#12 - Global Reference, Must Be True

[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!

[lemonade42]

Would choice (A) be considered an opposite answer? Because it seems to me that passage B presents evidence that directly counters claims made in passage A. For example, B says that "none of the species highlighted can be considered threatened in North America" which seems like B is directly countering the claim that A made when A said "serious reductions in waterfowl and aquatic furbearer activity have been observed". Also I'm having a trouble with what a "direct counter" really is and how A doesn't show that towards B.

Thank you!

[Dana D]

Hey lemonade,

If both passages were independently presenting evidence about the purple loosestrife and that evidence seemed to contradict each other, it would be a direct counter. For example, if line (10) in passage A made a strong case that loosestrife causes reductions on waterfowl productivity instead of admitting that the impact on wildlife has not been well studied, then perhaps passage A would be 'directly countering' passage B, which says that there are no significant impacts on waterfowl.

Answer choice (C) is a better fit because passage B is not just directly contradicting the claims made in passage A, it is explaining how the arguments used in passage A (like the "threat" against waterfowl) are employed by certain parties for an entirely different reason: to protect the hunting, trapping, and recreation revenue of the US and Canada.

Hope that helps!

[miriamson07]

Hello powerscore,

Rather than being confused about this question itself, I'd like to clarify its relationship with question 9. What I mean by this is, I'd like to confirm how the answer to question 12 and the answer to question 9 can both exist. Please allow me to explain:

The answer to question 9 is B: the threat posed by purple loosestrife to local aquatic furbearer populations is serious. Since the question asks what can be inferred that the authors would be most likely to disagree about, answer choice B means that the author of Passage A thinks that the threat posed to local aquatic furbearers is serious, while the author of Passage B doesn't think so.

At the same time, our answer to question 12 is not answer choice A. At first glance, I thought what Passage A said about there being "serious reductions in ... aquatic furbearer productivity" might be evidence that directly counters passage B's claim that none of the furbearing mammals discussed can be considered threatened in North America (lines 55 to 58). But given that this is not the case, as explained in the Powerscore answer above, Passage A's evidence is not strong enough to directly counter Passage B because Passage A acknowledges that "impacts on wildlife have not been well studied" (line 10).

My question is, is it right to say lines 10-11 allow us to infer that the author of Passage A thinks that the threat posed to local aquatic furbearers is serious, but that doesn't mean Passage A "presents evidence that directly counter claims made in Passage B"? I feel like Passage A could in fact present evidence that counters Passage B if we allowed Passage A's author's intention/opinion to be enough. As in, Passage A meant to make the point that the local aquatic furbearers are seriously threatened -- albeit unsuccessfully. But is question 12 asking for the relationship between the two passages in an effectual manner, as in we need to consider whether Passage A actually counters passage B?

I hope my question makes sense; I know it's quite long. Thank you.