Many researchers regard Thailand's recent economic growth, as reflecte

D A C

1. The primary purpose of the passage is to

D. criticize certain assumptions about economic development in Thailand

The passage talked about using technical and non-tech dev. strategy.
The author obviously pointed out the prevalent view of assuming tech.
dev. is the key to the economic success.

2. It can be inferred from the passage that the term “realâ€

In the 3rd question- It can be inferred from the passage that the term “real” in line 36 most likely refers to economic development that is
I am unable to eliminate E and select A.

My thought : The passage says - such projects are not adequately reflected in the country's GDP --> Researchers view nontechnological development as an obstacle --> Ann' study says dichotomy can lead researchers 1) to overlook real advances achieved by rural development projects 2)mistakenly to conclude that they retard "real" economic development.

If real advances ( in Ann's study) refer to advances achieved by rural development i.e something not measured by GDP, the "real" economic development should refer to the same . This is what E says.

Skywalker18

Hi Experts,

I really do not understand why A is correct in Q3?

Please explain.

Thank you.

Hi

The answer to Q3 is evident from the preceding few sentences of the passages. For instances, the passage states earlier, "Monte Palmer disparages nontechnological rural development projects as inhibiting constructive change". Further, the passage states, "Yet as Ann Kelleher's two recent case studies...illustrate, the nontechnological-versus-technological dichotomy...".

These sentences clearly set technological development as being opposed to non-technological, rural development.

Now, in the final sentence referred in the question, "real advances achieved by rural development projects but also mistakenly to conclude that because such advances are initiated by rural leaders and are based on traditional values and practices, they retard "real" economic development".

The highlighted word "real" clearly stands in opposition to rural development products, and hence must refer to technological development, which is answer option (A).

Hope this helps.

VeritasKarishma - Can you please help with below queries ?

1. What assumptions refers to in Option D of primary purpose of the passage question ?

As per me, assumption is made by researchers that non-economic development projects don't contribute to Thailand's recent economic growth.

2. What real in last real in the last sentence of the passage most likely refers to economic development ?
3. Can you please help in breaking below sentence from sentence correction perspective ?

Yet as Ann Kelleher’s two recent case studies of the Thai villages Non Muang and Dong Keng illustrate, the nontechnological-versus-technological dichotomy can lead researchers not only to overlook real advances achieved by rural development projects but also mistakenly to conclude that because such advances are initiated by rural leaders and are based on traditional values and practices, they retard “real” economic development.

As per me - Yet is subordinate conjunction and introduces dependent clause, but not able to decipher the structure of sentence between 2 commas i.e. the nontechnological ... values and practices.

Structure is Dependent clause(introduced by yet) ...., Independent clause(introduced by they retard "real" economic development), but what is the role played by the sentence btw two commas.

Thanks,
Anshul

GMATNinja @veritasKarishma

Can you please explain Q3? What does real means here?

To understand what the word "real" means in line 36, let's start by considering the author's purpose in this passage.

Overall, the author's purpose is to point out an error made by certain researchers. What error? Well, the researchers have "overlooked the economic impact of rural development projects." Why have they made this error? Because they "tend to view nontechnological development as an obstacle to progress." In fact, the mistaken scholars think the only kind of development that matters is "modern technological development."

In the last sentence, the author continues to criticize these mistaken researchers. More specifically, he or she points out how the researchers mistakenly believe that rural development projects "retard 'real' economic development."

So what kind of economic development does the word "real" refer to here? Well, the author isn't giving his or her own point of view at this point, but summarizing the wrong views of the mistaken researchers. In other words, the world "real" is used to express the mistaken researchers' point of view that "modern technological development" is the only important kind. So the word "real" must be referring to technological development.

From another angle: we know the author doesn't actually think that rural, nontechnological development "retards" economic development. That's what the researchers think, and they are dead wrong (according to the author). When the mistaken researchers refer to "real" economic development, therefore, they are thinking specifically of "modern technological development."

Let's now take a look at answer choice (A):


Since (A) correctly says that "real" refers to technological development, it's correct.

I hope that helps!