除了词汇的掌握外，考生们还会碰到这么一种状况：句子并没有出现特别难的生词，甚至是句子中没有生词，可是句子的意思依然不太明确。 这样的句子同样给考生们带来了阅读中的障碍，其实这也是雅思阅读的另外一个考查点： 句子结构错综复杂，长句屡屡皆是。 例：

Original text: Such expansion, which was to take the English language west to America and east to India, was supported by scientific developments such as the discovery of magnetism (and hence the invention of the compass), improvements in cartography and – perhaps the most important scientific revolution of them all— the new theories of astronomy and the movement of the earth in relation to the planets and stars.

Statement: The most important scientific development of the renaissanceperiod was the discovery of magnetism.

这是一个典型的长句， 不仅语法复杂，包含了非限定性定于从句“which was to take the English language west to America and east to India”，而且还运用了复杂的并列结构和插入语。 根据三原则，“discovery of magnetism” ，“improvements in cartography” 以及“the new theories of astronomy and the movement of the earth in relation to the planets and stars”等三条信息都是对前面的“scientific developments”进行的举例说明， 而中间“—perhaps the most important scientific revolution of them all—”这样的一段破折号内的内容仅仅是充当插入语， 来修饰后面的“the new theories of astronomy and the movement of the earth”，这样整个句子就清楚了。 最重要的科学发现还应属天文学和地球运动的理论，而非题目中所讲磁场的发现。

鉴于此点，考生就需要在英语语法结构上有所准备，除了了解一些常用的句型结构外，还需对英语文章中的一些复杂结构做有针对性的练习，从而可以从错综复杂的长句中快速地捕捉到主要信息。