Paired Passages: Ranger Essay and Wildlife Report
During a timed OAT Reading Comprehension practice set, a student faces paired passages. Passage A (about 220 words) is an essay by a longtime park ranger describing a dawn coyote encounter; it uses phrases like 'a flash of tawny fur' and ends with a personal reflection on sharing cities with wildlife. Passage B (about 240 words) is a municipal wildlife-office summary stating that reported coyote sightings rose from 412 to 1,187 over five years, that 68 percent occurred in two wards, and that 'no confirmed bites were recorded.' The student's two remaining options for 'The primary purpose of Passage B is to…' are: (A) persuade readers that coyotes are harmless; (B) present data on coyote sighting patterns. The student leans toward A because the passage mentions the absence of bites and seems reassuring.
1. Which option is the better answer for the primary-purpose question, and what in the passage decides it?
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Option B. Primary purpose is the job the passage performs as a whole. Passage B spends most of its length reporting counts, a time span, and a geographic distribution - the signature of a data summary. The 'no confirmed bites' line is one fact inside that report, and a neutral agency summary can include it without arguing a case. Option A requires persuasive intent: a call to action, evaluative adjectives such as 'harmless' or 'safe,' or an explicit rebuttal of fear. None is present. A useful test is to ask whether the passage could omit the item and remain the same kind of text: removing the bite statistic still leaves a data report, while removing the data leaves nothing.
2. A later question asks about each author's attitude toward urban coyotes. How should the student keep the two passages separate?
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Passage A's attitude is affectionate and reflective: 'a flash of tawny fur' is sensory imagery, and the closing reflection signals fondness. Passage B's attitude is administrative - it neither endorses nor condemns coyotes; it records them. The trap is carryover. Because the paired passages share a topic, a student who has just decided Passage A is warm may import warmth into B. Anchor each tone answer to that passage's own diction. If a choice says 'concerned' for Passage B, ask which word in B expresses concern; if none does, the choice fails regardless of how the topic makes the reader feel.
3. If a question asks what both passages imply about coyote presence in cities, how should the student choose?
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Look for the lowest common factual ground: both treat coyotes as present in urban areas - A by narrating an encounter, B by counting sightings. Reject choices that state a position only one passage holds, such as 'cities should welcome coyotes,' which A implies but B does not, or 'coyotes pose no risk,' which B addresses only through a narrow statistic. Agreement questions reward the intersection of the two texts, not the union. A practical check is to test each candidate against both passages separately and discard it the moment one passage would not support it.