A general doubt on "primary concern of the passage"

[miteshsholay]

I face confusions while attempting this type of question in RC

The passage is primarily concerned with :
A)evaluating the arguments of various groups
B) presenting different views
C) contrasting different views
D) tracing the progress of the development of some technology.
E) proposing solutions to a problem

I am basically concerned about option A
When exactly is "evaluation of an argument" the primary concern of the passage ?

Pardon me if I am being too general.

Additional Info :
Was attempting Official Guide 13th Edition RC Que 86.

[tim]

yeah, this is too general of a question. i'm not entirely sure what question you could be asking where my answer wouldn't simply be tautological. can you try again so i can help you with this one?

[miteshsholay]

ok. for example, heres a passage from one of manhattan tests:
Despite its 1989 designation as a threatened species, the desert tortoise has declined in numbers by ninety percent since the 1980s. Although federal protection made it illegal to harm desert tortoises or remove them from the southwestern North American deserts, this measure has been insufficient to reverse the species’ decline. The lack of recovery is partly due to the desert tortoise’s low reproductive potential. Females breed only after reaching fifteen to twenty years of age, and even then may only lay eggs when adequate forage is available. The average mature female produces only a few eggs annually. From these precious eggs, hatchlings emerge wearing soft shells that will take five years to harden into protective armor. The vulnerable young are entirely neglected by adult tortoises, and only five percent ultimately reach adulthood.
Predators are blamed for a majority of tortoise deaths; ravens alone are estimated to cause more than half of the juvenile tortoise deaths in the Mojave Desert. Tortoise eggs and juveniles can also fall prey to mammals and other reptiles. For protection from predators, as well as from desert temperature extremes, tortoises of all ages burrow into the earth. However, if rabbits and rodents are scarce, larger predators may exhume tortoises from their burrows, devouring even mature tortoises despite their hardened shells. Further, tortoises are susceptible to a wide range of pathogens. The population decline is partly due to upper respiratory tract disease (URTD), characterized by nasal and ocular discharge and palpebral edema. In 2006, more than 80 percent of captive desert tortoises had anti-mycoplasma antibodies, seropositive indication of the disease. Released captive tortoises can rapidly spread URTD into the wild population with devastating consequences.
Though desert tortoises are well adapted to arid habitats, and adults can survive a year without access to water, they rely heavily on moisture in the vegetation consumed in spring, when they surface from their hibernal dormancy. The loss of native plants to grazing livestock and invasive plant species, then, may lessen the tortoise’s resistance to pathogens, though the tortoises do also dig precipitation basins in the soil and linger near one when rain is impending.

The primary purpose of the passage is to
a)describe the lifecycle of a species
b)discuss the threats faced by a certain species
c)advocate research on a disease wide-spread among captive animals
d)evaluate potential solutions to a wildlife problem
e)criticize federal legislation protecting a certain species

My question is , what statements should be present in the passage for 'D' to be the answer ? What is evaluation of a solution?
P.S.: i understand why B is the correct answer, so please do not direct your replies towards that end.

[RonPurewal]

hi,

My question is , what statements should be present in the passage for 'D' to be the answer ? What is evaluation of a solution?

to "evaluate" is to assess or judge something -- a very different notion from just "to discuss" or "to explain", neither of which necessarily implies any judgment.

to evaluate a business plan, for instance, would be to judge that plan according to some relevant criterion/criteria. (how likely is this plan to generate profits? how likely is it to produce a return on investment during a reasonable timeframe? how environmentally sustainable is it? how ethical is it?)
by contrast, "to discuss" a business plan implies little more than an explication of the plan's objective particulars.

in short, if you see "evaluate", you can go ahead and replace it in your mind with "judge".
note that you can do this as well on "evaluate the argument" problems in critical reasoning. on those problems, "evaluate" is, for all practical purposes, equivalent to "strengthen/weaken".

[miteshsholay]

Thanks Ron.
so if there are statements like:
"Experts recommend that reducing industrial emissions can help to solve the environmental concerns.But this is not a practical solution and may just hav to stay in queue unless technological advancements are made in concerned industries"

Here the author is making his personal judgment about the stated solution and hence is evaluating the argument.
And if a good portion of the passage presents these kind of author's judgments, we can say he is evaluating.

I hope I am close?

[tim]

if "a good portion of the passage" does anything, that's probably the primary focus of the passage.. :)