#24 - Global Reference, Must Be True, Except

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

The correct answer choice is (E).

Answer choice (A):

Answer choice (B):

Answer choice (C):

Answer choice (D):

Answer choice (E): This is the correct answer choice.

This explanation is still in progress. Please post any questions below!

[avengingangel]

I was stuck between A and E, and then ultimately chose A.

1) What was the example provided for "categories of art that are neither wholly fake nor wholly original?"

2) I ended up choosing A because, while not feeling 100% confident about what "contemporary artists" meant, I figured since the passage states "Michelangelo had shown his contemporaries that great art..." that Michelangelo was himself a contemporary, too. What does the question mean by "contemporary artists?" I so struggle with the word "contemporary," it's SO relative !!!

Thanks!!

[Adam Tyson]

Thanks for asking, Angel. In this context, contemporary means current, modern, of our time. That's why E is the better answer here, because we have no mention of any artists of our time. The reference to Michelangelo's contemporaries means artists of his time, not ours, so that is there to distract you.

For examples of art that was neither wholly fake nor wholly original, look back to the first paragraph, following the line that read "the text begins by noting a variety of possibilities somewhere between the two extremes". What follows is a list of those examples.

[crispycrispr]

Hi,

I understand why (E) is right, but can someone explain why (C) is wrong? I didn't really see anywhere that specifically mentions the qualities that collectors have prized in the art they collected. I understood the answer choice as a specific quality of the art piece, like sculpture techniques or something, but I don't know if I'm wrong in that understanding. Please explain!!

[Robert Carroll]

crispy,

Lines 39-40 seem to be the most unambiguous in stating something that collectors have considered desirable - authenticity as validated by functional qualities. That's a specific quality - and the example gets even more specific.

Robert Carroll

[crispycrispr]

crispy,

Lines 39-40 seem to be the most unambiguous in stating something that collectors have considered desirable - authenticity as validated by functional qualities. That's a specific quality - and the example gets even more specific.

Robert Carroll

Ah gotcha! I wasn't looking at the last paragraph, but now that seems pretty obvious!

[ikim10]

I narrowed down the answer choices to (D) and (E). I chose (D) for 2 reasons:

1) I missed in (E) how the adjective "contemporary" made it incorrect, since the passage does not provide examples of current, modern day artists.

2) I thought that categories of "fake" and "original" in (D) was a different idea from the concept of "authenticity" mentioned in the last paragraph.

How was I supposed to deduce that fake vs real = authenticity, and what general strategies can I use in the future to avoid making the same mistake?

[Chandler H]

I narrowed down the answer choices to (D) and (E). I chose (D) for 2 reasons:

1) I missed in (E) how the adjective "contemporary" made it incorrect, since the passage does not provide examples of current, modern day artists.

2) I thought that categories of "fake" and "original" in (D) was a different idea from the concept of "authenticity" mentioned in the last paragraph.

How was I supposed to deduce that fake vs real = authenticity, and what general strategies can I use in the future to avoid making the same mistake?

Hi ikim10,

It sounds like you already understand that the word "contemporary" in answer choice (E) is important, which is good!

As for your second question, that's a good one. I would say our biggest clue comes at the beginning of the last paragraph, when the author tells us that "Fake? also reminds us that in certain cultures authenticity is a foreign concept" (lines 37-38). We know from the first paragraph that Fake? is a book about fakes and originals, so if we have a vague idea of the definition of "authenticity" (that is, the degree to which something is real), you can hopefully infer that "authenticity" and "real" mean the same thing.

It's really mostly a matter of reading slowly and trusting the process!