Primary Purpose / Tone of RC Passage

Question

Would appreciate if anyone can explain in detail. How to identify the primary purpose of the passage? Whether author has put forth his/her views /ideas to examine / to criticize / to explain etc.?

What are the key marker, one should look for to identify authors views /tone /primary purpose in the following cases:
1. Examine 
2. Explain 
3. Discuss / Describe
4. Illustrate 
5. Demonstrate 
6. Criticize
7. Elucidate

For example if the author is condemning /cursing the main idea/point of the passage. The purpose may be to criticize.

Thank you in advance for your help.

bb · Answer

These are tricky questions. Usually, it is not about one sentence. These questions tend to test your understanding of the text + your limitations of scope. Often incorrect answers will go slightly beyond the scope of the passage. It really depends on the difficulty of the passage/questions and if these are harder, the text will NOT use the same keywords. Meaning the author may be criticizing something but the word criticize will never appear in the text.

TheUltimateWinner · Answer

Green2k1 
The  tone  of the author could be 3 types:
1/ positive
2/ negative
3/ neutral
if the author put negative tone it is something like  Criticize . 
If any answer option (in primary purpose question) put the word ' Illustrate'  then it surely explain with  Example . 
Some more info about  main point  and  primary purpose question :
 The main point of the passage: 
 The RC questions SOMETMES ask you a broad question such as “Main point of the author’s argument”
 The main point of the passage is the central idea, or ultimate conclusion, that the author is attempting to prove.
 Although in the majority of the passages, the main point is stated in the first paragraph, it is NOT always the case that the main point appears in the first or second sentence. 
 The main point of MANY passages has appeared in the final sentence of the first paragraph or in the first sentence of the second paragraph, or, at times, in the last paragraph.

The Primary Purpose of the Passage: 
 The primary purpose is the author’s central reason for writing the passage.
 Primary Purpose is a concept closely related to Main Point.
 If Main Point questions require the “WHAT” of the passage (“what’s the point? What is the author driving at?”), then Primary Purpose questions require you to consider the “WHY.” Why did the author want to write the material in question? What was the author attempting to accomplish by writing the passage?
 NOTE: The answers to each primary purpose question tend to begin with a VERB (Examine, Explain, Discuss / Describe, Illustrate, Demonstrate, Criticize, Elucidate, etc.,) , so understanding the author’s motivation is vital; was the author attempting to describe a work of fiction? …to explain a process? ...to present a theory? …perhaps to defend a position?
 Note:  The difference (primary purpose and main point) in focus between the two different question types as you attempt to form a prephrase for each before considering the answer choice.
 The main point question requires us to SUMMARIZE what the author SAID; the main purpose (primary purpose) question asks us to DESCRIBE what the author DID. The correct answer choice need NOT be overly specific. Any answer choice (in primary purpose question) that cannot be proven with the information contained in the passage will be incorrect.
 If the activities (in an answer choice) are NOT done by author, then it can’t be the correct choice for the primary purpose question!

GMATWhizTeam · Answer

Hi Green2k1, I have a couple of recordings which you might find helpful. Please go through them to understand the right way to derive the main point of the passage. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baAy-q3JVBo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sy9gCqhak9g Hope it helped. All the best

Green2k1 · Answer

Thank you very much  GMATWhizTeam  ,  TheUltimateWinner  and  bb .

TheUltimateWinner · Answer

GMATWhizTeam 
Thanks for the nice tutorials. 
Could you share more video tips link of the 'inference question' for both RC and CR?
Appreciating your help.

GMATWhizTeam · Answer

Hi TheUltimateWinner,

Happy that you found the recordings helpful. You can find more of them on our YouTube channel. And we are  currently running a webinar series  in which we will be covering various topics including CR and RC. Below is the schedule for the webinar series.

https://blog.gmatwhiz.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/session-calender.jpg

Do register using the below link to receive invites, reminders and the webinar recordings. I'm sure you will find this series helpful.

Registration Link:   Click here

AliTariqPrepVista · Answer

Discussed in detail here using GMAT official RCs.

https://gmatclub.com/forum/rc-primary-c ... l#p2815389

ReedArnoldMPREP · Answer

I just wrote this post on a similar question.

I think it would be helpful for you to go to main idea reading comp questions that use these words: "Explain," "Evaluate," "contrast," etc. and do the drill I lay out below. This will get you thinking and specifying what *you* think the passage would need to say/be/look like in order to justify the words 'explain,' 'contrast,' etc. There's no one marker, but you can think about what a passage that 'contrasts different points of view regarding a certain piece of legislation' would have to *be* for that to be the primary purpose.

The post I wrote in ther other thread is below:

Here's a drill I recommend for this kind of thing. I call it "Reverse Reading Comp." Note this is not at ALL how you should take the actual test.

Go to an RC question *before* reading the passage. For instance, I'll look at the question you provided (without reading the passage). And *write out* exactly what the passage would need to say/be in order to justify choosing that answer choice. So:
Quote:
3. The passage is primarily concerned with

(A) presenting various groups' views of the motives of those proposing certain legislation

The passage would need to talk about legislation. It would need to discuss *why* certain people want to propose this legislation. Then there would need to be various groups who have different groups who either have different opinions about those motives (I take this to mean either "different groups disagree on the motives" OR "the true motives are known, and different groups have different opinions about those motives").

Quote:
(B) contrasting the reasoning of various groups concerning their positions on certain proposed legislation

The passage would need to talk about certain legislation that different people have different beliefs about, and different reasons for those beliefs. The passage would compare those reasons/beliefs.

.

Quote:
(C) tracing the process whereby certain proposed legislation was eventually enacted

This would lay out the process that led to a piece of legislation getting enacted. It would 'tell a story' of some kind.

Quote:
(D) assessing the success of tactics adopted by various groups with respect to certain proposed legislation

The passage would need to talk about certain proposed legislation and have various groups who, for whatever their opinions were about the legislation, adopted certain 'tactics' (presumably to sway opinion about the legislation). The passage would say which tactics worked and which did not.

Quote:
(E) evaluating the arguments of various groups concerning certain proposed legislation

The passage would need to discuss proposed legislation, and talk about various groups' arguments about it. The passage would evaluate the arguments--so would probably lay out which were better and which were worse, or which were convincing and which were not. The difference in B is that there's an evaluation. B is just 'here are the various groups' opinions and reasons.' E is 'Here are their reasons, and here's my thoughts whether these reasons are good or bad.'

After you do this, THEN you read the passage. And you decide which of the paragraphs you've written for each answer choice best matches what is actually written.

It's far, far too easy to let the passage and the questions 'bleed' together. And that's understandable--we're trying to answer a question about the passage. But the truth is, the question itself is just a collection of 'thoughts.' You're looking for which of those thoughts is either IN or LOGICALLY IMPLIED BY the thoughts *in the passage*. It helps to practice understanding the thoughts of the question *in isolation*. After that it's just a matching game.

Primary Purpose / Tone of RC Passage

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