A question about one author’s response to another tests how their claims and reasons connect. Read the question for who answers whom, then sum up each text’s main claim and reason. When the question asks about a main claim, focus on the overall point rather than a detail. Name the stance: reject means disagree, qualify means accept it with limits, and extend means take the claim further. The response needs the responding author’s own reason, not one the texts never give.
Hints
- Hint 1
In Text 1’s last two sentences, separate the main claim from the advice to companies. What belief about remote work leads to that advice?
- Hint 2
Look in Text 2 for what the listed tools let teams do. Does that support, limit, or challenge Text 1’s main claim?
Step-by-step
Compare the claims and reasons
Step 1Identify the claim being answered
The question makes the author of Text 2 the one responding, so Text 2’s view guides our answer. What’s Text 1’s main claim? A primarily remote workforce will inevitably suffer declines in collaboration and creativity because screens lose nuance and spontaneous discussion. The decline is unavoidable, in this author’s view, which leads to the advice to require on-site work.
- Step 2
Find Text 2’s reasons
What does Text 2 offer as evidence? Virtual whiteboards, video meetings, and shared documents allow team members to brainstorm and iterate, so people can develop and improve ideas together from different locations. Forums and recordings can also produce more thoughtful contributions than hurried office chats.
- Step 3
Name the stance
The claim remote work can broaden it directly addresses creativity. What stance does that give Text 2 toward Text 1? Text 2 rejects the unavoidable decline, rather than accepting it with a limit. The replies about diminished creativity being unavoidable and spontaneous office interactions being superior go against that view.
- Step 4
Check the reason and strength
Which reason matches Text 2’s view? Neither text discusses real-estate expenses, so that reply has no support. The choice about modern digital tools uses the author’s own reason: technology makes remote collaboration not only possible but also highly effective. The words just as creatively challenge a necessary decline without claiming remote work is always better. Choice D.