Reading Comprehension Passages Flashcards

A passage's author qualifies a claim with words like 'may,' 'could,' and 'suggests.' This indicates the author is:

Answer: Cautious and tentative about the conclusion

Hedging words signal tentative, cautious phrasing rather than firm certainty.

When answering an inference question, a correct GRE inference must be:

Answer: A logical necessity given the passage's statements

Valid GRE inferences follow necessarily from the passage and require no outside assumptions.

A passage opens by describing a puzzle, then devotes the rest to resolving it. The first sentence's purpose is to:

Answer: Introduce the problem the passage will address

Opening with a puzzle sets up the problem the passage then works to resolve.

In a sentence-equivalence-style reading task, the two answers chosen should:

Answer: Produce sentences with similar meanings that fit the context

Sentence equivalence requires two words yielding coherent, similarly-meaning completed sentences.

A passage author cites a critic's objection and then rebuts it. This move primarily serves to:

Answer: Strengthen the author's own position by addressing opposition

Raising and rebutting an objection bolsters the author's argument by handling counterclaims.

Which approach best handles dense scientific GRE passages with unfamiliar terms?

Answer: Focus on relationships and structure rather than memorizing jargon

GRE tests reasoning about relationships, so grasping structure matters more than mastering jargon.

The conclusion of an argument-based passage is best identified as:

Answer: The main claim the evidence is meant to support

The conclusion is the central claim that the passage's evidence works to support.