#5 - Specific Reference, Must Be True, Subject Perspective

[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!

[joliekwok8@gmail.com]

Hi,

I was stuck between C and E but ultimately chose E. I thought both answer choices captured the problem the historians were discussing, which was "the memoirs were written so long after the events they describe... certainly, memory is subject to the loss or confusion of facts, more to the point... Intent on preserving its particular picture of the past" (paragraph 2)

I think I just had trouble distinguishing the "mostly unverifiable accounts of certain events" in E and the "likely contain factual inaccuracies" during the restored monarchy in C. I understand that the quote in paragraph 2 talks about preserving a certain image of the revolution but i thought E would be able to more generally capture all of the historians' ideas? What makes C the better choice when both answers seem to be saying the same thing?

Any help would be appreciated, thanks!

[Luke Haqq]

Hi joliekwok8!

You are right that answer choices (C) and (E) are very similar.

A key difference is that answer choice (C) is specified to refer to memoirs "published during the restored monarchy." The previous paragraph, just before the historians mentioned at line 17, makes it clear that what is being discussed is specifically memoirs most of which were "published decades after the Revolution, during the restored monarchy" (lines 10-11).

Answer choice (E) is too broad. We don't know if the historians think this about memoirs about the French Revolution in general. Rather, the memoirs that they think may have more inaccuracies are specifically those that were written long after the event.