#5 - Global Reference, Must Be True

[MountainGirl234]

This was the most challenging question of the passage. I was between A and D, and ultimately chose D, because while the passage never explicitly said that CORE criticized the ministers for their incomplete agreement, there is a line that says that “some critics” did. I took that to mean “at least one.” I thought that was the closest we could get to “most clearly suggests” in the question stem.

I understand that A can be correct, but it remains unconvincing. I understand that the ministers worked on social/political causes as mediators in the past, but I wouldn’t agree that the campaign didn’t signal a campaign--it did. They opted to shed their “politically moderate” positions and advocate in a way they haven’t previously. Since the passage largely focuses on the ministers’ role, I don’t see how this makes sense.

Guidance would be appreciated!

[Poonam Agrawal]

Hi Mountain Girl!

We have to be very, very careful with the wording of the answer choices in any reading comprehension passage. Most of the questions are in the form of Must Be True, which means if there is even a small part of the answer choice that is false or not explicitly stated, it is not the correct answer. Answer choice (D), as you've identified, contains a piece of information that we cannot say with certainty - we simply don't know if they were criticized by CORE, and therefore, we cannot choose this answer.

The support for answer choice (A) can be found towards the end of the passage, specifically in lines 60-62. Because the ministers were able to maintain their moderate political ties, the campaign didn't really signal a major change in their political and social goals. While the ministers were initially afraid that their participation in the campaign would change their position in the community as moderate political leaders, in the end, the campaign did not significantly change their general goals. Hope that clarifies this one!

[valentina07]

I'm a bit confused about this passage. I see how AC A is correct but I chose AC E incorrectly because the passage said that the ministers had "remained politically moderate" until the protest in question. Going back now I see the passage also says that "they had been working for decades with community and government organizations to address the social, political, and economic concerns of their community." Can you clear this up for me.

[Adam Tyson]

Answer E is not supported by the information in the passage, valentina07, because although they were politically moderate, they were still active community leaders. Being moderate doesn't mean they weren't involved or that they were politically neutral; it just means they were able to bridge the gap between liberals and conservatives, between governments and communities. That suggests that they probably WERE involved in civil rights activities, even if they weren't radical in their approach to those issues. While answer E might possibly be true, there's just no text in the passage that would allow us to infer that. It's speculation at best, and thus not a good answer when the question asks us what the passage "most clearly suggests."