RC NOTES

 Balanced : author stating equal number of pros and cons

 Neutral : different opinions of for example historians and

scholars cancelling off each other

 Analyse, summarize, overview, report, contrast and examine are

key words for neutral toned passages. ACE – assess, Critique
and, evaluate are for balanced tone passages .

 Arguing, criticizing, and advocating means that the author has

an opinion.

 Balanced tone will always have opinion. Neutral may or may

not have an opinion. Thus, if there’s no opinion, tone is said to
be neutral. A paragraph of plain facts is also considered neutral.

 OCTAVE does not apply in “ if true/ except” and assumption

questions because these questions have nothing to do with the
passage.

 Whatever is mentioned in 2 of 3 will not be present in the

remaining one.
Fact Conclusion Assumption
Yes Yes No
No Yes Yes
Yes No Yes
 “Primary concerned with” is equivalent to opinion of the
author.

 Past tense is fact, not an opinion.

 Plain facts which state qualities of something does not mean

author is endorsing or advocating for that. It is considered to be
neutral/disinterested.

 Endorsement and advocacy do not qualify for neutral because

they always contain a suggestion/ recommendation which
represents positive opinion from author’s side.

 Avoid Superlatives and generalization.

 Tone of the passage will never change in between .

 When choosing answers containing “more”, you should have

mathematical evidence.

 When “for example” is written, main point relating to that will

be written in the above paragraph not the below one.

 Criticism is regarded as Opinion. Criticised sentences most of

the time contains contradictory words like yet, but etc.

 In a criticism passage, there’s no proposal, suggestion, and plan.

If there is, then it forms up the crux of the passage.

 Omissions – ignoring some reality.

 Qualify – limit; moderate or temper your feelings or point of

view about something. Never used in a negative way. Example
– I think something is 100% true and then change it to 95 %.
 Whenever there is a location specific question, go back to only
that line for the answer.

 Location of Contradiction generally holds the crux of the

passage.

 “Disputing evidence” means challenging the fact which is

always wrong.

 Support from author side is not regarded as ana opinion from

his side.

 “penetrating” is a positive word. Basically, means impactful.

 Literary criticism means critiquing/evaluating literature

unbiasedly. Note here criticism is used in a neutral manner, not
in a negative way.

 Slightest opinion with both negatives and positives will be

considered to be a balanced tone passage.

 Appraise/ Evaluate/Critique – being unbiased when judging

something.

 Author thinks that something would have improved if some guy

(mentioned in para) did ________.

Look for a suggestion in the para by author to find the answer.

 OCT – Crux of the passage.

 “(Some/Many people believe/propose) / (It has been frequently

assumed)” – Sentences starting with these words are always
going to be challenged by the author.
 ( Check notes for more examples ). Also, tone will be negative.

 Options with resolve/reconcile are always wrong because it’s

not the job of author to make views of opposing parties match.

 Check first verb concept from notes.

 “Make a case for” – to strongly suggest something.

 RED FLAGS - 1) present/ provide evidence.

2) outline something
3) Chronology – “trace the historic
. development”
4) Define/ Explore
5) Bullet points/ Methodology – “enumerate
reasons why”
.

 Scornful and Spiteful are very harsh words and can never be
considered as attitude of author towards anyone described in the
passage.

 Author may never have an opinion, but author will never have
wavering opinion ( Ambivalent/ uncertain / kind of confused).

 To check if a word is extreme, put more/ less in front of it. If it

makes sense, it is not an extreme word,

 There could exist big gaps b/w number of positive and negative.
Slightest of negative is still negative. For example – he might
have spent more time away from his family, his love for them is
pure. Somebody who falls even this short of author’s
 expectation is considered to be a negative. It is considered to be
qualified admiration/ praise. Tone - Balanced

 If author considers someone’s work a model of their respective

field, it is highly positive opinion and is not a fact.

 Hypothesis in RC means a theory for which enough proof is not

available.

 Author mentioning “someone’s theory is supported by another

theory/fact” reflects positive tone.

 Passages in which author is challenging a theory using person

A’s theory only, making whole passage about latter theory does
not have any tone. Author is positive towards A’s theory but
negative about former theory. In options, “introducing/
presenting theory to counter/challenge other theory” is correct.