despite the relatively low volume of trade, the hierarchical structure of
these organizations was an edifying antecedent to today’s high-volume
companies. For example, the complexity of the trans-Atlantic tea trade
required the development of tiered management structures to coordinate
the consolidation of tea from disparate sources and to ensure its proper
distribution to the American colonies. Indeed, to safeguard against potential
pilfering, the owners of these trading companies established bases in both
the United States and England, a transnational corporate structure that sees
its full realization in today’s multinational conglomerates.
Recall that you identified that the author’s main purpose is to show that 16th-
and 17th-century trading companies are relevant to the development of the
modern corporation. When reading the rest of the paragraph, you should focus on
how that information relates to the main point. The contextual clues for example
and indeed are essential to understanding the role of this supporting evidence.
You know that what comes after for example will support the author’s main point.
Because indeed indicates continuity, you know that the last sentence will serve
to further reinforce this main point. Thus when reading these sentences, you can
understand the structure of the paragraph and the role of each of the sentences
even if you haven’t digested all of the minor information. And this is not a problem:
minor information should not concern you. The reason the author mentions it is
the larger concern.Principle 5: Identify the Author’s Tone
To n e refers to the author’s attitude toward the subject matter in the passage. For
example, an author can be pessimistic, slightly hopeful, objective, skeptical, and
so on. To identify tone, look for valenced words in the passage. If the author uses
words like fortunately or thankfully, you know that the author feels positively
about whatever he is discussing, whereas words like regrettably indicate that the
author feels negatively about the content matter of the passage. However, note that,
while the author might regret a situation, he will rarely abhor it. Why? Because
the author’s tone in a GRE passage will almost never be extreme. Identifying tone
is important not only because some questions explicitly ask about tone, but also
because you can use the author’s tone to eliminate wrong answer choices.
Now let’s put these strategies into action with a full passage and associated
questions.Scientists have long acknowledged that the deterioration of the ocean’s
coral reef ecosystems is at least partly due to the effects of global climate
change. One of the primary consequences of this change in climate has
been the disruption of the symbiotic relationship between the polyps that
compose coral reefs and the algae that feed on these polyps. Researchers have
identified that the culprit for much of this disruption is coral “bleaching,”
which occurs when the algae feeding on the polyps die and therefore lose
their green pigmentation. The prevailing explanation for coral bleaching
has been that the increase in the ocean’s temperature disrupts the process of
photosynthesis—the conversion of light into energy—and thereby kills the510510128 PART 2 ■ GRE ANALYTICAL WRITING AND VERBAL REASONING02-GRE-Test-2018_107-172.indd 128 13/05/17 11:06 am