關於邏輯關係詞在閱讀中的作用，我們首先來看一段文字：
the discourse markers signal relationships: between different parts of thediscourse … the main reason for studying them is their usefulness in helping thereader to work out the meaning of difficult text. They often show therelationship the writer intends between two parts of the text, so if you canunderstand one part, the discourse marker is a possible key to the other part.(Christine Nuttall, 1996. Teaching Reading Skills in a Foreign Language,Heinemann)
關於“discourse marker”，hews在其Oxford Concise Dictionary of Linguistics(Oxford University Press) 一書中是這樣描述的：Any of a variety of units whose function iswithin a larger discourse rather than an individual sentence or clause: e.g. butthen in But then he might be late. “discoursemarker”雖然範圍更加廣泛一些，但從以上文字不難看出，它包括了我們所熟悉的邏輯關係詞(即文章中用於表示並列，轉折，舉例，因果，遞進，讓步，總結等邏輯關係的固定單詞或片語)。也由此可見，特別重視形式邏輯和思維分析的英語行文，在詞語之間和句子之間往往會藉助各種邏輯關係詞清楚表達思維邏輯和語意關係。因此瞭解和掌握邏輯關係詞可以幫助我們把握文章中語意的轉換和發展，理解文章重點表達的意思。
具體到雅思閱讀，邏輯關係詞在解題中體現出兩大功能 ：
一、語意推斷
語意推斷主要是運用於重點題型之一的摘要題(Summary)。具體是指根據空格所在句及前後句的邏輯關係詞，分析詞語之間，句子之間的語意關係，推斷出所缺單詞的大致含義。
例如：
1.劍4 / P77 / Q38
Some corpora include a wide range of language while others are used tofocus on a particular linguistic feature.
根據while這個表示對比或轉折的邏輯關係詞，可以判斷它前後部分是對比或反義關係。“a wide range oflanguage”指的是語言研究的廣泛的各個方面，可以預判空格處應是指具體的方面。
2.劍1 / P20 / Q4-5
The very first fire-lighting methods involved the creation of friction by,for example, rapidly rotating a wooden stick in a round hole.
根據介詞“by”和“for example”這個表示舉例的邏輯關係詞，可以預判第二個空格應是和“creation offriction”(產生摩擦)的具體動作有關的`詞。
3.劍1 / P20 / Q6
The use of percussion or persistent chipping was also widespread in Europe…
根據表示並列的邏輯關係詞or，可以判斷它前後部分是並列關係。Chipping是“削，鑿”的意思，可以預判空格處應是類似意思的詞。
二、定位
根據對歷年真題的總結分析，雅思閱讀考試的一個重要規律是：題幹中的句子之間，詞語之間的邏輯關係在原文中一般不變(但表現方式可能會變)。這一規律使得邏輯關係詞可以有效地協助題幹關鍵詞在原文中定位答案資訊源。尤其在摘要題(Summary)中這一方法使用頻率很高。
例如：
1.劍5 / P50 / Q30-31
題幹：In Britain, moreover, scientists worried that English had neither thetechnical vocabulary nor the grammatical resources to express their ideas.
原文：First, it lacked the necessary technical vocabulary. Second, it lackedthe grammatical resources required to represent the world … (Para.7)
題幹中出現的neither…nor…是連線兩個否定概念的並列邏輯關係詞。原文中對應出現了完全相同的邏輯關係，即first, it lacked …,second it lacked …(表現方式有所變化)。我們可根據這種對應的邏輯關係在原文中快速定位答案資訊源。
2.劍5 / P50 / Q33-34
題幹：Although English was then overtaken by German, it developed again in the19th century as a direct result of the industrial revolution.
原文：In the following century much of this momentum was lost as Germanestablished itself as the leading European language of science. … However, inthe 19th century scientific English again enjoyed substantial lexical growth asthe industrial revolution created the need for new technical vocabulary.
題幹中出現的兩種邏輯關係均在原文中對應出現。一是表示轉折關係的although, 對應於原文中的however;二是表示因果關係的as adirect result of 對應於原文中表因果的邏輯關係詞as。很顯然，這對於題幹資訊的定位意義重大。
3.劍5 / P70 / Q25-26
題幹：To deal with this, Stanley suggests the use of artificial floods in theshort term, and increasing the amount of water available through desalination inthe longer term.
原文：In the immediate future, Stanley believes that one solution would be tomake artificial floods to flush out the delta waterways, in the same way thatnatural floods did before the construction of the dams. He says, however, thatin the long term an alternative process such as desalination may have to be usedto increase the amount of water available.
題幹中出現了表示遞進的邏輯關係詞in the short term … in the longer term…。快速查讀原文，可定位於文中相同的邏輯結構in the immediate future … in the long term …。
另外，對雅思真題文章進行精讀訓練的同學會發現，除了以上兩大功能之外，邏輯關係詞在原文中的位置還常常是命題考點最集中的地方。因此學習和掌握邏輯關係詞在閱讀中的功能和作用，將對提高答題的速度起關鍵性的作用。同時，能夠熟練運用邏輯關係詞對於寫出條理清楚，層次分明的雅思作文也大有幫助。
