4 Steps for Supporting Ideas QuestionsBy: vivian kerr posted December 4, 2010 Supporting idea questions ask about details directly stated in thepassage. You can identify them because they will refer to only one part of thepassage. These questions are different from main idea questions becausesupporting ideas questions ask about the points the author makes withinthe passage and do not ask about the passage as a whole. For these questions youwill need a solid understanding of how the author makes his overall argument aswell as the argument’s component parts. Supporting idea questions are commonly phrased in one of the following ways:“According to the passage…”, “The passage states that…”, or “The passagementions….” You should be able to recognize them quickly, as they are morestraightforward than inference or application questions, and follow thefollowing steps to get the correct answer! 1. Rephrase the question. Sometimes these questions arewritten as fill-in-the-blank statements, such as “According to the passage, areasonable assumption about x is that:” Take a momentto mentally rephrase the stem in the form of a question. This will help youunderstand exactly what to look for in the passage. Original Question: “The passage states that Jim Crow laws occurred because:” Possible Mental Rephrase: “What reason does the passage give for Jim Crowlaws?” What to Look for: The paragraph where the author discusses Jim Crow laws,and then the specific point where he discusses the reasons for the laws. 2. Find the answer in the passage. Check your passage mapto locate the appropriate paragraph that contains the detail, and re-read theappropriate sentence to locate the relevant information. Don’t try to predict without referencing the passage.Some of these questions are incredibly specific and will hinge on a singlesentence, or even a solitary word. Chances are you will not remember thecorrect answer from your first reading of the passage, so don’t try. 3. Write down a prediction.Avoidwriting complete sentences, but take a couple of seconds to make a note inshorthand of the question’s answer. Don’t skip this step! If you do, you riskforgetting your prediction as you read the answer choices, and becoming swayedby tempting wrong answer choices. A written-down prediction will give yousomething to reference when you are stuck between two choices. 4. Eliminate answer choices that do not match your prediction. Look for the common wrong answer types: distortions, extremelanguage, misused details, and opposites. If you are stuck between twochoices, ask yourself what is the subtle degree of difference between them, andre-consider your mentally-rephrased question. Only one choice will perfectly matchthe scope of the question. For supporting ideas questions, remember that a “logical” answer is notenough. The correct answer must be based on somethingdirectly stated in the passage, so avoid making inferences for this questiontype. Categories: GMAT, GMAT Verbal, Reading Comprehension
Inferences on the GMATBy: jordan schonig posted September 28, 2010 On the GMAT Reading Comprehension, “inference” questions ask you to make areasoned judgment about the passage that goes beyond the material on the page.Authors will often imply information but not state it directly; inferencequestions test your ability to spot the author’s implications without strayingtoo far from the text. We make inferences all the time during everyday conversations, but our casual inferences are often riddled withunsubstantiated leaps in logic. For example, if I told you that my lawnwas wet, you might infer that it rained last night. This seems like a fairinference, but there are other logical reasons for my lawn being wet–I couldhave watered the lawn or perhaps a neighbor was washing his car and sprinkledmy lawn. More information surrounding my original sentence might lead me toconclude that it rained last night, but from the simplestatement “my lawn is wet,” I can only infer that my lawn is not dry. The GMAT inference questions will often offer yousome tempting answers that infer too much information. Beware of thesechoices–they are the most common pitfalls for students. What do inference questions look like? Before diving into an example, let’s make sure you know how to spot aninference question. Most inference questions are characterized by the words suggest,infer, or imply. They might look something like this: What might be inferred by the final paragraph? The author implies that the frontiersmen quickly packed because… By revealing the results of the scientific study, the author suggests… Example of an inference question Let’s look at an inference question from Grockit. This passage discusses thehistorical and geographic origins of tea. Here is the paragraph that follows: In 800AD, a man named Lu Yu wrote the first known book on tea cultivationand preparation. The work, called the Ch’a Ching, melded Zen Buddhist teachingswith the art and craft of tea, forever linking the drink to spirituality. Which of the following inferences may be drawn from the discussion of LuYu’s work? A. Before 800AD, it was largely unknown how to cultivatetea. B. Some people even today drink tea for reasonsother than its physical benefits. C. Drinking tea was primarily a Zen Buddhistpractice until the late 700s. D. The Ch’a Ching is one of the earliest works of Chineseorigin that is concerned with agriculture. E. Lu Yu was interested in popularizing tea incountries other than China. All we need to answer this question is located in the short paragraph above,but the answer to this question is not explicitly stated in the paragraph – itmust be inferred. From the paragraph, we know that Lu Yu wrote the first bookon tea cultivation and preparation; we learn that the book combined ZenBuddhist teachings with tea cultivation, forever tying the beverage tospirituality. Notice that many of the answer choices may seem reasonable, but ultimatelythey infer too much information. A, for example, wrongly infers that nobodyknew how to cultivate tea before Lu Yu’s book; it’s not a fair assumption that mostpeople did not know how to cultivate tea before Lu Yu’s book, even if it is thefirst recorded book on the subject. Choices C and D, on the other hand, are simply not supported by the passage.We simply do not have the information to make those inferences. E very well maybe true, but no such information is stated. B, though, reasonably extrapolates an inference from the phrase “foreverlinking tea with spirituality.” If we know that Lu Yu’s book fostered thespiritual associations with tea that exist today, we can safely infer thatpeople today drink tea for reasons other than physical benefits (i.e.spiritual benefits). You may be thinking that B was obvious or simple. Sometimes,the answer to an inference question is obvious or simple. If you cannot thinkof a reason why an inference answer choice is incorrect, then it is most likelycorrect. Categories: GMAT, GMAT Verbal, Reading Comprehension Reading Comp: How to Find the “Main Idea”By: vivian kerr posted October 4, 2010 It’s important to keep in mind for all Reading Comprehension questions thatjust because an answer choice is reasonable, true, or mentioned in the passage,does not mean it is necessarily correct. Always ask yourself: which answerchoice best addresses the specific question being asked? Look to eliminate answer choices that are outside the scopeof the question, or ones that contain extreme language such as alwaysand never. For “Main Idea” questions, we’re looking for the answer choice with a scope that matches that of the entire passage.For example, if the passage was about volcanoes and the necessary steps thatneed to be taken in order to predict and prevent volcano eruptions, thenperhaps one paragraph referred to Mount St. Helen’s. However, it would beincorrect to say that the main idea of the passage was to “discuss Mount St.Helen’s” as that is the main idea of only one paragraph. The “Main Idea” wouldneed to be something like “to discuss ways of predicting and preventingeruptions” since that is the more general focus. For “Main Idea” questions, we need to try to see the picture that is beingformed by all of the puzzle pieces, and not get distracted by the individualpieces themselves. It’s easy to do this if you write down the Purpose of the passage BEFOREreading the first question. Remember that active reading and note-taking areessential to GMAT Reading Comp success. When you see a “Main Idea” question,you can quickly refer back to your Purpose to form a prediction. If you forgot to write down the Purpose, or you can’t make a strongprediction, there are a few good places in the passage to look for the “MainIdea.” Try re-reading the last few sentences of theopening paragraph. Does the author include a thesis? Does he express astrong point of view about the topic? Another good place to look is the concludingparagraph. Does the author re-iterate a main purpose here? What is hesummarizing? Focus especially on the first and final sentences. A final tip: always write down your prediction before you read the answerchoices. Even if your prediction seems incredibly obvious and you are someonewith a perfect memory, you don’t want the wrong answer choices to sway you, andunless you write it down you risk forgetting or distorting your prediction asyou read. As you write it down, trust that you’ve read the passage carefullyand instinctually know what the correct answer should be. Categories: GMAT, GMAT Verbal, Reading Comprehension作者: Royzhang0929 时间: 2012-2-16 17:22
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