Passage #2 - Viewpoint and Attitude Identification Drill

[Mi Kal]

Hi,

"...it was widely believed..." is noted in the answer key as the author's point of view. Since something that is "widely believed" has to be the view of more than just one person, othrwise it wouldn't be "widely believed," why isn't "it was widely believed" the viewpoint of "people?"

Thank you.

Michael

[Dave Killoran]

Hi Michael,

Thanks for the question! That answer key states that the author is informing us of widely held beliefs, and then following it up with more specific attributions to many leading experts. So, it's explaining that this is the author telling us about what many people believed at the time. The description could be clearer there, though, and since I'm making revisions right now to that book, I'm going to expand that discussion of lines 1-7 in order to make it easier to understand.

Thanks!

[Mi Kal]

Hi Dave,

Thanks for the explanation. I can now see how it is the author referring to a belief that is widely held. But, I am also still caught on my first instinct to see that a widely held belief is a point expressed by a lot of people. Guess I'll just push through that instinct.

Thanks.

Michael

[shanikaduverneau]

Hi! One thing I'm confused about is why Lines 1-7 are categorized as the author's viewpoint. In line 5, wouldn't it be considered a switch to the expert's viewpoint since they are asserting a specific belief? Or does this just serve as supporting detail that furthers the author's main point?

[Jon Denning]

Good question! Here's the answer key for that example:

Lines 1-7: In the beginning of this paragraph, the author apprises us of a widely held belief about the body’s limitations, followed by a more specific attribution of related assertions to many leading experts.

Lines 7-9: Here the author makes the switch to the perspective of Bannister. There is not too much attitude reflected here, although Bannister is characterized as fairly confident.

So I, and the answer key, agree with you about the view being that of both experts (particularly lines 5-7) and the more generic "widely held" belief that isn't attributed to any particular group. But nowhere does it categorize that 7-line sentence as the author's perspective. Only that the "author apprises us" of the beliefs of others.