Yes, No, Not Given: an opinion piece on counting steps
You can separate a writer's views from the facts she reports, and tell No from Not Given.
The writer of this passage wore a fitness tracker for three years, then took it off for good. Her column explains why.
Yes, No, Not Given asks what a writer thinks, so it comes with passages where someone argues a case. True, False, Not Given, from Unit 2, asks about facts.
Your job here is to find her view on each statement, and to notice when she has none.
Warm-up
Fact or view?
Read two sentences from a local newspaper. One of the options below is an opinion.
Read thisThe new sports hall opened in March and cost four million dollars. It was money well spent, and the town should have built it years ago.
Which of these is the writer's view?
How it works
Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in Reading Passage 2? Next to questions 1-7, choose
YES if the statement agrees with the views of the writer
NO if the statement contradicts the views of the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
- 1Many people who wear a fitness tracker are paying attention to the wrong measure.1
- 2The figure of 10,000 steps was chosen after research into health.2
- 3A step count shows how hard someone has been exercising.3
- 4Swimming is better exercise than walking.4
- 5Fitness trackers make most of their users feel guilty.5
- 6Adults who move more live longer mainly because they are less likely to be overweight.6
- 7Counting minutes of brisk walking is more useful than counting steps.7
The statements usually follow the order of the passage.
The method
- 1Find the claim in the statement
Mark the words that carry the opinion or set a limit: most, always, better than, should. The answer often turns on one of them.
- 2Find the place in the passage
Look for a name, a number or a topic word from the statement. The statements usually come in passage order, so start where the last one ended.
- 3Ask what the writer thinks
Writers report other people's views, and their own experience. What counts is her view of this exact claim.
- 4Decide
YES if her words say the same thing. NO if they say the opposite. NOT GIVEN if she has no view on that claim, even when the topic is there.
One sentence, two statements
Writer: The new cycle lanes are the best thing this city has built in years. Statement: The cycle lanes were a poor use of money. The writer's view is the opposite.
Same writer, same sentence. Statement: More people now cycle to work. She praises the lanes, but she says nothing about how many people use them.
The passage
Why I stopped counting my steps
A column by Marta Quist
For three years, I checked my step count more often than my messages. My fitness tracker buzzed to congratulate me when I passed 10,000 steps, and said nothing at all when I fell short. More than once, I walked up and down my kitchen at eleven at night to reach the target. Last spring I took the tracker off, and I have not put it back on. I think many people who wear one are counting the wrong thing, and I want to explain why.
Start with the number itself. Ten thousand sounds scientific, but its history is more ordinary. It is usually traced to a step counter sold in Japan in the 1960s, whose name meant '10,000-step meter'. As far as I can tell, it was a round number that looked good on a box, and nobody had tested it against any other target. Large studies since then suggest that the benefits of walking rise steeply as people go from very few steps to a moderate number, and then more slowly. For many adults, a daily total well below 10,000 brings much of the gain. That should be good news for people who walk very little. Yet the round number tells them they have failed before they begin.
My second complaint is that a step counter sees only one kind of movement. On days when I swam or cycled, my tracker suggested I had been lazy. It also treats every step as equal. A slow wander around a shopping centre and a fast walk up a hill can produce the same number on the screen, yet the second works the heart and lungs far harder. Official health advice in many countries is given in minutes of activity per week, and it pays attention to how hard you are working. My tracker's favourite number said nothing about either.
Supporters of trackers say that a number on the wrist motivates people, and for some it clearly does. A neighbour of mine, who had not exercised for years, began walking every evening because she liked watching her total grow. I would not tell her to stop. But motivation that depends on a score can turn into something less healthy. I began to feel guilty on rest days, and I chose routes because they were long, whether or not I enjoyed them.
None of this means that walking is unimportant. It is free, it needs no equipment, and most people can do it every day. Adults who move more tend to live longer and stay healthier, and a reminder on a phone or watch can help people who sit all day. My objection is to the target, and to the idea that a day below it is a failure.
So what would I suggest? Notice which kinds of movement you enjoy, and do more of them. If you want a number, minutes of brisk walking tell you far more than steps. Count the minutes when you are breathing harder, able to talk but not to sing. Take the stairs. Walk to the shop you would normally drive to. And if your tracker makes you anxious, try a month without it. You may find, as I did, that you move just as much, and enjoy it more.
Watch me do one
Statement 5: Fitness trackers make most of their users feel guilty. The word that matters is most.
I look for guilt in the passage. It comes in the paragraph about supporters of trackers: I began to feel guilty on rest days.
So the writer felt guilty. But she is describing herself, and one person tells me nothing about most users. That rules out YES.
Next I look for the opposite: a line saying that most users don't feel guilty. There isn't one. She says that motivation which depends on a score can turn into something less healthy. That says nothing about how many people it happens to.
She has no view on most users, so I write NOT GIVEN.
Practice with Elita6 questions
The other six statements, each with the paragraph it comes from.
Statement 1
Read the first paragraph. Does the statement agree with the writer's views?
Read thisFor three years, I checked my step count more often than my messages. My fitness tracker buzzed to congratulate me when I passed 10,000 steps, and said nothing at all when I fell short. More than once, I walked up and down my kitchen at eleven at night to reach the target. Last spring I took the tracker off, and I have not put it back on. I think many people who wear one are counting the wrong thing, and I want to explain why.
Many people who wear a fitness tracker are paying attention to the wrong measure.
Statement 2
Read the paragraph about the number itself, then decide.
Read thisStart with the number itself. Ten thousand sounds scientific, but its history is more ordinary. It is usually traced to a step counter sold in Japan in the 1960s, whose name meant '10,000-step meter'. As far as I can tell, it was a round number that looked good on a box, and nobody had tested it against any other target. Large studies since then suggest that the benefits of walking rise steeply as people go from very few steps to a moderate number, and then more slowly. For many adults, a daily total well below 10,000 brings much of the gain. That should be good news for people who walk very little. Yet the round number tells them they have failed before they begin.
The figure of 10,000 steps was chosen after research into health.
Statement 3
Read the paragraph about her second complaint, then decide.
Read thisMy second complaint is that a step counter sees only one kind of movement. On days when I swam or cycled, my tracker suggested I had been lazy. It also treats every step as equal. A slow wander around a shopping centre and a fast walk up a hill can produce the same number on the screen, yet the second works the heart and lungs far harder. Official health advice in many countries is given in minutes of activity per week, and it pays attention to how hard you are working. My tracker's favourite number said nothing about either.
A step count shows how hard someone has been exercising.
Statement 4
Same paragraph. This statement needs more care.
Read thisMy second complaint is that a step counter sees only one kind of movement. On days when I swam or cycled, my tracker suggested I had been lazy. It also treats every step as equal. A slow wander around a shopping centre and a fast walk up a hill can produce the same number on the screen, yet the second works the heart and lungs far harder. Official health advice in many countries is given in minutes of activity per week, and it pays attention to how hard you are working. My tracker's favourite number said nothing about either.
Swimming is better exercise than walking.
Statement 6
Read the paragraph that begins None of this means, then decide. Check every part of the statement.
Read thisNone of this means that walking is unimportant. It is free, it needs no equipment, and most people can do it every day. Adults who move more tend to live longer and stay healthier, and a reminder on a phone or watch can help people who sit all day. My objection is to the target, and to the idea that a day below it is a failure.
Adults who move more live longer mainly because they are less likely to be overweight.
Statement 7
Read the last paragraph, then decide.
Read thisSo what would I suggest? Notice which kinds of movement you enjoy, and do more of them. If you want a number, minutes of brisk walking tell you far more than steps. Count the minutes when you are breathing harder, able to talk but not to sing. Take the stairs. Walk to the shop you would normally drive to. And if your tracker makes you anxious, try a month without it. You may find, as I did, that you move just as much, and enjoy it more.
Counting minutes of brisk walking is more useful than counting steps.
Words to keep
A number or result you aim for. Her daily target is thirty minutes of brisk walking.
Be found to have started with something. The figure is usually traced to a step counter sold in Japan.
Fail to reach a target. On busy days I fall short of my goal.
Make someone want to do something. Watching her total grow motivated her to walk every evening.
Quick and energetic, used of walking. A brisk walk leaves you breathing harder, but still able to talk.
A reason you give for disagreeing. Her main objection to step counters is that they ignore swimming and cycling.
Before you go
Yes, No, Not Given is about views. Find what the writer thinks about the exact claim in each statement.
Choose NO only when she says the opposite. If she has no view on that claim, it is NOT GIVEN.
Watch words like most and better than. A writer's own experience says nothing about most people.
Leave your own knowledge out. A statement can be true in the world and still be NOT GIVEN in the passage.
Next: In the next lesson, a man phones a sports centre to join, and you catch the prices, times and numbers he is given.