An option can use the passage’s words and still be wrong. Check the relationship between the ideas: cause and effect, contrast, sequence or agreement. If the relationship changes, reject the option.
This lesson belongs to reading decisions when distractors look plausible. It pairs with recognising paraphrase instead of identical words.
How do you check a relationship?
Write the passage’s relationship in a short form. For example: “price rose, so sales fell” becomes “rise caused fall”. Write each option the same way. Reject the option whose form is different.
Worked example: reusable bottles
This is an original passage.
Students began carrying reusable bottles after the canteen stopped selling bottled water. Sales of reusable bottles at the co-operative shop doubled within a month, although some students complained about the weight.
Question. Which statement is correct?
- A. The canteen stopped selling bottled water because reusable bottle sales doubled.
- B. Reusable bottle sales doubled after the canteen stopped selling bottled water.
- C. Students stopped complaining after reusable bottle sales doubled.
Relationship in the passage: the canteen’s decision came first, and the sales followed. The complaint exists alongside the growth (“although”).
Test A. It copies “canteen”, “stopped selling” and “doubled”, but the order is reversed. The passage says sales followed the decision. A is reversed.
Test B. Same order and relationship. B is correct.
Test C. The passage says some complained, although sales grew.
It does not say the complaints ended, so C invents a sequence. Rejected.
The mistake: trusting familiar words
A student sees that option A contains all of the key words in the passage and picks it. The sentence reads smoothly, and the words feel safe.
| Option | Words match? | Relationship | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | Yes | Sales caused the decision | Reversed |
| B | Yes | Decision led to sales | Correct |
| C | Partly | Complaints ended | Invented |
Matching words are not matching meaning. Two options can contain the same words and say opposite things.
Check yourself
The bus company added a second route although hardly any passengers had asked for it. Numbers on the new route stayed low for a year.
Which is correct?
- A: Hardly any passengers asked, yet the route was added
- B: The route was added because passengers asked for it
- C: Numbers stayed low because the route was added
Answer
A. “Although hardly any passengers had asked” means the route was added despite low demand.
B reverses the contrast: it says demand caused the route, when the passage says the opposite. C invents a cause: the passage says numbers stayed low, but does not say the route caused that.
What to study next
Continue with explaining the evidence for a writer-attitude inference. For more elimination methods, see eliminating distractors using evidence.
If you want a teacher to go through your own options with you, see online one-to-one English tuition.