Passage: It is often said that people read less than they used to. Yet the quantity of text an average adult takes in during a day has almost certainly risen: messages, news feeds and captions now fill hours that were once spent in silence. What has fallen away is the reading of long, continuous works, which demands a sustained attention that short passages never call for. The main point of the passage is that:

Question

Accepted Answer

reading has changed in kind rather than declined, short texts having displaced the sustained reading of long works. The opening sentence reports a common belief only so that the passage can correct it: the total quantity read has risen, while one particular kind of reading has declined. The first option is the belief the passage rejects, the second is a recommendation it never makes, and the third overstates the point - the passage says long reading has fallen away, not that the capacity for it has been lost.

Step-by-Step Solution

Master this topic in 30 minutes a day.

More Logical / Critical practice