Bold-faced Arguments
Summary
Mastering bold-faced questions in paragraph arguments on the GRE requires understanding the function of specific sentences or clauses within the overall argument, a skill that demands practice and strategic thinking.
- Bold-faced questions are challenging because they require identifying the function of a sentence or part of a sentence within the context of the argument.
- Reading the entire paragraph before focusing on the bold-faced parts is crucial to grasp how sentences connect and to interpret the argument correctly.
- Describing the function of bold-faced parts in your own words can simplify the process and provide clarity amidst potentially convoluted answer choices.
- Identifying the roles of different parts of the argument and the positions they support or oppose is essential for answering bold-faced questions accurately.
- Practicing with specific strategies, such as focusing on one bold-faced part at a time and confidently eliminating incorrect answer choices, can improve accuracy and efficiency.
Chapters
00:01
Understanding Bold-faced Questions
01:21
Strategies for Approaching Bold-faced Parts
01:46
Analyzing and Describing Functions
02:59
Navigating Answer Choices
04:01
Practical Application and Review
Why is choice C incorrect?
It's true that burning toxins would lead to negative consequences, which might weaken the author's conclusion. But the reason that C is incorrect is that the author doesn't dismiss the fact that switching to barrels would improve air quality. The author isn't dismissing this fact, since she/he says it's "clearly" true. So instead, the author accepts that it would improve the air -- the author introduces this as a fact. And the paragraph goes on to say that despite this fact (which the author accepts), switching to barrels would have negative consequences. The reason why C doesn't work is because the author is accepting (rather than dismissing) the fact introduced in the first bolded statement.
