Comprehension
A tall tree can transport a hundred gallons of water a day from its roots deep underground to the treetop. Is this movement propelled by pulling the water from above or pushing it from below? The pull mechanism has long been favored by most scientists. First proposed in the late 1800’s, the theory relies on a property of water not commonly associated with fluids: its tensile strength. Instead of making a clean break, water evaporating from treetops tugs on the remaining water molecules, with that tug extending from molecule to molecule all the way down to the roots. The tree itself does not actually push or pull; all the energy for lifting water comes from the sun’s evaporative power.
Question: 1
This question has five answer choices, labeled A through E. Select and indicate the best answer from among these choices.
The passage is primarily concerned with
This question has five answer choices, labeled A through E. Select and indicate the best answer from among these choices.
The passage is primarily concerned with
The passage is primarily concerned with
Show Hint
For primary purpose questions, look at the balance of the passage. Ask yourself where the author spends the most time. In this short passage, the vast majority of the text is dedicated to explaining the details of the pull theory, making "presenting a possible explanation" the most accurate description of its purpose.
Updated On: Oct 1, 2025
- refuting a hypothesis advanced by scientists
- discussing the importance of a phenomenon
- presenting a possible explanation of a phenomenon
- contrasting two schools of thought
- discussing the origins of a theory
Hide Solution
Verified By Collegedunia
The Correct Option is C
Solution and Explanation
Step 1: Understanding the Concept:
This is a primary purpose question, asking for the main idea of the passage. We need to analyze the overall structure and content to determine what the author is trying to achieve.
Step 2: Detailed Explanation:
The passage begins by describing a phenomenon: how a tall tree transports hundreds of gallons of water. It then poses a question: is it a push or pull mechanism? The rest of the passage is dedicated to explaining the favored theory—the "pull mechanism." It describes how this theory works, what property it relies on (tensile strength), and its energy source (the sun). The passage's main goal is to explain this scientific theory.
Analyzing the Options:
(A) refuting a hypothesis advanced by scientists: The author does not refute the pull theory; they explain and support it as the "favored" one.
(B) discussing the importance of a phenomenon: The passage explains \textit{how} water transport works, not \textit{why} it is important to the tree or ecosystem.
(C) presenting a possible explanation of a phenomenon: This accurately describes the passage. The phenomenon is water transport in trees, and the passage presents the "pull mechanism" as the leading explanation.
(D) contrasting two schools of thought: While the passage briefly mentions "pushing from below," it spends almost the entire time explaining the "pull" theory. It does not give equal weight to two schools of thought or contrast them in detail.
(E) discussing the origins of a theory: The passage mentions the theory was "first proposed in the late 1800's," but this is a minor detail. The primary focus is on explaining how the theory works, not on its historical development.
Step 3: Final Answer:
The main focus of the passage is to lay out the details of the "pull" theory as an explanation for the phenomenon of water transport in trees.
This is a primary purpose question, asking for the main idea of the passage. We need to analyze the overall structure and content to determine what the author is trying to achieve.
Step 2: Detailed Explanation:
The passage begins by describing a phenomenon: how a tall tree transports hundreds of gallons of water. It then poses a question: is it a push or pull mechanism? The rest of the passage is dedicated to explaining the favored theory—the "pull mechanism." It describes how this theory works, what property it relies on (tensile strength), and its energy source (the sun). The passage's main goal is to explain this scientific theory.
Analyzing the Options:
(A) refuting a hypothesis advanced by scientists: The author does not refute the pull theory; they explain and support it as the "favored" one.
(B) discussing the importance of a phenomenon: The passage explains \textit{how} water transport works, not \textit{why} it is important to the tree or ecosystem.
(C) presenting a possible explanation of a phenomenon: This accurately describes the passage. The phenomenon is water transport in trees, and the passage presents the "pull mechanism" as the leading explanation.
(D) contrasting two schools of thought: While the passage briefly mentions "pushing from below," it spends almost the entire time explaining the "pull" theory. It does not give equal weight to two schools of thought or contrast them in detail.
(E) discussing the origins of a theory: The passage mentions the theory was "first proposed in the late 1800's," but this is a minor detail. The primary focus is on explaining how the theory works, not on its historical development.
Step 3: Final Answer:
The main focus of the passage is to lay out the details of the "pull" theory as an explanation for the phenomenon of water transport in trees.
Was this answer helpful?
0
0
Question: 2
This question has three answer choices, labeled A through C. Consider each of the three choices separately and select all that apply.
Which of the following statements is supported by the passage?
This question has three answer choices, labeled A through C. Consider each of the three choices separately and select all that apply.
Which of the following statements is supported by the passage?
Which of the following statements is supported by the passage?
Show Hint
In "supported by the passage" questions, be very literal. Look for precise wording. The word "most" is a key qualifier that supports statement (A). The direct mention of "tensile strength" supports statement (B). If the passage gives no information on a topic (like the origin of the push theory), you cannot select that option.
Updated On: Oct 1, 2025
- The pull theory is not universally accepted by scientists.
- The pull theory depends on one of water's physical properties.
- The pull theory originated earlier than did the push theory.
Hide Solution
Verified By Collegedunia
The Correct Option is A
Solution and Explanation
Step 1: Understanding the Concept:
This is a "select all that apply" question that requires us to verify each statement against the information given in the passage. We must find direct or strongly implied support for each correct statement.
Step 2: Detailed Explanation:
Analyzing the Options:
(A) The pull theory is not universally accepted by scientists.
The passage states that the pull mechanism "has long been favored by most scientists." The word "most" implies that some scientists do not favor it, meaning it is not universally accepted. This statement is supported by the passage.
(B) The pull theory depends on one of water's physical properties.
The passage explicitly states that the theory "relies on a property of water not commonly associated with fluids: its tensile strength." Tensile strength is a physical property. This statement is directly supported by the passage.
(C) The pull theory originated earlier than did the push theory.
The passage introduces the push vs. pull question at the beginning but gives no historical information about the "push" theory. It only states that the pull theory was "first proposed in the late 1800's." We cannot compare their origins based on the text. This statement is not supported by the passage.
Step 3: Final Answer:
Based on the text, statements (A) and (B) are both supported.
This is a "select all that apply" question that requires us to verify each statement against the information given in the passage. We must find direct or strongly implied support for each correct statement.
Step 2: Detailed Explanation:
Analyzing the Options:
(A) The pull theory is not universally accepted by scientists.
The passage states that the pull mechanism "has long been favored by most scientists." The word "most" implies that some scientists do not favor it, meaning it is not universally accepted. This statement is supported by the passage.
(B) The pull theory depends on one of water's physical properties.
The passage explicitly states that the theory "relies on a property of water not commonly associated with fluids: its tensile strength." Tensile strength is a physical property. This statement is directly supported by the passage.
(C) The pull theory originated earlier than did the push theory.
The passage introduces the push vs. pull question at the beginning but gives no historical information about the "push" theory. It only states that the pull theory was "first proposed in the late 1800's." We cannot compare their origins based on the text. This statement is not supported by the passage.
Step 3: Final Answer:
Based on the text, statements (A) and (B) are both supported.
Was this answer helpful?
0
0
Question: 3
This question has five answer choices, labeled A through E. Select and indicate the best answer from among these choices.
The passage provides information on each of the following EXCEPT
This question has five answer choices, labeled A through E. Select and indicate the best answer from among these choices.
The passage provides information on each of the following EXCEPT
The passage provides information on each of the following EXCEPT
Show Hint
For EXCEPT questions, treat it as a scavenger hunt. Your goal is to find the sentence or phrase that corresponds to each of the incorrect answer choices (A, B, C, D). The choice that is left over, for which you can find no specific information, is the correct answer.
Updated On: Oct 1, 2025
- when the pull theory originated
- the amount of water a tall tree can transport
- the significance of water's tensile strength in the pull theory
- the role of the sun in the pull theory
- the mechanism underlying water's tensile strength
Hide Solution
Verified By Collegedunia
The Correct Option is
Solution and Explanation
Step 1: Understanding the Concept:
This is an "EXCEPT" question. We must find which of the five topics is NOT discussed in the passage. The correct answer will be the one for which no information is provided. We can use a process of elimination by finding the information for the other four options.
Step 2: Detailed Explanation:
Let's locate the information for each option in the passage:
(A) when the pull theory originated: The passage states, "First proposed in the late 1800's...". This information is provided.
(B) the amount of water a tall tree can transport: The first sentence says, "A tall tree can transport a hundred gallons of water a day...". This information is provided.
(C) the significance of water's tensile strength in the pull theory: The passage says the theory "relies on a property of water... its tensile strength." and explains how this property allows water to be tugged down from the treetop. Its significance is clearly explained. This information is provided.
(D) the role of the sun in the pull theory: The last sentence says, "...all the energy for lifting water comes from the sun's evaporative power." This information is provided.
(E) the mechanism underlying water's tensile strength: The passage states that the theory relies on tensile strength, but it never explains \textit{what causes} this property in water. It does not mention cohesion, adhesion, or hydrogen bonds, which are the underlying mechanisms. This information is NOT provided in the passage.
Step 3: Final Answer:
The passage mentions and uses the concept of tensile strength, but it does not explain the physical mechanism that causes it. Therefore, (E) is the correct answer.
This is an "EXCEPT" question. We must find which of the five topics is NOT discussed in the passage. The correct answer will be the one for which no information is provided. We can use a process of elimination by finding the information for the other four options.
Step 2: Detailed Explanation:
Let's locate the information for each option in the passage:
(A) when the pull theory originated: The passage states, "First proposed in the late 1800's...". This information is provided.
(B) the amount of water a tall tree can transport: The first sentence says, "A tall tree can transport a hundred gallons of water a day...". This information is provided.
(C) the significance of water's tensile strength in the pull theory: The passage says the theory "relies on a property of water... its tensile strength." and explains how this property allows water to be tugged down from the treetop. Its significance is clearly explained. This information is provided.
(D) the role of the sun in the pull theory: The last sentence says, "...all the energy for lifting water comes from the sun's evaporative power." This information is provided.
(E) the mechanism underlying water's tensile strength: The passage states that the theory relies on tensile strength, but it never explains \textit{what causes} this property in water. It does not mention cohesion, adhesion, or hydrogen bonds, which are the underlying mechanisms. This information is NOT provided in the passage.
Step 3: Final Answer:
The passage mentions and uses the concept of tensile strength, but it does not explain the physical mechanism that causes it. Therefore, (E) is the correct answer.
Was this answer helpful?
0
0
Top Questions on Reading Comprehension
- This passage was written in 1984.
It is now possible to hear a recording of Caruso’s singing that is far superior to any made during his lifetime. A decades-old wax-cylinder recording of this great operatic tenor has been digitized, and the digitized signal has been processed by computer to remove the extraneous sound, or ”noise,” introduced by the now ”ancient” wax-cylinder recording process. Although this digital technique needs improvement, it represents a new and superior way of recording and processing sound which overcomes many of the limitations of analog recording. In analog recording systems, the original sound is represented as a continuous waveform created by variations in the sound’s amplitude over time. When analog playback systems reproduce this waveform, however, they invariably introduce distortions. First, the waveform produced during playback differs somewhat from the original waveform. Second, the medium that stores the analog recording creates noise during playback which gets added to the recorded sounds. ... as long as the numbers remain recognizable, the original waveform will be reconstructed with little loss in quality. However, because the waveform is continuous, while its digital representation is composed of discrete numbers, it is impossible for digital systems to avoid some distortion. One kind of distortion, called ”sampling error,” occurs if the sound is sampled (i.e., its amplitude is measured) too infrequently, so that the amplitude changes more than one quantum (the smallest change in amplitude measured by the digital system) between samplings. In effect, the sound is changing too quickly for the system to record it accurately. A second form of distortion is ”quantizing error,” which arises when the amplitude being measured is not a whole number of quanta, forcing the digital recorder to round off. Over the long term, these errors are random, and the noise produced (a background buzzing) is similar to analog noise except that it only occurs when recorded sounds are being reproduced.- GMAT - 2025
- Verbal Reasoning
- Reading Comprehension
- In recent years, scholars have begun to use social science tools to analyze court opinions. These scholars have justifiably criticized traditional legal research for its focus on a few cases chosen for their perceived doctrinal importance, arguing that such research may distort our understanding of the law. Social scientists endeavor to study court opinions systematically, analyzing samples of cases that are selected randomly or that constitute the entire universe of cases within certain bounds. However, social science approaches themselves have limitations. By focusing primarily on the influence of factors such as the identity of the judge or the ideological orientation of the court, social scientists may overlook the influence of legal doctrine itself. Their research designs, which usually involve analyzing the quantitative relationship between characteristics of cases and their outcomes, are good at detecting the influence of factors that can be easily quantified but not as good at assessing the influence of factors such as the reasoning of the judge. Social science approaches have also been criticized for ignoring the distinction between the holding of a case (the part of the opinion that is legally binding) and the dicta (nonbinding statements). Finally, these approaches are better suited to analyzing the decisions of appellate courts, which generally issue written opinions, than the decisions of trial courts, which often do not.
- GMAT - 2025
- Verbal Reasoning
- Reading Comprehension
- In the field of Native American history, scholars have increasingly recognized the need to un- derstand indigenous cultures and perspectives. However, achieving this goal is difficult, partly because Native American oral traditions are rarely accorded the same legitimacy as written accounts. Historian Joanne Rappaport observes that written sources are privileged in histori- cal scholarship, and she argues that this privileging reflects a view that literacy is superior to orality. Rappaport suggests that the link between writing and truth is historically contingent, arising from the encounter between Native Americans and Spanish colonizers. She points out that while the Spanish privileged written documents as records of events, the Native Americans of the Andes regarded oral traditions and ritual performances as the principal means of record- ing the past. When Andean societies were forced to adopt alphabetic writing, they adapted it to meet their needs. For example, indigenous authors used alphabetic writing not only to record events but also to express Andean understandings of the cosmos. Moreover, Andean communities continued to rely on oral traditions and ritual performances to transmit historical knowledge. Rappaport argues that scholars should recognize the parity of oral and written modes of transmitting knowledge and strive to incorporate both into their historical accounts.
- GMAT - 2025
- Verbal Reasoning
- Reading Comprehension
- Although economic analysis of collective bargaining has traditionally focused on wages, recent studies have increasingly focused on the effects of unionization on fringe benefits such as pen- sions and health insurance. Because the costs of providing fringe benefits are tax deductible for employers, fringe benefits are effectively subsidized by the government. This tax treatment creates an incentive for employers to increase the proportion of employee compensation that is paid in the form of fringe benefits. However, not all workers value fringe benefits equally. Since the value that workers place on fringe benefits is likely to rise with their income (because the tax savings associated with fringe benefits increase with income), higher-income workers are likely to prefer a greater proportion of their compensation in the form of fringe benefits than are lower-income workers. Unions, which typically represent lower-income workers, should therefore be expected to oppose the substitution of fringe benefits for wages. However, unions often support such substitutions. One explanation for this puzzling behavior is that unions take into account the preferences not just of current members but also of potential members, who are typically younger and higher-income than current members. Another explanation is that unions are willing to accept lower wages in exchange for fringe benefits because fringe benefits help to retain workers and reduce labor turnover, thereby increasing the union’s bargaining power.
- GMAT - 2025
- Verbal Reasoning
- Reading Comprehension
- Recent studies of the gender gap in entrepreneurship have produced somewhat conflicting re- sults. Some studies suggest that the gender gap is narrowing, while others suggest that it is widening. One difficulty in interpreting these results is that the studies often measure en- trepreneurship in different ways. Some studies define entrepreneurs as those who start their own businesses, while others define them as those who own or manage businesses. Moreover, studies vary in their focus, with some examining the proportion of entrepreneurs who are women and others examining the proportion of women who are entrepreneurs. Despite these differ- ences, however, the studies generally agree that women are less likely than men to become entrepreneurs. Several factors have been proposed to explain this gender gap. Some scholars point to differences in access to financial capital, arguing that women are less likely than men to be able to obtain the funding needed to start or grow a business. Others point to differences in human capital, suggesting that women are less likely than men to have the education, expe- rience, and skills needed for entrepreneurship. Still others point to differences in social capital, arguing that women are less likely than men to have access to the networks and connections that can facilitate entrepreneurial success.
- GMAT - 2025
- Verbal Reasoning
- Reading Comprehension
View More Questions
Questions Asked in GRE exam
- New technologies often begin by BLANK what has gone before, and they change the world later. Think how long it took power-using companies to recognize that with electricity they did not need to cluster their machinery around the power source, as in the days of steam. Instead, power could be BLANK their processes. In that sense, many of today's computer networks are still in the steam age. Their full potential remains unrealized.
BLANK 1 Options: (A) uprooting, (B) dismissing, (C) mimicking
BLANK 2 Options: (D) transmitted to, (E) consolidated around, (F) incorporated into
- GRE - 2024
- Fill in the Blanks
- For the past two years at FasCorp, there has been a policy to advertise any job opening to current employees and to give no job to an applicant from outside the company if a FasCorp employee applies who is qualified for the job. This policy has been strictly followed, yet even though numerous employees of FasCorp have been qualified for any given entry-level position, some entry-level jobs have been filled with people from outside the company.
If the information provided is true, which of the following must on the basis of it also be true about FasCorp during the past two years?- GRE - 2024
- Critical Reasoning
- As an example of the devastation wrought on music publishers by the photocopier, one executive noted that for a recent choral festival with 1,200 singers, the festival's organizing committee purchased only 12 copies of the music published by her company that was performed as part of the festival.
Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the support the example lends to the executive's contention that music publishers have been devastated by the photocopier?- GRE - 2024
- Critical Reasoning
- There has been much hand-wringing about how unprepared American students are for college. Graff reverses this perspective, suggesting that colleges are unprepared for students. In his analysis, the university culture is largely BLANK entering students because academic culture fails to make connections to the kinds of arguments and cultural references the students grasp. Understandably, many students view academic life as BLANK ritual.
BLANK 1 Options: (A) primed for, (B) opaque to, (C) essential for
BLANK 2 Options: (D) an arcane, (E) a laudable, (F) a painstaking
- GRE - 2024
- Fill in the Blanks
- The BLANK nature of classical tragedy in Athens belies the modern image of tragedy: in the modern view tragedy is austere and stripped down, its representations of ideological and emotional conflicts so superbly compressed that there's nothing BLANK for time to erode.
BLANK 1 Options: (A) unadorned, (B) harmonious, (C) multifaceted
BLANK 2 Options: (D) inalienable, (E) exigent, (F) extraneous
- GRE - 2024
- Fill in the Blanks
View More Questions