What the passage implies — Aptitude Question
What the passage implies: Remote work was once treated as a perk for a favoured few. The pandemic turned it into… Answer and worked solution on CodeKairo.
- Topic: Reading Comprehension
- Section: Verbal Ability
- Difficulty: Medium
- Time target: 75 seconds
Question
Remote work was once treated as a perk for a favoured few. The pandemic turned it into ordinary practice almost overnight, and companies discovered that output did not collapse. What did suffer was the informal exchange that happens in corridors: the overheard question, the quick correction, the unplanned introduction.
Which statement can be inferred from the passage?
Options
- Before the pandemic, remote work was uncommon.
- Companies measured output badly.
- Informal exchange cannot occur online.
- All firms have returned to the office.
Show the answer and the worked solution
Correct answer: A. Before the pandemic, remote work was uncommon.
Worked solution
- A perk for a favoured few implies few people had it: remote work was uncommon before the pandemic. That follows directly.
- The passage never questions how output was measured, never says informal exchange is impossible online (only that it suffered), and says nothing about firms returning fully.
Answer: Before the pandemic, remote work was uncommon.
The idea
A valid inference is one short step from the text, not a leap. Words like cannot, all and never in an option usually signal an overstatement the passage does not support.
Shortcut. Match the option to a phrase in the text: 'a perk for a favoured few' means few people had it, i.e. remote work was uncommon. Each other option needs a fact the passage never supplies.
Common trap. "Informal exchange cannot occur online." stretches the text: the passage says informal exchange suffered, not that it became impossible, so 'cannot' overstates it.