#4 - Specific Reference, Must Be True, Organization

[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!

[kavyakarthic]

Hello,

Could someone please explain why C is better than B? Is it because B states the author chooses the most convincing one, but the author is advocating for looking at Bryson's poem through a biographical study perspective?

[Jeff Wren]

Hi kavyakarthic,

There a few problems with Answer B.

First, what is discussed in paragraph one are the three "kinds of study" (line 1) that have been done on Byron. These aren't really theories. Instead, they are kinds of study, meaning types or categories of study.

Second, and more importantly, the author does not "then choose the most convincing one." The first type is "very valuable" (lines 2-3) and the second types is "equally valuable" (lines 6-7). The third type, which focuses on the poetry itself, is only valuable when they include biographical considerations. (The sentence has a double negative "avoid" ... "to the exclusion of" which can be a bit confusing.) In other words, of the three approaches, the third is not the most convincing, but instead the most potentially problematic.

It's important to prephrase your answer before looking at the actual answer choices. Returning to the first paragraph, the first sentence mentions the three kinds of study. Lines 2-9 briefly mention the first two types with brief examples. The rest of the paragraph (lines 9-23, i.e. more than half of the paragraph) focuses on the third kind of study and the author's views about it.

A decent prephrase might be that "the paragraph briefly describes two kinds of study of Byron and then focuses on the third kind of study."

This prephrase almost perfectly matches Answer C.