Description Questions

　　Description questions， as with main idea questions， refer to a point made by the author. However， description questions refer to a minor point or to incidental information， not to the author‘s main point.

　　The answer to a description question must refer directly to a statement in the passage， not to something implied by it. However， the correct answer will paraphrase a statement in the passage， not give an exact quote. In fact， exact quotes （“Same language” traps） are often used to bait wrong answers.

　　Caution： When answering a description question， you must find the point in the passage from which the question is drawn. Don‘t rely on memory——too manyobfuscating tactics are used with these questions.

　　Not only must the correct answer refer directly to a statement in the passage， it must refer to the relevant statement. The correct answer will be surrounded by wrong choices which refer directly to the passage but don‘t address

　　the question. These choices can be tempting because they tend to be quite close to the actual answer.

　　Once you spot the sentence to which the question refers， you still must read a few sentences before and after it， to put the question in context. If a question refers to line 20， the information needed to answer it can occur anyswheresfrom line 15 to 25. Even if you have spotted the answer in line 20， you should still read a couple more lines to make certain you have the proper perspective.

　　Example： （Refer to the first passage.）

　　According to the passage， the inquisitorial system differs from the adversarial system in that

　　（A） it does not make the defendant solely responsible for gathering evidence for his case

　　（B） it does not require the police department to work on behalf of the prosecution

　　（C） it does not allow the victim the satisfaction of private vengeance

　　（D） it requires the prosecution to drop a weak case

　　（E） a defendant who is innocent would prefer to be tried under the inquisitorial system

　　This is a description question， so the information needed to answer it must be stated in the passage——though not in the same language as in the answer.

　　The needed information is contained in the fourth sentence of Paragraph 3， which states that the public prosecutor has to investigate on behalf of both society and the defendant. Thus， the defendant is not solely responsible for investigating his case. Furthermore， the paragraph‘s opening implies that this feature is not found in the adversarial system. This illustrates why you must determine the context of the situation before you can safely answer the question. The answer is （A）。

　　Writing Technique Questions

　　All coherent writing has a superstructure or blueprint. When writing， we don‘t just randomly jot down our thoughts； we organize our ideas and present them in a logical manner. For instance， we may present evidence that builds up to a conclusion but intentionally leave the conclusion unstated， or we may

　　present a position and then contrast it with an opposing position， or we may draw an extended analogy.

　　There is an endless number of writing techniques that authors use to present their ideas， so we cannot classify every method. However， some techniques are very common to the type of explanatory or opinionated writing found in GM