General Studies Paper II (CSAT) · Topic
Comprehension
Official syllabus
Comprehension;
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What this covers
Comprehension requires a reader to recover what a passage says, infer only what follows and distinguish the author's claim from an option's embellishment. Passage evidence controls the answer even when outside knowledge suggests another possibility.
Key ideas
- Main idea and purpose
- Inference and implication
- Argument structure
- Tone and contextual meaning
Subtopics 4
- 01Main idea and purposeThe topic is what a passage discusses; its main idea is what the author says about that topic. Purpose asks why the passage was written, such as to…
- 02Inference and implicationAn inference follows from what the passage supplies;
- 03Argument structureAn argument gives reasons, or premises, for a conclusion.
- 04Tone and contextual meaningTone is the author's stance as conveyed by wording, not the reader's reaction.