The entire existence of the author revolves round : (a) Computer (b) Mobile…

Concept

A literal-comprehension question is settled only by what the passage actually says. An item may enter the answer set when the passage names it and shows it doing the very work the stem describes; an item the passage never names stays out, however natural it may look beside the others.

The method therefore is fixed: take each listed item in turn, look for the sentence in the passage that mentions it, and admit it only on the strength of that sentence.

Application

1. (a) Computer — the passage says, “My entire existence is ‘tap letters into computer’”, and the author later piles paper beneath the laptop to make typing more comfortable. The computer is named, and it is shown carrying the author's day-to-day existence, so it enters the set.

2. (b) Mobile phone — the passage says, “My shopping lists are hidden in the notes function of my phone”, and the author e-mails himself whenever something has to be remembered. The phone is named, and it too is shown carrying the author's day-to-day existence, so it enters the set.

3. (c) Typewriter — no sentence of the passage mentions a typewriter. The writing tools it names are the computer, the laptop, the phone, e-mail, facebook and snapchat, set against the pen and paper it declares dead. With no sentence naming it, it stays out.

Cross-check

The stem's wording, “the entire existence of the author revolves round”, is lifted straight from the sentence about tapping letters into a computer, and the shopping-list sentence extends the same digital dependence to the phone. The admitted set is therefore exactly (a) and (b), so the code naming the computer and the mobile phone only is the answer.

Reading it the other way confirms the same result: a code that adds the typewriter would make the passage assert something it never says, while a code built on the phone alone would discard the very sentence about tapping letters into a computer from which the stem is drawn.