CDS English · Reading Comprehension
Paraphrase, Repeated Words and Extreme Options
The right option says the passage's line in other words. Wrong options reuse the passage's words but change the claim, push it to an extreme, or add what the passage never says.
Why this matters
In CDS passages, most wrong options are built from the passage's own words, so a student who matches words instead of meaning falls for them. Four checks catch nearly all of these traps: does the option mean the line, does it make the same claim, is it as strong as the line, and did you read the NOT in the stem.
Concept 1 of 4: The right option says the line in other words
Examiners rarely copy the passage into the right option. They say the same thing in new words. So look for the option that means the line, not the option that looks like it.
Definition
The terms:
- Paraphrase: the same meaning in different words. 'with ease' becomes 'easily'; 'extensive and varied' becomes 'huge and diversified'.
- Matching on meaning: the option must say what the line says: the same who, the same what, the same degree.
The method:
- Find the line with the anchor word.
- Say the line to yourself in plain words, in one short sentence.
- Read each option and ask: does it mean my sentence? Do not ask: does it share words with the line?
- Reject an option that adds something the line does not say: a reason, an intention, a place.
- If two options seem to fit, keep the one with the line's exact scope. The other usually adds or drops a part.
Worked example
Line: 'The old soldier spoke little, but when he did, every man in the room fell silent to listen.' The old soldier's words were (a) frequent and loud (b) rare but respected (c) ignored by the men (d) angry and harsh
Practice this conceptself-check · 4 quick reps
The same idea in a real exam question:
CDS · 2017 · CDS (I) 2017 — English · Q99Moderate
Example 1 · Reading Comprehension · Paraphrase and Option Traps
Directions: In this section, you have six short passages. After each passage, you will find some questions based on the passage. First, read a passage and answer the questions based on it. You are required to select your answers based on the contents of the passage and opinion of the author only.
Passage – 3
I was lying down in a dark, lonely compartment of the speeding train, trying to sleep. But, quite unusually, sleep eluded me. A vague uneasiness gripped me. It was pitch dark outside. A few points of light flashed by as we sped through a small station and in the dim light I thought I saw a hand gripping the bars of my window. Once again the train was swallowed up by the impenetrable darkness. My heart pounded. My mouth was parched. I could not get up. I do not know how long I remained thus before the train began to slow down. The reassuring bright lights of the station we were entering revealed no intruder. I breathed again.
In the dim light he saw
Choosing the option with the most passage words
'In its simple form, science has helped man to protect himself from Nature and to overcome natural obstacles to movement.' The right option, 'building shelter and making carts, boats', shares almost no words with the line. 'Build factories using machinery' sounds more like science, but the line speaks of science in its simple form. Match the meaning.
Moving the meaning to the wrong thing
A woman and her brother agreed that, 'as long as all went well with him, he should send a blank sheet'. So the blank sheet meant he was well. 'The letter with no postage meant good news' sounds close, but it moves the signal from the blank sheet to the postage.
A middle option that sounds balanced
When a line says people are 'afraid to think contrary to the established pattern of society', the paraphrase is accepting the established practices. 'Neither accepting nor rejecting' sounds careful and fair, but the line is not neutral.
Concept 2 of 4: Same words, changed claim: check what the option asserts
The most dangerous wrong option copies words from the passage: 'import', 'routine', 'public vehicle'. But it uses them to say something the passage never said. Read each option as a full claim and check every part of it.
Definition
The terms:
- Echo option: a wrong option that repeats passage words.
- Claim: what an option says is true: who did what, to what, and how much.
The method:
- Read the option as a full claim: subject, action, object.
- Check each part against the line. One changed part makes the whole option wrong.
- Watch for the small swaps: import and export, public and private, absorb and reflect, one sheet and no sheet, 'and' and 'and not'.
- Watch for a wider word: 'dogs' becoming 'animals', 'some' becoming 'all'.
- Watch for a picture turned into a fact: a line may say a man 'has a heart of stone'; an option may then claim his heart is ill.
- Watch for an idea the passage denies: 'not X but Y' can never support an option that says X.
Worked example
Line: 'Indian tea is now exported to over forty countries, though the country still imports some green tea from China.' Which is true? (a) India imports tea from forty countries (b) India exports tea to many countries (c) India exports green tea to China (d) India no longer imports any tea
Practice this conceptself-check · 4 quick reps
The same idea in a real exam question:
CDS · 2017 · CDS (I) 2017 — English · Q92Moderate
Example 2 · Reading Comprehension · Paraphrase and Option Traps
Directions: In this section, you have six short passages. After each passage, you will find some questions based on the passage. First, read a passage and answer the questions based on it. You are required to select your answers based on the contents of the passage and opinion of the author only.
Passage – 1
When Jonathan (the seagull) came, it was well after dark, and he floated in moonlight on the surface of the ocean. His wings were ragged bars of lead, but the weight of failure was even heavier on his back. He wished, feebly, that the weight would be just enough to drag him gently down to the bottom, and end it all. But soon he came back to normal. He pushed wearily away from the dark water and flew towards the land, grateful for what he had learned about work-saving low-altitude flying.
The lesson that he had learnt that day was about
Import and export
To compete with Indian cloth, British manufacturers had 'heavy duties ... imposed on the import of plain cloth'. The option with 'export of Indian clothes' repeats every other word. One swapped word, and the claim is false.
One word made wider or turned around
'In Delhi, it was forbidden by the law, at one time, to take a Dog into a public vehicle.' 'Private vehicles' turns the claim around, and 'carry animals' widens a rule about dogs to all animals.
Turning an idea the passage denies into the answer
'What inspires these students to burn cars and books is not their political enthusiasm but a frenzied delight in destruction.' The option 'are motivated by certain political ideology' reuses the passage's words for the very idea the passage rejects.
Right words, wrong object
To improve reading habits, the passage says we must break out of the routine of reading 'the same newspaper, the same magazine'. 'Break the routine by changing the time of reading' keeps 'break the routine' but changes what is broken.
Concept 3 of 4: Extreme words: only, completely, already, all
Passages usually speak with care: 'often', 'may', 'most', 'is falling'. Wrong options often push the claim to the end of the scale: 'always', 'only', 'completely', 'already'. When the passage is careful and the option is not, the option is wrong.
Definition
The terms:
- Extreme word: only, all, none, always, never, completely, already, entirely.
- Hedge: a word that softens a claim: may, might, often, usually, most, some, is likely to, tends to.
- Process word: a verb for something still going on (is falling, is shrinking, is spreading). It does not mean the process has finished.
The method:
- Notice any extreme word in an option.
- Find the line and check its strength. Does the passage say 'all' or 'most'? 'has stopped' or 'is falling'? 'rules us now' or 'may one day rule us'?
- If the passage is weaker than the option, strike the option.
- An extreme option is right only when the passage is just as strong.
- 'Only A' is wrong if the passage names B too; 'both A and B' is right only if each half is stated.
Worked example
Line: 'In recent years, fewer young people in the valley have taken up farming; many now prefer jobs in the towns.' Young people in the valley have (a) completely given up farming (b) all moved to the towns (c) become less likely to take up farming (d) never been interested in farming
Practice this conceptself-check · 4 quick reps
The same idea in a real exam question:
CDS · 2017 · CDS (II) 2017 — English · Q64Easy
Example 3 · Reading Comprehension · Paraphrase and Option Traps
Directions: In this section you have few short passages. After each passage, you will find some items based on the passage. First, read a passage and answer the items based on it. You are required to select your answers based on the contents of the passage and opinion of the author only.
Passage
During the past three generations the diseases affecting western societies have undergone dramatic changes. Polio, diphtheria, tuberculosis, commonly known as TB, are vanishing; one injection of an antibiotic often cures deadly diseases such as pneumonia or syphilis; and so many mass killers have come under control that two-thirds of all death are now associated with the diseases of old age. Those who die young are more often than not victims of accidents, violence, or suicide.
These changes in health status are generally equated with the decrease in suffering and attributed to more or better medical care. Almost everyone believes that at least one of his friends would not be alive and well except for the skill of a doctor. But there is in fact no evidence of any direct relationship between this change in the pattern or nature of sicknesses on the one hand and the so-called progress of medicine on the other hand. These changes are the results of political technological changes. They are not related to the activities that require the preparation and status of doctors or the costly equipment in which doctors take pride. In addition, an increase in the number of new diseases in the last fifteen years are themselves the result for medical intervention. They are doctor-made or iatrogenic.
In the western societies, the occurrence of polio, diphtheria and tuberculosis has
A light meal is not no meal
'The evening meal should be light, taken three or four hours before retiring.' The option 'stop eating anything at night' pushes the advice to an extreme the writer never gives.
'Already' borrowed from another clause
'Already we find it difficult either to work or play without the machines, and a time may come when they will rule us altogether.' The option 'they already rule us' takes 'already' from the first clause and drops the 'may come' of the second.
'Only' when the passage names both
A passage on plastic speaks of its effects on marine life and on human health. 'Only humans' and 'only marine life' each drop half of what is said.
Concept 4 of 4: NOT, EXCEPT, statement sets and 'not stated'
A NOT or EXCEPT question turns the task around. Three options are in the passage, and you want the one that is not. Read the stem twice, then tick off each option against the line.
Definition
The terms:
- NOT / EXCEPT question: 'Which is not a reason ...', 'All of these EXCEPT ...'. The answer is the option the passage does NOT support.
- Statement set: numbered statements, with options that combine them ('1 and 3 only').
- 'Not stated': an option such as 'has not been specified'. It is right only when the passage truly gives no answer.
The method:
- Mark NOT or EXCEPT in the stem, so you do not slip back to the usual question halfway.
- Find the line or the list the stem points to.
- Tick each option the passage states. The option left without a tick is the answer.
- For a statement set, judge each statement alone (true, false or not stated), then pick the option with exactly the true ones. Watch for a statement that reverses the cause.
- 'All of the above' is right only if every option is stated. One unstated option rules it out.
- Choose 'not stated' only after you have searched; do not use it to escape a hard question.
Worked example
Line: 'Cadets at the academy are trained in drill, map reading and swimming, and they also learn a foreign language.' Which is NOT part of the cadets' training, according to the passage? (a) Map reading (b) Swimming (c) Horse riding (d) A foreign language
Practice this conceptself-check · 4 quick reps
The same idea in a real exam question:
CDS · 2019 · CDS (II) 2019 — English · Q115Moderate
Example 4 · Reading Comprehension · Paraphrase and Option Traps
Directions: In this section, you have few short passages. After each passage, you will find some items based on the passage. First, read a passage and answer the items based on it. You are required to select your answers based on the contents of the passage and opinion of the author only.
Passage—III
Despite downsizings, workers’ overall job satisfaction actually improved between 1988 and 1994. Some reasons given were improved work flow, better cooperation between departments, and increased fairness in supervision. Many firms today rely on attitude surveys to monitor how employees feel about working in their firms.
The use of employee attitude surveys had grown since 1944 when the National Industrial Conference Board “had difficulty finding fifty companies that had conducted opinion surveys”. Today, most companies are aware of the need for employees’ anonymity, the impact of both the design of the questions and their sequence, the importance of effective communication, including knowing the purpose of the survey before it is taken and getting feedback to the employees after it is completed. Computerization of surveys can provide anonymity, if there is no audit trail to the user, especially for short answers that are entered rather than written or typed on an identifiable machine.
Survey software packages are available that generate questions for a number of standard topics and can be customized by modifying existing questions or by adding questions. If the survey is computerized, reports can be generated with ease to provide snapshots of a given period of time, trend analysis, and breakdowns according to various demographics. You may be interested in responses by age, sex, job categories, departments, division, functions or geography.
The survey can be conducted by placing microcomputers in several locations convenient for employees’ use. Employees are advised where the computers will be, for how long, and when the data will be collected (for instance, daily at 5:00 p.m. for three weeks). The screens should not be viewable to supervisors or passers-by. While there may be some risk that employees will take the survey more than once, there are comparable risks with other methods too.
Managers may be interested in knowing how they are perceived by their peers and subordinates. Packages are available that can be customized, which allow the manager to complete a self-assessment tool used to compare self-perceptions to the anonymous opinions of others. This comparison may assist in the development of a more effective manager.
Which one of the following is not the reason for improved job satisfaction of employees?
Forgetting the NOT halfway
Asked which is not a natural ecosystem, a student reads 'forests, ponds and lakes' as natural, finds 'forest' in the options and marks it. The passage calls crop-fields human-made, so crop-field is the answer. Mark the NOT before you start.
'All of the above' with one unstated item
Plastic 'has been found on even the most remote, uninhabited islands, and in the deepest parts of the ocean'. Mountain tops and metals are never mentioned, so 'All of the above' fails. Only the oceanic depths are stated.
A statement that reverses the cause
The passage says senior citizens in India, where curcumin is a staple, have a lower prevalence of Alzheimer's disease. A statement saying they have a high level of the disease because of turmeric uses the same words with the link reversed. Strike it.
Summary — formulas & gotchas at a glance
A revision cheat-sheet for the formulas and gotchas above. Click any concept name to jump back to its full explanation.
Watch out for (13)
- Choosing the option with the most passage words→ The right option says the line in other words
- Moving the meaning to the wrong thing→ The right option says the line in other words
- A middle option that sounds balanced→ The right option says the line in other words
- Import and export→ Same words, changed claim: check what the option asserts
- One word made wider or turned around→ Same words, changed claim: check what the option asserts
- Turning an idea the passage denies into the answer→ Same words, changed claim: check what the option asserts
- Right words, wrong object→ Same words, changed claim: check what the option asserts
- A light meal is not no meal→ Extreme words: only, completely, already, all
- 'Already' borrowed from another clause→ Extreme words: only, completely, already, all
- 'Only' when the passage names both→ Extreme words: only, completely, already, all
- Forgetting the NOT halfway→ NOT, EXCEPT, statement sets and 'not stated'
- 'All of the above' with one unstated item→ NOT, EXCEPT, statement sets and 'not stated'
- A statement that reverses the cause→ NOT, EXCEPT, statement sets and 'not stated'
Test yourself on Reading Comprehension
25 past CDS questions from this chapter, timed at 25 minutes and marked the way the exam marks it. You see your score and every answer the moment you finish. Free to start.