GMAT · Passage comprehension and structure · TOPIC LESSON
Track what words mean here, who owns a claim and exactly how strongly the author commits to it.
BY THE END, YOU CAN
BEFORE YOU START
Original educational lesson. Work through the examples before revealing the practice answers. This original lesson supports current GMAT study through an editorial skill map. It does not reproduce official questions, predict exam content or guarantee a score.
LEARN THROUGH ORIGINAL PRACTICE
All passages, examples and exercises here are original. No official GMAC questions, choices or explanations are reproduced. This independent preparation resource is not affiliated with or endorsed by GMAC. GMAT is a trademark of the Graduate Management Admission Council.
01 / UNDERSTAND & APPLY
For decades, the coastal town of Merin awarded repair contracts for its public clocks to the firm offering the lowest initial price. Recent maintenance records suggest that this policy may have obscured meaningful differences in durability. Of the clocks repaired in one five-year period, those serviced under contracts that included scheduled inspections required fewer emergency visits. The records do not establish that inspections caused the difference: the inspected clocks were also, on average, newer. Some council members have described the inspection contracts as a “guarantee against breakdowns.” That description is difficult to defend. Even well-maintained mechanisms can fail, and the records include several emergency visits to inspected clocks. Still, the absence of a guarantee is hardly a reason to disregard a possible benefit. The town's engineer proposes comparing clocks of similar age and condition before deciding whether the extra contract cost is justified. Such a comparison would be a modest improvement over the current debate, which has too often treated uncertain evidence as either conclusive or worthless. It would not remove every source of uncertainty. Different exposure to salt spray, for example, could still affect the outcome. But it could narrow the range of defensible explanations and give the council a firmer basis for its decision.
02 / UNDERSTAND & APPLY
Tone is the author’s attitude toward the subject or a claim, inferred from evaluative language across the relevant span. Here “difficult to defend” is critical of the guarantee claim; “modest improvement” is cautiously favorable toward the engineer’s proposal. Neither is contempt for the council as a whole.
Modal words regulate commitment. “May have obscured” presents a possibility. “Would not remove every source” rejects perfect certainty, not usefulness. Preserve both the direction and strength of a claim. Extreme choices such as “proves,” “impossible” or “entirely worthless” need correspondingly strong evidence.
ORIGINAL WORKED EXAMPLE
Choose the author’s attitude toward the proposed comparison: A: unqualified enthusiasm; B: cautious approval; C: indifference; D: ridicule; E: complete opposition.
Answer B: cautious approval
03 / UNDERSTAND & APPLY
Substitute a candidate meaning into the sentence, then check the paragraph’s logic. A familiar dictionary meaning can be wrong in this context. “Firmer” means better supported here, not physically harder; “defensible” means supportable by evidence, not protected from attack.
Do not rely on a word’s emotional coloring alone. The records “suggest” rather than demonstrate a cause because age is a possible alternative explanation. Context defines both meaning and evidential force.
ORIGINAL WORKED EXAMPLE
In “narrow the range of defensible explanations,” what does “defensible” most nearly mean? A: legally permitted; B: supported by plausible evidence; C: popular with voters; D: impossible to revise; E: mechanically precise.
Answer B; the other senses do not match the evidential discussion.
04 / UNDERSTAND & APPLY
Find the noun phrase or proposition a pronoun refers to. Grammatical proximity helps but does not settle meaning. “That description” refers to the phrase “guarantee against breakdowns,” not to all inspection contracts. “Such a comparison” refers to matching clocks on age and condition.
Some referents are entire preceding claims. Replace “this,” “that” or “it” with the proposed referent and check whether the reconstructed sentence makes sense. Keep singular/plural and speaker continuity in view.
ORIGINAL WORKED EXAMPLE
In “It would not remove every source of uncertainty,” what does “It” refer to?
Answer The proposed comparison of clocks of similar age and condition.
05 / UNDERSTAND & APPLY
A qualifier attaches to a particular claim. “Those serviced under contracts that included scheduled inspections” defines a subset of repaired clocks; it does not state that every inspected clock needed fewer visits than every uninspected clock. “On average, newer” concerns a group average and permits individual exceptions.
Watch the difference between “not every” and “none.” Not every uncertainty is removed means at least some remain. It does not mean no uncertainty is reduced. Likewise “some council members” does not assign a view to the entire council.
ORIGINAL WORKED EXAMPLE
Can we conclude that no inspected clock required an emergency visit?
Answer No. The universal claim is both logically stronger and explicitly contradicted.
06 / UNDERSTAND & APPLY
Salt spray is an example of a remaining alternative influence after matching on age and condition. It illustrates a limit on the proposal, not a finding that salt spray actually explains the recorded difference. An example can demonstrate a possibility without proving that possibility occurred.
Distinguish reported facts from evaluations. The records include emergency visits is a factual report within the passage. Calling a comparison a “modest improvement” is the author’s assessment. Treat passage facts as given when answering reading questions; do not import outside research to challenge them.
ORIGINAL WORKED EXAMPLE
Why does the author mention salt spray? A: To prove inspections never work. B: To illustrate a factor the comparison might not control. C: To recommend moving the town. D: To establish that every clock is equally exposed. E: To explain how gears are manufactured.
Answer B
07 / UNDERSTAND & APPLY
For a meaning question, read the sentence before and after the target. Predict a plain-language replacement, then compare choices. For tone, collect two or three evaluative signals and ask what they modify. The author may be skeptical of one claim and optimistic about a method in the same passage.
Neutral language describes; evaluative language judges. “Newer clocks” is a comparison of age. “Difficult to defend” judges an inference. Do not mistake criticism of reasoning for hostility toward people, or acknowledgment of limits for rejection of all evidence.
08 / UNDERSTAND & APPLY
Use the clock passage for questions 1–6. Each multiple-choice item has exactly one answer.
ORIGINAL PRACTICE · 1
B
The initial-price policy may have masked durability differences. A changes the object; C alleges invention; D concerns persistence; E reverses the meaning.
ORIGINAL PRACTICE · 2
Some council members’ position.
The author quotes it to criticize its strength. Neither the engineer nor all council members are said to endorse it.
ORIGINAL PRACTICE · 3
B
B repeats the qualified group comparison. A reverses and universalizes it; C and D are absent; E exceeds the stated remaining uncertainty.
ORIGINAL PRACTICE · 4
No; it rejects an all-or-nothing standard for considering evidence.
The author has already rejected the guarantee. A benefit can be possible and worth investigating without being certain.
ORIGINAL PRACTICE · 5
“Modest improvement” evaluates the proposed comparison relative to the current debate.
It does not describe the physical quality of clock repairs or the morality of council members.
ORIGINAL PRACTICE · 6
C
The paragraph discusses reducing explanatory uncertainty. A takes a figurative term literally; B overstates certainty; D and E are not discussed.
09 / UNDERSTAND & APPLY
A museum report states: “Several recently relabeled exhibits attracted longer visits in the trial. This encouraging result does not show that every label change will succeed; the trial included only visitors who volunteered for interviews.”
ORIGINAL PRACTICE · 1
It refers to longer visits at several relabeled exhibits and expresses qualified positive evaluation.
The evaluation concerns the observed result, not proof that all labels should change. The next clause limits generalization.
ORIGINAL PRACTICE · 2
No.
The passage reports changes for several relabeled exhibits. It neither describes all unrelabeled exhibits nor gives a maximum visit length for them. The proposed conclusion adds an unsupported comparison.
KEEP THE BIG IDEAS
READ WITH CONTEXT
The teaching notes, passages, worked explanations and practice are original. Official references identify the assessment framework and skill scope; they do not endorse this lesson or license official question reproduction.
Official reference for assessment context only. This independently written lesson contains original educational passages and practice; no endorsement, official item rating or predicted exam frequency is implied.
GMAT analytics distinguish current structure from incomplete reviewed public-sample observations. Questions, response parts and shared stimuli have separate counts. Unreviewed items are excluded; zero reviewed observations do not imply exam absence.