Comparative Reading: Relationships Between Two Passages
What you must be able to do
Compare two short passages on a related topic: their theses, attitudes, evidence, scope, and method. The passages may agree, partially overlap, or address different aspects of one issue.
Concepts to master
- Separate summaries. Write one sentence per passage: main claim plus attitude. Comparison questions are unanswerable without both.
- Types of relationship. Agreement with different emphasis; agreement with different evidence; one passage answering a question the other raises; one passage supplying a mechanism the other assumes; genuine disagreement about fact or about interpretation; different scope (one general, one a case study).
- Agreement questions. "Both authors would agree" answers must be supported in both passages. A statement found in only one passage is the most common wrong answer.
- Attitude comparison. One author may be more cautious, more polemical, or more interested in policy implications.
Traps
Assuming the second passage rebuts the first (often it complements it), assuming total disagreement where the authors differ only in emphasis, and choosing an answer that is precisely true of passage A and merely consistent with passage B.
Rule of thumb and worked example
Before answering, state the relationship aloud in one clause - "same conclusion, different reasons" or "different scope, no conflict." Then eliminate any choice that mislabels the relationship.
Example: passage A argues that urban gardens improve neighborhood cohesion, citing interviews. Passage B argues that urban gardens rarely survive without municipal funding, citing budget records. Neither disputes the other; B identifies a condition A ignores. The correct description is that B introduces a practical constraint on the benefits A describes - not that B challenges A's findings about cohesion.