Multiple choice on inference: 'all companies' versus 'another matter'
Javier is on the last text of the reading section in Cuenca: a 400-word magazine article about a four-day week trial at a British firm. Item 4 asks: 'What does the writer suggest about the trial?' The options are: A) it failed because productivity fell; B) staff welcomed it, but its long-term effects are uncertain; C) all companies that shorten hours make higher profits; D) it was mainly a way of cutting salaries. The text says: 'Staff reported feeling less exhausted, and turnover fell. Whether the model would survive a downturn, however, is another matter; several firms that tried it have since returned to five days.' Javier chooses B, then switches to C at the last minute because C 'sounds more positive'. Item 5 asks what it refers to in 'several firms that tried it', and he leaves it blank.
1. Which option does the text support, and what exactly disqualifies C? Point to the words that decide.
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B. Two clauses do the work: 'Staff reported feeling less exhausted, and turnover fell' supports 'staff welcomed it'; 'Whether the model would survive a downturn, however, is another matter' supports 'long-term effects are uncertain'. The connector however flags the writer's reservation - precisely what B describes.
C fails on scope, not on topic. 'All companies' is an absolute claim; the text speaks only of 'several firms', gives no profit figures, and notes that some returned to five days. In multiple choice, wrong options are typically built by widening a true statement (all, always, mainly, only) or by importing knowledge from outside the text. Something being generally true does not make an option correct; only the printed line does.
Javier's error is choosing by tone ('more positive') rather than evidence. Never change an answer unless you can point to the line that justifies the change; if you cannot find it in ten seconds, keep the first choice.
2. Resolve *it* in 'several firms that tried it' and set out the procedure that gets there reliably.
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Referent: the four-day week, i.e. 'the model' named in the previous sentence - not turnover, not a downturn.
Procedure:
- Number: it is singular, so plurals (firms, staff, five days) are out at once.
- Verb semantics: 'tried it' needs something a company can try - a scheme, a system, a model. 'tried a downturn' and 'tried turnover' fail on meaning.
- Proximity plus fit: scan backwards from it; the nearest noun phrase satisfying both grammar and meaning is normally the antecedent. Here 'the model' is the closest compatible one, and the title and opening paragraph supply 'four-day week' as the fuller answer.
- Substitute and re-read: 'several firms that tried the four-day week have since returned to five days' - the sentence now reads cleanly, which is the test.
Exam note: reference items are marked on the full noun phrase, not on 'it'. He should write 'the four-day week (the model)' rather than leave the item blank.