#13 - Global Reference, Main Point

[alexmcc]

Hey guys. I ended up choosing between B and E on this one and went with E, because I thought B, while factually accurate, wasn't enough because it was unclear whether it included the author's view that courts SHOULD acknowledge communal property. E had the SHOULD element "illustrates the need", but expanding private ownership sounded weird and I still went with it.

I am wondering if I misunderstood answer choice B, or if it's OK for mainpoint answers to exclude chunks of the author's perspective.

[Blueballoon5%]

I also ended up with choosing answer choice E. Can someone explain why answer choice B is correct?

When going through this question, I really struggled with choosing the right answer. I initially crossed out answer choice B because I thought this answer choice was too narrow. It seemed to mostly touch upon the last paragraph, and sort of focused on the very last sentence of this paragraph. It seemed to ignore the passage as a whole, so I thought this answer choice wasn't the right type of correct answer for a main point question.

[James Finch]

Hi guys,

The main point is located in the final sentence of the passage. It only concerns the outlook for the specific litigation in question, and not any broader implications or prescriptions for how property should be treated by the courts. This distinction is the key towards choosing answer choice (B) over (E).

(B) deals very specifically with the cases brought by the native Canadians and the outlook for success given by the last sentence. This fits in very well with what the passage gives, making it correct.

(E) takes the idea behind the native Canadians' litigation and expands it to a prescriptive statement of how legal doctrine should change. This isn't present in the main point of the passage, and makes this answer choice incorrect.

Hope this clears things up!

[flexbubbleboi]

I picked E because, as others have noted, it seemed to capture more fully what was happening in the passage, whereas B only addresses the "likelihood" point that comes up just at the very end and isn't a main point of focus in the passage.

I can see why E's characterization, "illustrates the need to expand the concept of private property" might seem too broad, but 22-25 seem to me to indicate just that breadth: "challenges courts to recognize a concept of property ownership that clashes with the private property concept." Couldn't this imply the concept of private property ownership is being expanded so that they no longer clash?

[Poonam Agrawal]

Hi flexbubbleboi!

The main issue with answer choice (E) is that it says there is a need to expand the concept of private property. The sentence you're referring to from the passage just tells us that Canadians' litigation is challenging courts. We have to take this as it is given to us - we cannot make the assumption that the author thinks the courts need to expand their concept of private property. Maybe the author doesn't think the concept of private property must be expanded - it is possible that the author thinks collective ownership can be its own separate concept within the broader category of property ownership. We just don't know.

We have to focus on what we can prove from the passage. As James pointed out, the main point is located in the last sentence of the passage, and answer choice (B) basically re-words this sentence. This is why answer choice (B) is a stronger answer than answer choice (E).

I hope this helps!

[flexbubbleboi]

Thanks, Poonam -- that makes perfect sense.