Primary purpose of a passage

[highflyer8]

I have a quick question using the following passage.


Human reliance on information technology today is quickly becoming global. The technological developments in the areas of computing, networking, and software engineering have aided the transitions from paper to paperless transactions, and text and data media to multimedia. Today, speed, efficiency, and accuracy in the exchange of information have become primary tools for increasing productivity and innovation. Activities as diverse as health care, education, and manufacturing have come to depend on the generation, storage, and transmission of electronic information. Computers are not only used extensively to perform the industrial and economic functions of society but are also used to provide many services upon which human life depends. Medical treatment, air traffic control, and national security are a few examples. Even a small glitch in the operation of these systems can put human lives in danger. Computers are also used to store confidential data of a political, social, economic, or personal nature. This fairly recent and progressive dependence on computer technology signals a real danger for the human race.

Current computer systems offer new opportunities for lawbreaking and the potential to commit traditional types of crimes in nontraditional ways. For example, the threat of identity theft is magnified by our reliance on computers to assist us in everyday activities such as shopping and paying bills. Identity theft refers to all types of crime in which someone wrongfully obtains and uses another person’s personal data by way of fraud or deception, typically for economic gain. By making personal and credit information available on the Internet, people open themselves up to the possibility of a criminal obtaining this information and using it for nefarious purposes. This is but one instance of the negative impact that overreliance on computer technology can have on society.

As humans continue to make technological advances, so too do they rely more heavily upon those innovations. This is a dangerous progression that must be tempered with common sense and self-restraint. We cannot allow computer technology to control too many aspects of our lives, lest we become victims of our own ingenuity.

My question is the following:

The primary purpose of the passage is to
(A) challenge a commonly held belief regarding identity fraud
(B)discuss some potentially devastating effects of our dependence on computers
(C)suggest ways in which the human race can reduce its dependence on technology
(D) evaluate the pros and cons of computer technology
(E)defend a controversial perspective on the transmission of electronic data

I immediately realised that (A), (C), and (E) are not correct answer choices.

I picked (C) as the correct answer choice, but the correct answer's actually (B).

I picked (C) because the pros are discussed in the first paragraph, and the cons in the second and third paragraph. Option (B) seems to be a more limiting answer choice.

Can someone explain? :confused5:

[Whifflingpin]

The first paragraph starts by showing what appear to be pros, but there is a transition within the paragraph revealing them as cons. The key sentence in that paragraph is the last sentence - "...dependence on computer technology signals a real danger..." The rest of the passage expands on those dangers.

[highflyer8]

I wonder why I have difficulty identifying these kinds of patterns.

How might I be able to improve my ability to answer these reading comprehension questions, in general?

[Whifflingpin]

Well, I had the advantage that you'd already said what the correct answer was.

The passage is not well written, and confusion, in this case, is the fault of the writer. Look at the first paragraph. The first sentence is a weak introduction, stating that information technology is widely used. The bulk of the paragraph expands on this theme. There is no early indication of the writer's intent to show that IT is too widely used. The body of the paragraph has only one short sentence and one weasel phrase to indicate that there might be over-reliance on IT. The last sentence comes almost out of the blue and does relate to any of the preceding, particularly as it is separated from its only supporting sentence by a neutral fact that continues the theme apparently introduced by the first sentence. The poor paragraph structure is therefore largely to blame for the reader's confusion.

Having said that, in practice the reader should be able to cope with poor writing. Commonly the first and last sentences of a paragraph act as a matching pair, introducing and summarising the theme of the paragraph. If they don't match, then you need to read the paragraph carefully to discover the writer's intention. Maybe the poor structure of the passage in question makes it a good passage for an examination, testing the reader's ability to find the intended meaning in spite of the poor writing. Since arguments in writing or in speech are often poorly presented, sometimes even deliberately obscured, it is important to be able to sift out the gold from the dross.

In general, the only way to improve is practice.
Read extensively. Stop periodically to analyse the way in which the argument is being presented. Write extensively. Concentrate on the structure of your arguments. Practice.

[ennison]

It is a short passage with little by way of what I would call discussion. The answer is B because it is not any of the others.

[WyattGwyon]

The strategy is simple: Read and give the most weight to the conclusion. Then go back and evaluate the rest in light of the conclusion. The answer is perfectly obvious if one proceeds this way. It's like analyzing a passage of music: Start out with the cadence (where it concludes) and work backward.