{"id":3146,"date":"2010-05-17T15:00:02","date_gmt":"2010-05-17T23:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/?p=3146"},"modified":"2010-07-24T22:02:14","modified_gmt":"2010-07-25T06:02:14","slug":"veritas-prep-gmat-tips-why-did-you-do-that","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/veritas-prep-gmat-tips-why-did-you-do-that\/","title":{"rendered":"Veritas Prep GMAT Tips: Why Did You Do That?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brian Galvin is the Director of Academic Programs at Veritas Prep, where he oversees all of the company\u2019s GMAT preparation courses<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While tackling a reading comprehension question,\u00a0\u00a0 if readers focus on the structure of the passage \u2013 a one-sentence summary of \u201cWhat\u201d and \u201cWhy\u201d: what is the paragraph about and why was it written? \u2013 they will \u00a0have an easier time reading than if they allowed themselves to try to understand all of the potentially-complicated content, and they will set themselves up to efficiently answer the questions that follow.<\/p>\n

To better highlight the importance of that strategy, consider one of the popular question types that may follow a passage you will see on test day.\u00a0 Function questions ask something to the extent of:<\/p>\n

Why does the author quote Whitman in the second paragraph?<\/em><\/p>\n

The author uses the word \u201cironically\u201d in the third paragraph to\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

In these cases, the question is asking you to determine the author\u2019s intent.\u00a0 Almost always, the author\u2019s intent when using a quote, statistic, or term is to prove the point that he is trying to make in that paragraph or section.\u00a0 If you have understood the \u201cWhy\u201d of why the paragraph or section was written, you can make quick work of such a question by double-checking that portion to confirm that the term\/stat\/quote in question does, indeed, make that point.<\/p>\n

Consider this section from a GMAT Reading Comprehension passage, and a question that follows (portions appear courtesy of the Graduate Management Admissions Council):<\/p>\n

Despite their many differences of temperament and of literary perspective, Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Melville, and Whitman share certain beliefs. Common to all these writers is their humanistic perspective. Its basic premises are that humans are the spiritual center of the universe and that in them alone is the clue to nature, history, and ultimately the cosmos itself. Without denying outright the existence either of a deity or of brute matter, this perspective nevertheless rejects them as exclusive principles of interpretation and prefers to explain humans and the world in terms of humanity itself. This preference is expressed most clearly in the Transcendentalist principle that the structure of the universe literally duplicates the structure of the individual self; therefore, all knowledge begins with self-knowledge.<\/p>\n

This common perspective is almost always universalized. Its emphasis is not upon the individual as a particular European or American, but upon the human as universal, freed from the accidents of time, space, birth, and talent. Thus, for Emerson, the \"American Scholar\" turns out to be simply \"Man Thinking\"; while, for Whitman, the \"Song of Myself\" merges imperceptibly into a song of all the \"children of Adam, \" where \"every atom belongs to me as good belongs to you.\"<\/p>\n

The author quotes Whitman primarily in order to<\/p>\n

(A) show that the poet does not agree with Emerson<\/p>\n

(B) indicate the way the poet uses the human ideal to praise himself<\/p>\n

(C) illustrate a way the poet expresses the relationship of the individual to the humanistic universe<\/p>\n

(D) demonstrate that the poet is concerned with the well-being of all humans<\/p>\n

(E) prove that the poet uses real-world analogies in his prose<\/p>\n

Structurally, the intent of the first paragraph is to introduce a common perspective that five prominent authors share.\u00a0 We can gauge that by looking at the terminology given in the passage:<\/p>\n

Despite ________, (these authors) share certain beliefs.\u00a0 Common to all is ____________.\u00a0 This<\/strong> perspective\u2026\u00a0 This<\/strong> preference\u2026<\/p>\n

The word \u201cdespite\u201d introduces the idea that the first portion of that sentence will run counter to the main point, so we know that the second part (common beliefs) is the author\u2019s main intent there.\u00a0 The second sentence, then, begins to describe what is common, and the subsequent sentences use the word \u201cthis\u201d to refer back to that commonality.\u00a0 Even without too much effort on the details, we should be able to get the idea from that paragraph that:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe author introduces a common theme between five different writers, and goes on to describe what is so common.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s kind of a vague description, but if that\u2019s all you derive from this paragraph \u2013 which can certainly seem dense and bland to non-literary types \u2013 you\u2019ve taken away the most important themes.<\/p>\n

The second paragraph begins with the phrase \u201cthis common perspective\u2026\u201d, which should note that the author is going to describe that commonality introduced in the first paragraph a bit further.\u00a0 Since we\u2019ve already set up the passage as a whole with a fairly well-defined topic paragraph (the author wants to discuss a common theme between five writers), it seems natural that the author is using the second paragraph to further explain that commonality.\u00a0 With that in mind, the What\/Why of the second paragraph is something to the extent of:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe author further explains the common perspective, noting that the authors see the individual as part of a larger universe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because we know that the goal of the author in this paragraph is to demonstrate a bit further this common perspective, and in particular show that the authors use it to see the individual as universal, the reason that he would use any quotes or references in the paragraph is to further develop that point.\u00a0 Looking at the answer choices:<\/p>\n

(A), the most popular incorrect choice in this question, does the opposite of the author\u2019s intent.\u00a0 He hopes to demonstrate that these authors are common in their belief, but the answer choice says that they disagree.\u00a0 Even though the word \u201cwhile\u201d is used to separate the quotes of Emerson and Whitman, which in a vacuum might indicate that they do disagree, the author is clearly using those quotes to show their commonality \u2013 even if they have different ways of expressing it \u2013 so choice A is incorrect.<\/p>\n

(B) also misses the scope of the author\u2019s intent.\u00a0 The author is trying to demonstrate the commonalities of these authors, and not show their own self-promotional differences.<\/p>\n

(C) expresses the author\u2019s intent.\u00a0 He wants to show how the authors fit his point, that the individual is part of the universe, and so he would use that quote in exactly the way that the answer choice describes.\u00a0 C is the correct answer.<\/p>\n

(D) misses the scope of the content provided in the paragraph.\u00a0 Whitman may well be concerned with the well-being of all, but the author is specifically dealing with the human-universe dynamic in this paragraph, so the correct answer must be consistent with that.<\/p>\n

(E) similarly misses the scope of the author\u2019s intent.\u00a0 He is not concerned with the way the authors write, but he is trying to demonstrate that they write about a common philosophy.<\/p>\n

On the whole, you should use this example to highlight the importance of understanding the author\u2019s intent when you read, as these Function questions will test that understanding directly. Furthermore, even if the answer choice comes down to content (like choice D, in a way, does), your focus on those terms that signal author intent will show you where to go to check the content.\u00a0 More importantly, as you will note with choice A, the most popular trap answers will try to bait you to think locally while missing the author\u2019s intent.<\/p>\n

Read more GMAT advice on the Veritas Prep blog<\/a>. Ready to sign up for a GMAT course<\/a>? Enroll through GMAT Club and save up to $180 (use discount code GMATC10)!<\/p>\n

\"Veritas<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brian Galvin is the Director of Academic Programs at Veritas Prep, where he oversees all of the company\u2019s GMAT preparation courses. While tackling a reading comprehension question,\u00a0\u00a0 if readers focus…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":101,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/101"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3146"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3146\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3874,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3146\/revisions\/3874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}