#15 - Specific Reference, Must Be True, Purpose/Function

[Administrator]

Please post your questions below! Thank you!

[ShiraLL]

I'm not understanding how to select between A and E. Can you help?

[Rachael Wilkenfeld]

Hi Shira,

With any specific reference question, I start by going back to the passage. Here, it references the second paragraph, so I jump back there and reread for the information in the question stem. The loose beads mentioned were noted to be the simplest and oldest form of wampum. The fishing was discussed as an early and legendary use of wampum in that paragraph. The paragraph continues by discussing further uses of wampum.

I would then come up with a prephrase. Mine would be that it was used in the passage as an example as a stage of the historical development of wampum. It wasn't an example of a type of knowledge in that case. It was an example of a use for the beads. That matches answer choice (E) fairly closely. Other paragraphs do discuss knowledge and messages using wampum, but the specific example in the question stem was not about encoding information.

Hope that helps!

[akreimerman1]

Hi,
Can someone explain the difference between D and E?
Thanks

[Rachael Wilkenfeld]

Sure akreimerman1.

Answer choice (D) states that the author uses it as an example of how historians learn more about the use of wampum. The section where it talks about the use of the wampum for fishing was in the second paragraph, where the author is describing how the use of wampum changed over time. In this section, the author describes legends regarding traditional uses of wampum. It wasn't discussing how or when historians learned about this particular use. Therefore, this is not the right answer choice.

Answer choice (E) is about how the use of the wampum evolved from simple to more complex symbolization. The description of the beads as being used to communicate with specific spirits is an example of how the beads evolved from simple single bead religious messaging to complex social messaging. This matches the overall viewpoint of the passage.

Hope that helps