vocabulary. However, with some practice, you can learn to recognize and decode the phrasing to increase your comprehension.
The following is a paragraph from Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography
At length, a fresh difference arising between my brother and me, I took upon me to assert my freedom, presuming that he would not venture to produce the new indentures. It was not fair in me to take this advantage, and this I therefore reckon one of the first errata of my life; but the unfairness of it weighed little with me, when under the impressions of resentment for the blows his passion too often urged him to bestow upon me, though he was otherwise not an ill-natur’d man: perhaps I was too saucy and provoking.
Comprehension Tactic: Divide and Conquer
One way to increase your comprehension is to simplify the sentences by identifying the main and dependent clauses, eliminating (at first) relative clauses and modifying phrases, and homing in on the key points.
Let’s start with the first sentence.
At length, a fresh difference arising between my brother and me, I took upon me to assert my freedom, presuming that he would not venture to produce the new indentures.
The sentence can be broken down in the following manner
Prepositional Phrase At length
Noun Phrase a fresh difference arising between my brother and me
Main Clause I took upon me to assert my freedom,
Participle Phrase presuming that he would not venture to produce the new indentures.
So, we have a Main clause and 3 modifying phrases, with the key information is the Main Clause:
I took upon me to assert my freedom,
Identify the subject and the main verb and the object
I took my freedom
What does taking your freedom mean? To run away…to make oneself free.
Okay now let’s add the modifying phrases back to clarify.
At length= idiomatic phrasing that means “over time” or “eventually”
A fresh difference arising between my brother and me= a new argument between him and his brother
Presuming = I assumed
That he would not venture to produce the new indentures= He (brother) wouldn’t force me
Indentures= people in the 1700s were often indentured (temporarily enslaved) often because of indebtedness
**Sign of older writing. The second “sentence” demonstrates a key sign of older writing. That is, extreme length.
It was not fair in me to take this advantage, and this I therefore reckon one of the first errata of my life; but the unfairness of it weighed little with me, when under the impressions of resentment for the blows his passion too often urged him to bestow upon me, though he was otherwise not an ill-natur’d man: perhaps I was too saucy and provoking.
Yes, that is one sentence. A really, really long one, but a sentence nonetheless. However, we can use the same divide and conquer tactic to understand the key ideas.
Main Clause It was not fair in me to take this advantage
Main Clause and this I therefore reckon one of the first errata of my life
Main Clause but the unfairness of it weighed little with me
Subordinate Clause when under the impressions of resentment for the blows his passion too often urged him to bestow upon me
Subordinate Clause though he was otherwise not an ill-natur’d man
Main Clause perhaps I was too saucy and provoking.
(After a colon- so it explains something about the previous statement)
Simplify
- It wasn’t fair for me to take advantage
- I think this was my first mistake
- But I wasn’t bothered
- After he had often hit me
- Though my brother wasn’t a bad man usually
- So maybe I was disrespectful
Practicing this technique will make unfamiliar passage easier to understand, but yes it takes time and effort.