Presentation and practice
Read for meaning first. Select a highlighted word if you want a closer look.
An artful arrangement of movable cards let the reporter show each candidate's promises beside the relevant budget choices without crowding the display. The dissonance between a promise of open participation and a plan to exclude dissenting members became immediately visible. Consistency between the other statements and their supporting plans required a slower comparison, because similar wording did not always imply matching actions. The reporter invited candidates to explain genuine qualifications rather than treating every difference in phrasing as evidence of dishonesty.
The artful display helped viewers follow the comparison through skillful organization; its cleverness did not depend on deceiving them. The strongest dissonance remained the conflict between welcoming participation in public and planning exclusion in private. Checking consistency meant asking whether the pieces cohered, while allowing different details to serve different practical purposes. After answering the questions, one candidate withdrew the exclusion plan and published a clearer account of how members could participate.
Before you move on
Look away from the passage. Can you explain each focus word in your own words?
Original fictional passages for vocabulary practice.