Question

The text in the passage can be best termed as

• A. narrative
• B. descriptive
• C. persuasive
• D. expository
• A. highlight the difficulties faced by innovators.
• B. focus on the hardships of patent -seekers.
• C. compare innovators to inventors.
• D. reveal the importance of inventors
• A. innovators enhance the utility of inventions.
• B. innovators face fewer challenges than inventors do.
• C. every inventor has a patent for the invention.
• D. invention is the same as innovation.
• A. there is no place for mistakes in the process of making an innovation.
• B. making a mistake before finding success is not unusual.
• C. failure is a permanent stumbling block.
• D. all innovators have to go through failure.
• A. a highly-planned and deeply researched invention
• B. the fruit of failure
• C. the need of the hour
• D. an accidental invention
• A. his ingenuity and good fortune.
• B. the carelessness of Elisha‘s lawyer.
• C. the clever trick played by his lawyer.
• D. the biased officials in the patent office.
• A. Inventors may not be innovators.
• B. Innovators are not expected to be enterprising.
• C. To get a patent, the applicant has to follow a legal process.
• D. Intellectual property rights are not always easy to get.
• A. The world of inventions and innovations is a competitive one.
• B. Not every innovation sees the light of the day.
• C. Thus, inventors and innovators have to be intrepid enough to take risks;
• D. None of the above
• A. hasty
• B. intellectual
• C. daring
• D. rich
• A. praiseworthy
• B. challenging
• C. tiring
• D. disgraceful

Answer 1

The Correct Option is D

A quick way to classify a passage is to check it against the defining feature of each text type in turn.

1. narrative: requires a storyline with events unfolding in sequence. The passage has no such storyline; it jumps between different examples to support a single idea, so this feature is absent.
2. descriptive: requires vivid sensory detail about a person, place, or object. The passage gives factual information, such as Edison's 1,093 patents, rather than descriptive imagery, so this feature is absent too.
3. persuasive: requires the writer to be pushing the reader toward a particular opinion or action. The passage simply lays out facts and examples about invention and innovation without pressing the reader to agree with a stance, so this feature is missing as well.
4. expository: requires facts, definitions, and examples used to explain a concept clearly. This is exactly what the passage does throughout, from defining "inventor" and "innovator" to illustrating the difference with real examples.

Since only the defining feature of explanatory, fact-based writing is present in the passage, that is the category it belongs to.

Therefore, the correct answer is expository.

Answer 2

Checking the passage for the one signal each text type relies on most, an unfolding plot, sensory imagery, a call to action, or a chain of explained facts, helps eliminate three options quickly.

1. narrative: ruled out, since there is no unfolding plot or characters developing over time, only separate illustrative examples.
2. descriptive: ruled out, since the passage gives no sensory imagery of sights, sounds, or textures anywhere in its paragraphs.
3. persuasive: ruled out, since there is no direct call to action or attempt to sway the reader's opinion; both inventors and innovators are praised evenly.
4. expository: confirmed, since every paragraph adds another piece of explanation, definitions, examples, and quotations, building toward a clearer understanding of the invention-innovation relationship.

With three signals absent and one present throughout, the passage's classification is clear.

Therefore, the correct answer is expository.

Answer 3

A main idea should be supported across most or all paragraphs, not just one or two, so tracing each option through the passage helps confirm which one truly holds throughout.

1. highlight the difficulties faced by innovators: This idea appears mainly in the passage's discussion of trial and error, but the passage spends just as much space on inventors' challenges and on defining the two roles, so this idea does not run through the whole piece.
2. focus on the hardships of patent-seekers: This idea appears only in the paragraphs about Edison's patents and the telephone dispute, a small section of the passage, not something carried through the introduction or conclusion.
3. reveal the importance of inventors: This appears in parts of the passage, but the closing lines specifically praise "innovations" alongside "inventions," giving both roles equal weight rather than focusing on inventors alone.
4. compare innovators to inventors: This idea opens the passage in the first two sentences, continues through the discussion of risk-taking, is reinforced by the Velcro and telephone examples, and closes the passage with a direct comparison of both roles' value. It is the one idea present from beginning to end.

Since this comparison is the thread that runs through the introduction, the examples, and the conclusion, it best represents the author's main idea.

Therefore, the correct answer is compare innovators to inventors.

Answer 4

Main-idea options usually fail by being either too narrow, covering just one part of the passage, or by leaning too heavily toward only one side of a comparison. Checking each option against these two failure types narrows things down.

1. highlight the difficulties faced by innovators: too one-sided, since it credits only innovators with facing difficulty when the passage gives inventors equal difficulty too.
2. focus on the hardships of patent-seekers: too narrow, since patents are only one example used within a larger discussion, not the passage's overall subject.
3. reveal the importance of inventors: too one-sided, since it leaves out the innovator's role entirely, despite the passage praising both equally in its final lines.
4. compare innovators to inventors: neither too narrow nor one-sided, since it accounts for the passage's balanced treatment of both roles from the opening line to the conclusion.

Testing each option against these two common main-idea pitfalls leaves only one option standing.

Therefore, the correct answer is compare innovators to inventors.

Answer 5

For belief-based questions like this, it helps to find the specific line in the passage that either supports or contradicts each option.

1. invention is the same as innovation: The passage's opening line says these two ideas "are closely linked, but they are not interchangeable," which directly rules out this option.
2. every inventor has a patent for the invention: The passage's line "there have been inventors who failed to get a single patent" directly rules out this option too.
3. innovators face fewer challenges than inventors do: The passage's line "if an invention is the result of countless trials and errors, so can be the case with an innovation" treats both as equally prone to struggle, so there is no support for innovators having an easier path.
4. innovators enhance the utility of inventions: The passage's description of the innovator as someone who "uses various resources, skills and time to make the invention available for use" matches this option almost word for word.

Since the passage contains a specific line that supports one option and separate lines that directly contradict the other three, the well-supported statement is the correct one.

Therefore, the correct answer is innovators enhance the utility of inventions.

Answer 6

The passage gives the innovator a specific job description early on: someone who "uses various resources, skills and time to make the invention available for use," and who may "modify it or even blend two or more inventions to make one marketable product." Measuring each option against this job description is a direct way to check them.

1. invention is the same as innovation: fails, since this job description exists specifically because the two roles are treated as separate steps in the passage, not as one and the same thing.
2. every inventor has a patent for the invention: fails, since this claim is about inventors and patents, unrelated to the innovator's job description entirely.
3. innovators face fewer challenges than inventors do: fails, since the job description says nothing about relative difficulty, and the passage elsewhere treats both roles as equally prone to trial and error.
4. innovators enhance the utility of inventions: succeeds, since "making the invention available for use" and "blending inventions into a marketable product" both directly describe enhancing an invention's usefulness.

Matching each option against the innovator's stated job in the passage confirms which one the author actually supports.

Therefore, the correct answer is innovators enhance the utility of inventions.

Answer 7

Since the question asks about a belief shared by two people, it helps to look at each of their quoted statements separately first, and then find what they have in common.

1. Franklin's belief: the passage says he held that "success doesn't come without challenge, mistake, and in a few cases failure," which frames mistakes as a normal companion to success rather than something to be avoided entirely.
2. Jobs's belief: the passage quotes him saying "sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly and get on with improving your other innovations," which again treats mistakes as an expected, manageable part of the process, not a permanent setback.
3. Common ground: both quotes agree that mistakes happen along the way to success and are not something rare or catastrophic. This rules out "there is no place for mistakes," "failure is a permanent stumbling block," and the overstated "all innovators have to go through failure," since none of these match the measured tone of either quote.
4. Matching option: the idea that "making a mistake before finding success is not unusual" is the only option that reflects this shared, moderate view held by both Franklin and Jobs.

Reading the two quotes side by side confirms that they agree on treating mistakes as a normal, expected part of achieving success.

Therefore, the correct answer is making a mistake before finding success is not unusual.

Answer 8

Reducing each of Franklin's and Jobs's quotes to a single plain-language line, then checking which option matches that reduced version, is a quick way to confirm the answer.

1. Franklin's quote, reduced: "Success usually comes along with some mistakes."
2. Jobs's quote, reduced: "Mistakes happen when innovating; just fix them and move on."
3. Matching against the options: "there is no place for mistakes" contradicts both reduced lines; "failure is a permanent stumbling block" contradicts Jobs's "move on" idea directly; "all innovators have to go through failure" overstates both reduced lines, which only say mistakes are common, not universal.
4. making a mistake before finding success is not unusual: matches both reduced lines closely, since both simply describe mistakes as a normal, expected part of the process.

Reducing the two quotes to their plain meaning and comparing against each option confirms the one that fits both.

Therefore, the correct answer is making a mistake before finding success is not unusual.

Answer 9

Tracing the passage's own account of how Velcro was invented, step by step, shows clearly which description fits best.

1. The starting point: the passage says de Mestral "was hiking in the woods" when burrs stuck to his clothes and his dog's fur, an ordinary outdoor activity, not a planned research session.
2. What followed: "back at home, he studied the burrs" and discovered they were made of tiny hooks, showing that his investigation began only after he had already noticed something by chance.
3. The outcome: "a few years later, he made and patented the strips of fabric that came to us as Velcro," showing that the eventual invention grew out of that earlier chance observation.
4. Matching description: this sequence, chance encounter first, deliberate study second, invention later, is the definition of an accidental discovery, ruling out "highly-planned," "fruit of failure," and "need of the hour," none of which match this sequence of events.

Following the passage's own timeline of events shows Velcro began with an unplanned observation rather than deliberate planning or necessity.

Therefore, the correct answer is an accidental invention.

Answer 10

For each option, it helps to ask what the passage would need to say for that option to be true, and then check whether the passage actually says it.

1. a highly-planned and deeply researched invention: would need the passage to mention a deliberate research goal or project; instead it describes an ordinary hike, so this requirement is not met.
2. the fruit of failure: would need the passage to mention an earlier failed attempt at something else; instead the passage moves straight from noticing burrs to studying them, with no failure mentioned, so this requirement is not met.
3. the need of the hour: would need the passage to mention an existing demand or problem being solved; instead the passage frames the discovery as arising from curiosity, so this requirement is not met.
4. an accidental invention: would need the passage to show a chance event leading unexpectedly to a discovery; this is exactly what the hiking-and-burrs account describes, so this requirement is met.

Checking what each option demands from the text, and finding it only in one case, points to a single answer.

Therefore, the correct answer is an accidental invention.

Answer 11

The passage's account of the telephone patent has two distinct parts, first Bell's own effort in designing the telephone, and then the chance timing of the filing, so checking the options against each part in turn is useful.

1. The skill part: the passage notes Bell designed the telephone around the same time as Meucci and Gray, showing his own genuine effort and ability, which rules out any option that credits the outcome purely to someone else's action.
2. The luck part: the passage says "by sheer chance, Graham's lawyer's turn to file the papers came first," a phrase that explicitly names chance, not scheming, carelessness, or bias, as the deciding factor in timing.
3. Options built on wrongdoing: "the carelessness of Elisha's lawyer," "the clever trick played by his lawyer," and "the biased officials in the patent office" all assume some fault or scheme on someone's part, none of which the passage states.
4. Matching option: "his ingenuity and good fortune" is the only option that reflects both halves of the passage's account, Bell's own skill and the lucky timing, without inventing any wrongdoing the passage never mentions.

Combining the passage's two stated causes, skill and chance, points clearly to one option.

Therefore, the correct answer is his ingenuity and good fortune.

Answer 12

The passage discusses three people working on the telephone around the same time, Bell, Meucci, and Gray, so comparing how it treats each of them shows what actually decided the outcome.

1. Meucci: the passage says he "could not proceed with the patent of his invention" due to "lack of resources and various hardships," a problem of circumstance, not of anyone acting unfairly toward him.
2. Gray: the passage says he applied "on the same day as Graham Bell did," and that Bell's lawyer's turn to file "came first" by "sheer chance," again a matter of timing, not of Gray's side making an error or being treated unfairly.
3. Bell: the passage credits him with independently designing the telephone, showing his own genuine ability, and separately notes the lucky timing of the filing.
4. Overall pattern: across all three, the passage attributes outcomes to circumstance, resources, and timing, never to trickery, carelessness, or bias by any official, which rules out three of the four options and leaves only "his ingenuity and good fortune" consistent with how all three inventors are described.

Comparing the passage's even-handed treatment of all three inventors confirms that skill and chance, not any wrongdoing, decided the outcome.

Therefore, the correct answer is his ingenuity and good fortune.

Answer 13

Since this is an "untrue" question, going through each statement as a true/false check against the passage's own words is the most direct approach.

1. "Intellectual property rights are not always easy to get" — True: matches the passage's line about inventors who "failed to get a single patent."
2. "To get a patent, the applicant has to follow a legal process" — True: matches the passage's description of filing papers with the patent office and the order in which lawyers submitted them.
3. "Inventors may not be innovators" — True: matches the passage's line that it is "almost impossible for an inventor to be an innovator too."
4. "Innovators are not expected to be enterprising" — False: the passage's own definition calls the innovator "the enterprising innovator," directly using the word "enterprising" to describe them, so a statement claiming innovators are not expected to be enterprising goes against the passage's own wording.

Checking each statement individually shows three hold up against the passage while one is directly contradicted by it.

Therefore, the correct answer is Innovators are not expected to be enterprising.

Answer 14

The passage's opening paragraph defines both roles in a single sentence each, so matching each option against these exact defining sentences is a fast way to spot the untrue one.

1. Defining sentence for the innovator: "it is the enterprising innovator who uses various resources, skills and time to make the invention available for use." The word "enterprising" is used here as a built-in description of the innovator, not as an optional trait.
2. Innovators are not expected to be enterprising: this statement directly contradicts the defining sentence above, since the passage's own definition already labels innovators as enterprising from the outset.
3. The other three options: each can be matched to a separate, distinct sentence elsewhere in the passage, on inventors not always being innovators, on the legal filing process for patents, and on inventors failing to secure patents, all of which are consistent with, not contradicted by, the passage.

Since only one option clashes with the passage's own defining sentence for the innovator, that is the untrue statement.

Therefore, the correct answer is Innovators are not expected to be enterprising.

Answer 15

These three quoted lines each do a different job in the passage, one describes an environment, one states an outcome, and one urges an attitude, so identifying which job each line performs helps pinpoint the one about failure.

1. "The world of inventions and innovations is a competitive one.": this line's job is to describe the general environment or setting, competition, not to state whether any particular attempt succeeded or failed.
2. "Thus, inventors and innovators have to be intrepid enough to take risks;": this line's job is to recommend an attitude, courage in the face of risk, which assumes failure is possible but does not itself state that failure happened.
3. "Not every innovation sees the light of the day.": this line's job is to state a direct outcome, that some innovations do not succeed or reach the public at all, which is exactly what "failure" means in this context.
4. "None of the above.": ruled out because the third line above performs exactly the job of stating failure as an outcome.

Sorting the lines by the job each one performs in the passage, describing, recommending, or stating an outcome, shows only one line actually states failure as a fact.

Therefore, the correct answer is Not every innovation sees the light of the day.

Answer 16

Replacing the word "failure" with a plain paraphrase, something not succeeding or not happening, and checking which quoted line says this most directly narrows the answer down quickly.

1. "The world of inventions and innovations is a competitive one.": paraphrased, this says there is rivalry between people in this field; it says nothing about anything not succeeding.
2. "Thus, inventors and innovators have to be intrepid enough to take risks;": paraphrased, this says people in this field need courage; it assumes risk exists but does not itself say anything failed.
3. "Not every innovation sees the light of the day.": paraphrased, this says some innovations never happen or reach anyone, which is exactly the plain meaning of failure.
4. None of the above: ruled out, since the third line matches the paraphrase of failure directly.

Testing each line against a plain paraphrase of "failure" shows only one line actually carries that meaning.

Therefore, the correct answer is Not every innovation sees the light of the day.

Answer 17

A reliable way to check a synonym question is to substitute each option directly into the original sentence, "inventors and innovators have to be ___ enough to take risks," and see whether the meaning still makes sense.

1. "...have to be hasty enough to take risks": this suggests acting quickly or without enough thought, which does not match the passage's message about having the courage to face risk and possible failure.
2. "...have to be intellectual enough to take risks": this suggests needing cleverness or knowledge, but the sentence is about emotional courage in facing risk, not intelligence, so the substitution feels out of place.
3. "...have to be rich enough to take risks": this suggests needing wealth, which is entirely unrelated to the passage's discussion of courage and willingness to fail.
4. "...have to be daring enough to take risks": this fits smoothly, since "daring" describes exactly the fearless attitude needed to take risks that the sentence is describing.

Testing each word directly in the sentence shows that only one keeps the original meaning of fearless boldness intact.

Therefore, the correct answer is daring.

Answer 18

Sorting the four options by the general category of meaning they belong to, speed, intellect, wealth, or courage, and checking which category "intrepid" itself belongs to settles this quickly.

1. hasty: belongs to the speed/manner category, describing how quickly something is done.
2. intellectual: belongs to the intellect category, describing mental or reasoning ability.
3. rich: belongs to the wealth category, describing material abundance.
4. daring: belongs to the courage category, describing fearlessness in the face of risk, the exact category "intrepid" itself belongs to in the sentence about taking risks.

Since "intrepid" belongs to the courage category, only the option from that same category can replace it correctly.

Therefore, the correct answer is daring.

Answer 19

To find the antonym of "laudable," it helps to first fix its meaning: laudable means commendable or deserving of approval. Now check each option against that meaning:

1. Praiseworthy: Means the same as laudable, so this is a synonym, not an antonym.
2. Challenging: Refers to a task that requires effort or skill; it has nothing to do with approval or disapproval, so it cannot be the antonym.
3. Tiring: Refers to something exhausting; again, this is about physical effect, not about being praised or condemned, so it does not fit.
4. Disgraceful: Means shameful or dishonourable, the opposite of commendable. This is the word that reverses the meaning of laudable.

Since disgraceful directly contradicts the sense of approval carried by laudable, it is the correct antonym.

The correct answer is disgraceful.

Answer 20

A quick way to test for an antonym is to drop each option into the same sentence used with the original word and see whether the meaning flips. Consider the sentence "Her effort to help the flood victims was laudable" and swap in each option in turn.

1. Praiseworthy: "Her effort was praiseworthy" reads almost identically to the original sentence, confirming this word means the same thing rather than the reverse.
2. Challenging: "Her effort was challenging" changes the sentence into a comment about difficulty, not into a criticism of her effort, so the meaning does not reverse.
3. Tiring: "Her effort was tiring" again shifts the focus to physical strain rather than turning the sentence into a rebuke, so it still fails to produce the opposite sense.
4. Disgraceful: "Her effort was disgraceful" completely reverses the sentiment of the original sentence, turning praise into condemnation.

Only swapping in "disgraceful" flips the sentence from approval to condemnation, which is exactly what an antonym must do.

Therefore, the correct answer is disgraceful.