Concession vs. Claim in a Congestion-Charge Passage
At a Hokkaido University mock exam, a 420-word argumentative passage argues that a city should keep its congestion charge but spend the revenue differently. Paragraph 2 begins: 'Critics of the scheme are right that low-income drivers bear a disproportionate share of the cost.' It continues with evidence that the charge reduced traffic by 18 percent, then notes that bus ridership rose in the same neighborhoods. The paragraph ends: 'The question is not whether the charge is fair in the abstract, but whether the revenue is returned to those who pay it.' The final paragraph proposes rebates for residents earning below a stated threshold. A student chooses option B, 'Low-income drivers are unfairly burdened,' as the author's main claim, citing the first sentence of paragraph 2. The other options are: A, congestion charges reduce traffic; C, revenue should fund rebates; D, bus ridership has risen. The student asks why B is wrong when the author says critics are 'right.'
1. Explain the function of paragraph 2 and state the author's main claim. Use the exact wording of the paragraph to support your answer.
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Paragraph 2 is a concession, not the thesis. The signal is 'Critics ... are right that...' followed by a pivot at 'The question is not whether ... but whether...'. The author grants the fairness objection in order to redirect it: the real issue is revenue return, not the charge itself. The main claim is therefore that the charge should be kept but its revenue returned to those who pay it, which the final paragraph specifies as rebates below a threshold. The concession sentence cannot be the main claim because the author immediately limits it and never argues that the charge should be abolished. A useful test: delete the concession sentence. The argument still stands: traffic fell, bus ridership rose, revenue should be rebated. Delete the final-paragraph proposal, and the argument loses its purpose. The sentence that survives as the organizing claim is the revenue-return claim, not the fairness complaint.
2. The student says option A or C must be wrong because they are 'details.' Evaluate that reasoning and explain which option best captures the main claim.
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The student is half right. A ('charges reduce traffic') is supporting evidence, not the thesis: the 18 percent figure backs the claim that the charge works, but the author never argues that reducing traffic is the purpose of the passage. C ('revenue should fund rebates') is closer to the main claim, but it is narrower than the passage's argument. The passage defends keeping the charge and rebating the revenue; C states only the spending side. B restates the concession and is therefore a distractor that mistakes a granted point for the author's position. The best answer is the option that combines retention with revenue return, which C approximates but does not fully state. If forced to choose among A-D, C is the least incomplete because it names the policy proposal the author actually advocates. The reasoning should be: identify the author's purpose, then ask which option the rest of the passage is organized to support.