#18 - Concept Reference, Must Be True, Author's Perspective

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

The correct answer choice is (D).

Answer choice (A):

Answer choice (B):

Answer choice (C):

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

Answer choice (E):

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

[mariahenain]

I was in between answer choices D and E for this question. Originally, I chose D and then switched to E. Is there anyway you guys can help me understand why D is a better choice than E?
After reading the main point, my guess is that answer choice D, like the author, partially criticizes Pocock but still places value on his contributions.

Any help is appreciated!

[nicholaspavic]

I was in between answer choices D and E for this question. Originally, I chose D and then switched to E. Is there anyway you guys can help me understand why D is a better choice than E?
After reading the main point, my guess is that answer choice D, like the author, partially criticizes Pocock but still places value on his contributions.

Any help is appreciated!

Hi Maria! Great question.

This is a concept reference MBT question about the author's perspective. So you're looking for the best words that summarize the author's attitude towards Pocock. The counter-premise indicator of "But while Pocock's (40) ideas have proved fertile when applied to England..." is a good indicator in which the author summarizes his/her attitude in the prior 40 lines. It's that same summarizing language which appears in the last sentence too with "applaud." Thus (D) is the correct choice.

Also, I think you have a great understanding about the author's perspective. I agree that he/she partially criticizes Pocock but still places value on his contributions. So great job!

Answer option (E) does not work here because note that the term "simply" is meant to dismiss a specific argument about Jefferson and the Tories. The same goes for his/her dismissal of the importance of "ranking" vocabularies. Those are two very specific ideas which do not summarize the author's whole attitude. So good job on this one! You definitely got it.

[Kelly R]

Hi PS,

What is the best way to approach these kinds of questions (not CR, AP, MBT questions generally, but just these kinds of word-pair CR, AP, MBT questions)? To evaluate the answer choices, should we consider the broader meaning of the sentence in which each word is used? Or should the individual words be considered on their own merits? I selected (D) for this one, but was a bit unsure as both "fertile" and "applaud" fail to address the author's qualified criticism of Pocock. When the sentence containing "fertile" is considered in its entirety, it's clear that the author addresses the controversy surrounding Pocock's application of language to the United States of the late eighteenth-century. Without considering this context, though, "fertile" assumes a much more positive connotation, which made me a bit hesitant to select (D). Wondering if someone can help clarify the appropriate approach for these kinds of questions. Thanks so much.

[Jeremy Press]

Hi Kelly,

Great question! There are really three considerations here that are important. The first is one you're thinking about: what is the attitude of the author? And I think you've done a pretty good job of prephrasing it based on your overall read of the passage: Pocock gets a (qualified) positive evaluation from our author. And you're right that the words used in answer choice D capture the positive side of that attitude, though they may not do a perfect job of capturing the "qualified" nature of that positive evaluation. One way to overcome that (as you have) is to encourage a holistic reading of the sentence those terms are used in. "Applaud" is used in a sentence that contains some of that qualification ("though guilty of some exaggeration"), so the author thinks the "applause" is appropriate in spite of some exaggeration on Pocock's part. And "applaud" thus encompasses both elements (the qualification and the positivity).

A second consideration with the answers is whether the words used actually capture the author's attitude. "Cant" is answer choice A is not a word associated with the author's attitude, but rather with historians like Namier's attitude. Knock it out. "Elitist" in answer choice B is not the author's attitude, but Jefferson's attitude toward the Tory opposition in England. Knock it out. "Simply" in answer choice E is part of Pocock's assertion about Jefferson, and thus reflects Pocock's attitude (not the author's). Knock it out.

A final consideration in the answers is whether they reflect the author's attitude toward Pocock. In answer choice C, "naively" is the author's description of the "the assumptions of [historians of literature in] the 1950s." That's not an attitude toward Pocock, though, so we have to knock that answer choice out.

All of these considerations work together to push toward answer choice D as the only possible/viable answer, even if it doesn't contain the two ideal words that (in and of themselves) fully capture the author's qualified positive attitude toward Pocock.

I hope this helps!

Jeremy