GRE Revised RC Bold Face questions passages


Bold Face questions in GRE Reading Comprehension ask you to relate the role of two bold face statements in the same passage. The essence of this exercise is to measure one's ability to dissect the various portions of the stimulus and assign their individual roles. The test taker should be able to define such action words as evidence, conclusion, explanation, prediction, circumstance, position, stance, observation, opinion, judgment, criterion etc. Especially, one should be able to clearly identify whether something is a conclusion or evidence or a position etc.

1. Census data indicate that the number of retired couples with school going children who are moving into Sophia County has been steadily rising since last year. Private schools in our county have reported substantial increases in enrollment this year, and a statewide survey of parents shows that over 10 percent now support the idea of homeschooling instead of public schooling, funded by the county government. Such demographic trends suggest that our county will not have to construct new school buildings and that we can therefore, decrease the budget for county-funded public schools. However, critics condemn that this is a short-sighted mission, borne out of blurred vision

In the argument given, the two portions in boldface play which of the following roles?

(A) The first is one of the grounds, which leads to the interim conclusion of the argument; the second is that interim conclusion.

(B) The first is an opinion that provides supports for the main conclusion of the argument; the second is an interim conclusion drawn in order to support that main conclusion.

(C) The first is one of the grounds, which leads to the interim conclusion of the argument; the second is the argument

(D) The first is a contradiction of what the interim argument seeks to establish; the second presents an interim conclusion

(E) The first is a premise that supports the argument and the second is the argument.