#12 - Nearly everyone has complained of a mistaken utility bill that cannot easily be corrected or

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Complete Question Explanation

Strengthen, Principle. The correct answer choice is (A).

Answer choice (A): This is the correct answer choice.

Answer choice (B):

Answer choice (C):

Answer choice (D):

Answer choice (E):

This explanation is still in progress. Please post any questions below!

[blade21cn]

I thought the sentences in the stimulus are poorly written. It starts with "[n]early everyone has complained of a mistaken utility bill that cannot easily be corrected": It's difficult for me to relate to that experience, but to have the bill corrected, wouldn't it have to be done manually? "Computer files that cannot readily be retrieved": I guess this could be an issue that we wouldn't have without technology, though it's humans who forget where they saved the files in the computer.

The second sentence starts with "yet," which is a "pivot" marker, but it states "few people today would tolerate ..." - which is still about people complaining, as "few" indicates negative grammatically. "Few people today would tolerate waiting in long lines while clerks search for information that can now be found in seconds": Are they talking about the same incident? "While" can mean "at the same time" or a pivot word, like "but." But regardless, I think both meanings would fit in here.

My confusion is: Are they describing a situation where people wait for a long time in lines, but once it's their turn, their issues could be resolved in a matter of seconds? So basically, they're contrasting the duration? Also, why people could not tolerate waiting in long lines "today," as if they could tolerate it in the past? Lastly, what does "waiting in long lines," which is what people complained about, have anything to do technology?

The last part starts with "and." So it's supposed to be a continuation of what was mentioned before it, but it's hard for me to see that connection, as this is not about complaining - "almost no one, who has used a word processor, would return to a typewriter." Can anyone piece these things together? Thanks!

[Rachael Wilkenfeld]

Hi blade,

You are absolutely right---these stimuli are not written to be clear or fun to read. I took the searching for information in seconds example to be a different example than utility bill example. The line example is talking about a situation where in the past you'd have to wait in a line and handle something with a clerk, whereas now we can just look it up on our own. For example, if I wanted to know the balance of my bank account, I can open the app and check. Before computers were everywhere, I'd have to go into the bank or call the bank to get that information. I would definitely not make that trade. Similarly, I wouldn't trade all the functionality and easy erasing of a word processor for the clunky typewriter.

The basic structure of this passage is introducing common modern frustrations, but then reminding people that there were plenty of frustrations in the past too. The "yet" in the second sentence is contrasting the modern issues with the issues from the past. The "and" in the last sentence is continuing the description of issues from the past.

Hope that helps!

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This explanation is still in progress. Please post any questions below!