CDS English · Reading Comprehension
Why-questions: the reason the passage gives
A why-question, or a stem ending in 'because', asks for the reason the passage gives. Find the line that carries the reason, then pick the option that says it in other words.
Why this matters
Why-questions are among the most common in CDS reading. The reason is in the passage, but the right option almost never uses the passage's own words. The wrong options are often other true facts from the same passage, a common-sense reason the writer never gives, or an excuse a character makes.
Concept 1 of 3: Find the because-line, then match its paraphrase
Usually the passage states the reason, often next to a signal word: because, since, as, due to, for fear of. Find it. Then the work is matching. The right option says the same reason in different words.
Definition
The terms:
- Reason signals: because, since, as, so, therefore, due to, owing to, for fear of, as a result of, chiefly because, which is why.
- Paraphrase: the same meaning in different words.
The method:
- Find the line about the event in the stem.
- Look on both sides of it for a reason signal. The reason can come before the event ('Fearing rain, they left early') or after it ('They left early because they feared rain').
- Say the reason in your own words, in a few words.
- Pick the option that says the same thing. Expect new words: afraid of being laughed at becomes fear of ridicule.
- Strike options that give a reason the passage does not, even a sensible one.
Worked example
'The villagers moved their cattle to the hills early this year. The river had flooded twice in June, and the low fields were under water.' The villagers moved their cattle early because (a) the hills had better grass (b) their usual grazing land was under water (c) the cattle were sick (d) it was very hot
Practice this conceptself-check · 4 quick reps
The same idea in a real exam question:
CDS · 2021 · CDS (II) 2021 — English · Q20Moderate
Example 1 · Reading Comprehension · Why Questions: The Passage's Reason
Directions: answer the items based on the passage
Passage – II
More than eight months after the national lockdown was announced in late March, urban India is learning to live with the Covid-19 pandemic. In fact, indicating a positive outlook for the future, many survey respondents in a recent survey say they plan to return to pre-lockdown levels of shopping, personal grooming, going to cinemas and socializing as pandemic fears continues to recede.
The survey findings highlight that the suppression of consumer demand because of fears of job losses and salary cuts could be coming to an end. Increasingly, urban Indians are showing increased confidence about the future of the economy. This could be an indicator of the possible ‘pent-up demand’ that several economists have been talking about – a demand that could be unleashed once a vaccine is developed and distributed, or when there are signs of the pandemic’s spread reducing to negligible levels or vanishing totally.
Around 65 per cent of respondents said they had settled into new routines, or that they saw signs of the situation improving, or they had come to terms with the pandemic and were moving on with their lives. And since the survey was conducted before the news of the successful trials of the Pfizer vaccine for the coronavirus was announced, it is likely that the consumers are now even more positive in their outlook about the future.
What, according to the author, is the reason behind suppression of consumer demands?
The common-sense reason
When a passage says an army avoided calling its takeover a coup because a coup would bring world criticism and sanctions, the options 'a coup is illegal' or 'a coup is immoral' sound right but are not the passage's reason. Answer with the line, not with what you believe.
Cause and result swapped
An option can name the right two things in the wrong order: the result given as the reason. Check which one the signal word marks as the cause.
Concept 2 of 3: The reason one step from the line
Sometimes the passage gives the facts but not the word because. It gives a condition and a result, and you name the link. This is an inference, so the same rule applies: one short step, no more.
Definition
The method:
- Find the event in the stem.
- Look nearby for a condition (if, unless, only if, when), a rule the passage states, or what happens just before the event.
- Turn the condition into a reason: 'Unless seeds are kept dry, they rot' plus 'the store-room leaked' gives: they rotted because they were not kept dry.
- Check the step is short: you can point at the line and say 'that is why'.
- Strike reasons that need a second step or a fact you add yourself.
Worked example
'Unless a seed is kept dry over winter, it rots before spring. The farmer's store-room leaked all winter.' Why did the farmer's seeds fail in spring? (a) they were not kept dry (b) the spring was too cold (c) birds ate them (d) the soil was poor
Practice this conceptself-check · 4 quick reps
The same idea in a real exam question:
CDS · 2021 · CDS (II) 2021 — English · Q11Moderate
Example 2 · Reading Comprehension · Why Questions: The Passage's Reason
Directions: answer the items based on the passage
Passage – I
As to happiness, I am not so sure. Birds, it is true, die of hunger in large numbers during the winter, if they are not birds of passage. But during the summer they do not foresee this catastrophe, or remember how nearly it befell them in the previous winter. With human beings the matter is otherwise. I doubt whether the percentage of birds that will have died of hunger during the present winter (1946-47) is as great as the percentage of human beings that will have died from this cause in India and central Europe during the same period. But every human death by starvation is preceded by a long period of anxiety, and surrounded by the corresponding anxiety of neighbours. We suffer not only the evils that actually befall us, but all those that our intelligence tells us we have reason to fear. The curbing of impulses to which we are led by forethought averts physical disaster at the cost of worry, and general lack of joy. I do not think that the learned men of my acquaintance, even when they enjoy a secure income, are as happy as the mice that eat the crumbs from their tables while the erudite gentlemen snooze. In this respect, therefore, I am not convinced that there has been any progress at all.
The birds die of hunger in winter because
Taking two steps
If you need to add a fact of your own between the line and the reason, you have gone too far. The right option sits one step from a line you can point at.
Flipping the condition
'If they are not trained, they fail' gives the reason 'they were not trained'. Read the not carefully: the reason is the missing thing, not its opposite.
Concept 3 of 3: The real reason, not a true side-fact
Some passages give an excuse and a real reason, or a reason with two halves. One option repeats what a person said. Another gives only half. The question wants the real, whole reason, and the passage often shows it only at the end.
Definition
The method:
- Separate what a person says from what the writer shows. A character's stated reason can be a cover.
- Read to the end of the passage. The real reason is often revealed late.
- If the reason has two halves (A, and at the same time B), the option must carry both.
- A true fact from the passage is not the answer unless it explains the event in the stem.
- Check the option against the writer's own view, not a view the writer sets aside.
Worked example
'The cadet told the instructor he had missed the morning run because his shoes were torn. Later his friend admitted that they had both stayed up watching a match and could not wake in time.' The cadet missed the run because (a) his shoes were torn (b) he overslept after staying up late (c) the instructor excused him (d) his friend was ill
Practice this conceptself-check · 3 quick reps
The same idea in a real exam question:
CDS · 2018 · CDS (II) 2018 — English · Q27Hard
Example 3 · Reading Comprehension · Why Questions: The Passage's Reason
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 answer based on the contents of the passage and opinion of the author only.
Passage 2
Mr. Rowland Hill, when a young man, was walking through the Lake district, when he one day saw the postman deliver a letter to a woman at a cottage door. The woman turned it over and examined it, and then returned it, saying she could not pay the postage, which was a shilling. Hearing that the letter was from her brother, Mr. Hill paid the postage, in spite of the manifest unwillingness of the woman. As soon as the postman was out of sight, she showed Mr. Hill how his money had been wasted, as far as she was concerned. The sheet was blank. There was an agreement between her brother and herself that as long as all went well with him, he should send a blank sheet in this way once a quarter, and she thus had tidings of him without expense of postage.
The woman returned the letter to the postman because
Taking a character's words at face value
When a person in a story gives a reason, the writer may show a different one later. The answer follows the writer, not the character.
Half the reason
If the writer calls an age curious because it builds and destroys at the same time, an option that names only the building, or only the destruction, is half the reason. Look for the option that holds both.
The view the writer sets aside
Writers often mention an easy explanation in order to reject it ('this may not be merely...'). An option that repeats that rejected explanation is a trap. Follow the writer's own conclusion.
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 (7)
- The common-sense reason→ Find the because-line, then match its paraphrase
- Cause and result swapped→ Find the because-line, then match its paraphrase
- Taking two steps→ The reason one step from the line
- Flipping the condition→ The reason one step from the line
- Taking a character's words at face value→ The real reason, not a true side-fact
- Half the reason→ The real reason, not a true side-fact
- The view the writer sets aside→ The real reason, not a true side-fact
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