The Scholarship Letter With Two Readings
A reading passage contains a letter from a university to a student, Chen. The letter says Chen's scholarship has been "conditionally renewed" pending "satisfactory completion of the current semester." A later paragraph says the scholarship "will not be disbursed until the review is complete." Chen reads this as good news and tells friends the scholarship is confirmed. The passage also includes a footnote: students who fail more than one subject must reapply. Chen has failed one subject and is waiting on results for another. The exam asks students to interpret Chen's situation and the tone of the letter.
1. Explain what the letter actually establishes about Chen's scholarship, and identify the reading error Chen makes.
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The letter establishes a conditional position, not a confirmed one. "Conditionally renewed" means renewal depends on a condition; "pending satisfactory completion" names that condition; and the disbursement clause adds that no money moves until review ends. Chen's error is to read the positive word "renewed" while dropping the qualifiers that limit it. The footnote sharpens the risk: failing more than one subject forces reapplication, and Chen has one failure plus one pending result. So Chen is one bad result away from the reapplication threshold. A strong answer separates what is certain (the scholarship is not yet paid, review is ongoing), what is conditional (renewal depends on completing the semester satisfactorily), and what is at risk (a second failure triggers reapplication). The response should not claim the scholarship is lost, only that it is unresolved and contingent.
2. Describe the tone of the letter and explain how a reader should justify a claim about tone using the text.
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The tone is formal and cautious, not warm or celebratory. The evidence is in the wording: passive and impersonal constructions ("has been conditionally renewed"), procedural language ("pending," "review"), and a clause that withholds payment. None of this is hostile, but none of it congratulates Chen either. A reader should justify a tone claim by pointing to specific choices, not by asserting a feeling. The strongest answers quote or paraphrase the qualifiers and explain their effect: they keep the reader in a waiting position. Students should also notice the footnote's shift to a rule stated as a condition ("must reapply"), which is the most severe sentence in the passage. The judgement being tested is resisting the pull of a single positive word and reading the whole structure, including footnotes, as part of the message.