Reading Comprehension - General Tips required

[2prateeksinbox]

Hi all,

I was preparing for the RC module and had some general doubts regarding certain answer choices.

I cannot list the questions because it would be against the forum rules. So let me just put it forth as I need only a strong base for such questions.

In Reading Comprehension,
I generally get stuck when the prompt asks 'Which of the following best states the function of the Passage?"
and the answer choices vary as follows:
1. To contrast two ideas
2. To Chronicle sequence of events that led to the idea
3. To analyze assumptions underlying opposing viewpoints
4. To provide historical perspective.

My basic question is: Is there a way to actually decide between 'To ANALYZE assumptions opposing viewpoints' and 'To Contrast two ideas' contextually?
Here I followed Ron's idea of transition words and skimming the details and it helped to come down to two options and by some lucky guess I got the answer right. What I did was to just judge the tone of author and he sounded pretty negative by stating many indifferent viewpoints. So I chose 'To contrast' without looking at it contextually. I am not sure, how do we substantiate such choices. As in what does it mean to 'Analyze' 'Contrast' or 'Examine' in RCs?

[RonPurewal]

how would you explain "contrast" to a 9-year-old?

how would you explain "analyze / explain" to a 9-year-old?

if you can come up with answers to these—answers that a real 9-year-old would actually understand—then you're most of the way there.

[2prateeksinbox]

If this were a case, I would cite the example of Report cards.

When a person compares his results in Report card with that of the others then there is a CONTRAST made between the two results.

When I subject someone to see the trend of his/her marks in a Report card then that is ANALYZING the Report card.

Examine is similar to analysis but I generally read it more in Chemistry and Biology books.

..examining your blood sample..
(OR)
...the analysis of your blood sample...

In GMAT RCs, many a times the author shifts between various views:

Some proponents of this theory said......................... Nevertheless, Other historians argued.................... while few other scientists said...............

In such cases, the author is just stating what other people said or argued upon.

Does that mean he is just ANALYZING something?

Shouldn't a CONTRAST be something that the AUTHOR himself tries to distinguish?

For Example:

"Some historians contend that conditions in the United States during the Second World War gave rise to a dynamic wartime alliance...............................

Other scholars, however, have portrayed organized labor as defending all along the relatively privileged position of White workers relative to African American....."

Here we know that the author is stating two contrasting view points.

[RonPurewal]

If this were a case, I would cite the example of Report cards.

When a person compares his results in Report card with that of the others then there is a CONTRAST made between the two results.

When I subject someone to see the trend of his/her marks in a Report card then that is ANALYZING the Report card.

this is the basic idea.

[RonPurewal]

In such cases, the author is just stating what other people said or argued upon.

Does that mean he is just ANALYZING something?

Shouldn't a CONTRAST be something that the AUTHOR himself tries to distinguish?

no. a "contrast" is present whenever two contrasting ideas are presented together. it's immaterial whether the ideas are the author's or someone else's.

on the other hand, you can't analyze something merely by presenting/summarizing what others have said. if i'm analyzing something, i need to be doing the analysis myself.