#8 - Global Reference, Main Point

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

The correct answer choice is (C).

Answer choice (A):

Answer choice (B):

Answer choice (C): This is the correct answer choice.

Answer choice (D):

Answer choice (E):


This explanation is still in progress. Please post any questions below!

[gooodshiit]

Hello,

I wonder if anyone is willing to explain why D is incorrect? I now see how C might be a better choice, but I am still unsure how to make that decision under time pressure. Could someone help explain what parts of D are wrong?

Thank you very much.

[Rachael Wilkenfeld]

Hi good,

Main point questions can be tricky, because the correct answer needs to do two things. 1) It must be true based on the passage, and 2) it must be the main point of the passage. It can get tricky because incorrect answer choices can meet that first criteria, but fail to meet the second. You can find an answer choice that absolutely reflects what was in the passage, but the answer choice is still incorrect because it's not the main point of the passage. Frustrating.

The best way to fight against this is to have a really strong prephrase going into main point questions. You should know what elements you want to see in a main point answer. Sometimes I like to think of it as the tweet the author would send about the passage. Something that represents both the perspective of the author and the conclusion of the passage.

One of the big problems with answer choice (D) is that it isn't completely supported based on the passage. We don't know that the author thinks that the Draft should be revised. The author does say that treaties should be different than than the Draft suggests, but he doesn't say that means we should change the Draft. The author may advocate just leaving the document as is, and drafting treaties in the way they suggest. The author may advocate drafting a completely new draft document. We don't know they advocate any revision to this set of Draft Articles.

Hope that helps!

[mab9178]

Hi Rachael,

I read your explanation for eliminating D. The word "revise," which means "to alter," is central to your elimination. I bring your attention to the last paragraph concerning "fixed allocation" of amounts of water that would unjustly favor countries with the most extensive water usage.

To my mind, we cannot improve the Drafts without altering the provisions that allocate fixed amounts of water, which, in turn, necessitates "revisions" of the Drafts, at the very minimum in part. We cannot keep that provision in place and then add another advocating for more flexible, and hence non-fixed, water allocation unless we assume a contradictorily drafted treaty. The extreme nature of this assumption warrants the revision, I feel!

The word "revise" is an important one, and I worry that I might be missing a subtly articulated nuance, in your explanation; a criterion that could potentially be the only line of distinction between too very close answer-choices!

And so, would you please elaborate further on why "revise" is the grounds for eliminating D?

(Side note: I feel that D is the wrong choice, but not because of the word "revise", but because C is better in the sense that it captures D while adding the author's appreciation of the ILC Drafts, an appreciation articulated in the first sentence of the third paragraph and captures by the words "significant step forward," lines 32-37.)

Thank You
Respectfully,
Mazen

[Robert Carroll]

Mazen,

Rachael was pointing out that there's a difference between saying that something is bad and saying that thing should be revised. The Articles of Confederation were considered inadequate as a founding document for the United States. They weren't revised; they were done away with, and the Constitution was put in their places. Similarly, the author certainly thinks that the Draft Articles aren't doing the job. Should they be revised? Or just replaced with something entirely new? Either one of those options seems consistent with the author's view. Yet answer choice (D) says that the option of revision is the only option to take. There's no support for that in the passage.

Robert Carroll

[mab9178]

Got it. Thank You Robert