Part 1. Definition
This task is about reading the given passage and construct a question about the information present in the passage. Construct a question in such a way that (i) it is unambiguous, (ii) it is answerable from the passage, (iii) its answer is unique (iv) its answer is a continuous text span from the paragraph. Avoid creating questions that (i) can be answered correctly without actually understanding the paragraph and (ii) uses same words or phrases given in the passage.
Part 2. Example
Passage: The French and Indian War (17541763) was the North American theater of the worldwide Seven Years' War. The war was fought between the colonies of British America and New France, with both sides supported by military units from their parent countries of Great Britain and France, as well as Native American allies. At the start of the war, the French North American colonies had a population of roughly 60,000 European settlers, compared with 2 million in the British North American colonies. The outnumbered French particularly depended on the Indians. Long in conflict, the metropole nations declared war on each other in 1756, escalating the war from a regional affair into an intercontinental conflict.
Answer: When was the French and Indian War?
Explanation: This question is based on the following sentence in the passage- The French and Indian War (17541763) was the North American theater of the worldwide Seven Years' War. It is a common convention to write (start year-end year) beside a historical event to understand when the event happened. You can ask questions like this one about dates, years, other numerals, persons, locations, noun phrases, verb phrases, adjectives, clauses etc. which exist in the paragraph.
Part 3. Exercise
Around the end of the 19th century and into the 20th century, the Meiji era was marked by the reign of the Meiji Emperor. During this time, Japan started its modernization and rose to world power status. This era name means "Enlightened Rule". In Japan, the Meiji Restoration started in the 1860s, marking the rapid modernization by the Japanese themselves along European lines. Much research has focused on the issues of discontinuity versus continuity with the previous Tokugawa Period. In the 1960s younger Japanese scholars led by Irokawa Daikichi, reacted against the bureaucratic superstate, and began searching for the historic role of the common people . They avoided the elite, and focused not on political events but on social forces and attitudes. They rejected both Marxism and modernization theory as alien and confining. They stressed the importance of popular energies in the development of modern Japan. They enlarged history by using the methods of social history. It was not until the beginning of the Meiji Era that the Japanese government began taking modernization seriously. Japan expanded its military production base by opening arsenals in various locations. The hyobusho (war office) was replaced with a War Department and a Naval Department. The samurai class suffered great disappointment the following years.
Answer:
What was the Meija era marked by?