The main idea of the passage — Aptitude Question
The main idea of the passage: Remote work was once treated as a perk for a favoured few. The pandemic turned it… Answer and worked solution on CodeKairo.
- Topic: Reading Comprehension
- Section: Verbal Ability
- Difficulty: Medium
- Time target: 90 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. Firms are now experimenting with hybrid schedules, less because productivity demands it than because the social fabric of work does.
What is the main idea of the passage?
Options
- The pandemic proved that offices are unnecessary.
- Corridor conversations are the most productive part of any workday.
- Remote work reduces productivity and should be abandoned.
- Hybrid schedules are being adopted mainly to restore informal interaction, not to fix output.
Show the answer and the worked solution
Correct answer: D. Hybrid schedules are being adopted mainly to restore informal interaction, not to fix output.
Worked solution
- The passage states that output did not collapse under remote work, which rules out Remote work reduces productivity and should be abandoned.
- It never says offices are unnecessary — it ends with firms bringing people back part of the week — so The pandemic proved that offices are unnecessary overreaches.
- Corridor conversations mattered, but the passage does not call them the most productive part of the day; that option inflates a supporting detail.
- The last sentence carries the point: firms adopt hybrid schedules for the social fabric rather than for output. That is the fourth option.
Answer: Hybrid schedules are being adopted mainly to restore informal interaction, not to fix output.
The idea
The main idea is the claim every other sentence supports. Reject options that are true but minor (a supporting detail) and options that push the author's point further than the text goes.
Shortcut. Paraphrase the last sentence — hybrid work is for the social fabric, not for output — and match it. Only the hybrid-schedules option says that; the other three contradict a stated fact or inflate a detail.
Common trap. "The pandemic proved that offices are unnecessary." builds on the true line that output did not collapse, but ignores the passage's point that informal exchange suffered — the reason firms are bringing people back.