GMAT Verbal : Making Inferences in Humanities Passages
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Example Question #11 : Making Inferences In Humanities Passages
Mounted primarily by the Irish Republican Brotherhood, the Easter Rising of 1916, also known as the Easter Rebellion, aimed both to end British rule in Ireland and establish an independent Irish Republic at a time when the military assets of the United Kingdom were heavily engaged in World War I and thus largely unavailable for activity on the home front. Led by schoolteacher and barrister Patrick Pearse, members of the Irish Volunteers joined forces with the smaller Irish Citizen Army of James Connolly and 200 members of the all-female Cumman na mBan, together seizing key locations in Dublin and ultimately proclaiming the Irish Republic independent with the issue of the Easter Proclamation. After six days of fighting, the Rising was suppressed, its leaders court-martialed and executed. Militarily, the Rising was a failure; even with its attention divided, the British military out-classed and outnumbered the insurgent force. Yet support for republicanism continued to rise in Ireland in the wake of the Easter Rebellion. Though many members of the Dublin public were originally simply bewildered by the outbreak of the Rising, the harshness of the British response and the summary execution of the movement’s leaders garnered sympathy. In elections only two years later, Sinn Féin, an Irish republican party, won 73 seats out of 105, dominating the Irish delegation to the British parliament, and under their leadership the Irish would again declare their independence in 1919, establishing the Republic of Ireland which persists to this day.
The passage suggests which of the following about the Easter Rebellion?
It was unsuccessful mainly because of conflict between the movement’s different leaders.
If it had not occurred, the emergence of the Republic of Ireland would have been substantially delayed.
The subsequent actions of those who suppressed it contributed to its later success.
Its leaders were incorrect when they assumed that the British forces would be hampered by fighting the First World War.
It was the primary reason that the Irish Republican party was successful in the 1918 parliamentary elections.
The subsequent actions of those who suppressed it contributed to its later success.
Inference questions ask what the passage suggests, rather than what the passage explicitly said; the correct answer, however, may feel like a very small step away, as here. The correct answer must be true, as those who suppressed the Irish Rebellion were the British forces, whose harshness in responding led to sympathy for the movement’s original purpose (ending British rule and establishing an independent Irish Republic)to spread among the Irish populace.
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