Reviewing the choice fairly
Read for meaning first. Select a highlighted word if you want a closer look.
The group invited a disinterested reviewer who had no connection with the competing proposals or their authors. She gave a dispassionate account of each process, describing its advantages and limitations without adopting the emotional tone of the earlier debate. One member worried that a biased review would favor the method associated with the most influential organizer. The reviewer therefore explained her criteria before comparing the proposals and identified the information she would need before reaching a recommendation.
A dispassionate review still required care about the outcome; it did not mean treating the prize as unimportant. The reviewer was disinterested in the sense that she had no personal stake in which proposal prevailed, not in the sense that she lacked attention or concern. She also checked whether the same criteria were applied to both options, since a biased comparison could arise from uneven standards even without an openly hostile or enthusiastic tone.
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.