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18 Aug 2019, 05:17
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D
Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!
Difficulty:
95%
(hard)
Question Stats:
32% (02:06) correct
68%
(02:06)
wrong
based on 244
sessions
History
Date
Time
Result
Not Attempted Yet
Understanding political speeches requires the same sort of mental agility as decoding a military transmission. A finely-tuned ear and an understanding of the subtleties of political language are essential to correct interpretation. Often it is necessary to be familiar with whatever controversies exist among the electorate when the speaker pays respect to the various concerns of his many constituents.
Which of the following can most reasonably be concluded from the passage above?
(A) It takes a skillful speaker to include the necessary promises and platitudes in a speech that satisfies his various constituents.
(B) Knowing how to listen to a political speech is no more difficult than knowing how to decode a military transmission.
(C) The writers of political speeches possess an array of phrases to use when honesty would be politically dangerous.
(D) As controversies arise, politicians sometimes attempt to communicate to each group that they are sympathetic to its cause.
(E) Comprehension of a political speech requires a thorough knowledge of rhetorical terms.
Source: Princeton Review, Cracking the GMAT Premium 2020
Which of the following can most reasonably be concluded from the passage above?
(A) It takes a skillful speaker to include the necessary promises and platitudes in a speech that satisfies his various constituents.
(B) Knowing how to listen to a political speech is no more difficult than knowing how to decode a military transmission.
(C) The writers of political speeches possess an array of phrases to use when honesty would be politically dangerous.
(D) As controversies arise, politicians sometimes attempt to communicate to each group that they are sympathetic to its cause.
(E) Comprehension of a political speech requires a thorough knowledge of rhetorical terms.
Source: Princeton Review, Cracking the GMAT Premium 2020
18 Aug 2019, 08:45
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You can't conclude A, because the passage is about how skilled a listener needs to be, not about how skilled a speaker needs to be. Nor can you conclude B, because the stem only points out a similarity between listening to speeches and decoding transmissions, and it doesn't compare the difficulty of the two activities. There's nothing at all in the passage about what might be "politically dangerous", what honesty has to do with that political danger, or how speechwriters avoid that danger, so you can't conclude C. And there's nothing in the stem to suggest you need to know "rhetorical terms" to understand political speech, so E is out.
That leaves D. But D is a bad answer too, just not quite as bad as the rest. It's not clear what "pays respect" means in the stem; that's a nebulous phrase that could mean almost anything. Nor is it clear, in answer D, when it discusses "each group" even what "groups" the sentence is talking about, since no "groups" are mentioned anywhere. And there's nothing to indicate that politicians sometimes express sympathy with the "cause" of "each group" (which, as answer D is written, means with every group, which sounds impossible to do), unless you take the vague phrase "pay respect to... various concerns" to mean express "that they are sympathetic to" a cause. Answering the question here is more a matter of guessing what the question writer intended by the imprecise language here than it is a matter of drawing an inference from the stem as it's written. This is not how real GMAT questions work.
That leaves D. But D is a bad answer too, just not quite as bad as the rest. It's not clear what "pays respect" means in the stem; that's a nebulous phrase that could mean almost anything. Nor is it clear, in answer D, when it discusses "each group" even what "groups" the sentence is talking about, since no "groups" are mentioned anywhere. And there's nothing to indicate that politicians sometimes express sympathy with the "cause" of "each group" (which, as answer D is written, means with every group, which sounds impossible to do), unless you take the vague phrase "pay respect to... various concerns" to mean express "that they are sympathetic to" a cause. Answering the question here is more a matter of guessing what the question writer intended by the imprecise language here than it is a matter of drawing an inference from the stem as it's written. This is not how real GMAT questions work.
18 Aug 2019, 08:52
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For those interested, here is the official explanation from The Princeton Review:
In the question stem, the phrase can most reasonably be concluded indicates this is an inference question. Do not bother breaking the passage into its conclusion, premise, and assumption for inference questions. Instead, focus on what the passage states directly. The correct answer must be true based on the facts of the passage. The passage presents information about the requirements for understanding political speeches, listing a finely-tuned ear, an understanding of the subtleties of political language, and [familiarity] with controversies...among the electorate when the speaker pays respect to the concerns of his many constituents. Evaluate the answer choices.
Choice A: No. This choice is out of scope. The passage provides no information to judge the speaker's oratorical skills, nor to infer that promises and platitudes are necessary to satisfy constituents.
Choice B: No. This choice is out of scope. This choice is tempting, as the passage begins with a comparison of the mental agility required for understanding political speeches or decoding a military transmission. However, comparable in mental agility does not mean equal in difficulty.
Choice C: No. This choice is out of scope. The passage provides no information to determine which array of phrases the writers of speeches might possess, nor the guidelines for using such phrases.
Choice D: Correct. This choice is supported by the passage. Politicians...attempt to communicate to each group that they are sympathetic to its cause paraphrases the last sentence of the passage, the speaker pays respect to the various concerns of his many constituents.
Choice E: No. This choice is out of scope. The passage states that mental agility is required, not knowledge of rhetorical terms.
The correct answer is choice D.
In the question stem, the phrase can most reasonably be concluded indicates this is an inference question. Do not bother breaking the passage into its conclusion, premise, and assumption for inference questions. Instead, focus on what the passage states directly. The correct answer must be true based on the facts of the passage. The passage presents information about the requirements for understanding political speeches, listing a finely-tuned ear, an understanding of the subtleties of political language, and [familiarity] with controversies...among the electorate when the speaker pays respect to the concerns of his many constituents. Evaluate the answer choices.
Choice A: No. This choice is out of scope. The passage provides no information to judge the speaker's oratorical skills, nor to infer that promises and platitudes are necessary to satisfy constituents.
Choice B: No. This choice is out of scope. This choice is tempting, as the passage begins with a comparison of the mental agility required for understanding political speeches or decoding a military transmission. However, comparable in mental agility does not mean equal in difficulty.
Choice C: No. This choice is out of scope. The passage provides no information to determine which array of phrases the writers of speeches might possess, nor the guidelines for using such phrases.
Choice D: Correct. This choice is supported by the passage. Politicians...attempt to communicate to each group that they are sympathetic to its cause paraphrases the last sentence of the passage, the speaker pays respect to the various concerns of his many constituents.
Choice E: No. This choice is out of scope. The passage states that mental agility is required, not knowledge of rhetorical terms.
The correct answer is choice D.
