#22 - Global Reference, Must Be True, Purpose

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

The correct answer choice is (B).

Answer choice (A):

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

Answer choice (C):

Answer choice (D):

Answer choice (E):

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

[yrivers]

Hi,

I was a bit confused in the correct answer B. I was between D and E, and ultimately chose D because the passage seemed relevant most to the interaction in the art between humans & society and nature -- and how they are depicted. I read the author to say that the former Luminists' art and interpretation of nature is actually inaccurate. The author believes that nature was more muted, suppressed for society and commercial purposes.

What am I missing?

Thanks,
Yaesul

[Charlie Melman]

Hi Yaesul,

Answer choice (D) is much too narrow in scope. It doesn't acknowledge the fact that we're talking about Luminism, which is an art movement.

Answer choice (E) is also too narrow. While factually accurate, it's used to highlight the author's interpretation of Luminism, which is what she argues for.

Answer choice (B) is correct because the author discusses Lane extensively in order to argue for a particular interpretation of the Luminist tradition. That Lane is such a fixture of the passage allows him to be in the right answer choice for this main point question.

Hope this helps!

[lsatnoobie]

Hello,

I’m not sure what you mean by D doesn’t acknowledge the fact that we’re talking about luminism. Isn’t the author’s main point about luminism how “luminism is actually a sign of nature’s domestication, it’s adaptation to human use”.

I chose D because I thought it adequately captured the above. Also, I ruled out B because B mainly concerns the last paragraph regarding Lane, and I thought this was written to supplement the autgor’s main point found in paragraph 2.

[Adam Tyson]

What we mean by that explanation, noobie, is that answer D fails to bring up luminism. You're right, luminism is central to the main point! But what does answer D say about luminism? Nothing! That's what makes it a bad answer here. This passage is not about the different ways that nature is viewed or treated in any general sense, but specifically about how luminists treat it, and how we should understand that treatment. The correct answer must have something to do with luminism and with Lane.

Answer B brings up luminism by implication - that is the tradition of painting that is being illustrated by the work of a particular artist who worked in that tradition (Lane). This answer has everything that answer D lacks, and connects directly to the central idea and purpose and structure of the passage.

Here's another way to look at Purpose/Function questions, and also at Main Point questions: if someone say you reading the passage and interrupted you to ask what you were reading about, what would you say? Would you say "it's about how nature gets treated differently by different artists or in different types of paintings", or would you be more likely to say "it's about this painter named Lane who painted in the Luminist tradition, and how he showed nature as something that man controls and uses for commerce"? I think I would be more inclined to say the latter, and so that is what my answer choice should reflect.

Take another look at answer D and see if you would be satisfied if someone told you that was what the passage was trying to do. Would you agree with them?

Keep at it!

[whardy21]

Hello,

I was between B and D and chose D. I chose D because I thought it encompassed the concept of the view of luminism from luminist and the authors contrarian view of what luminist failed to signify transcendental atmosphere in their view. I ruled out B because it didn't encompass all of the passage. I thought B only discussed the last two paragraphs.

[KelseyWoods]

Hi Whardy!

Adam gave a good explanation of why answer choice (D) is incorrect--if you take a step back from the other answer choices and really just focus on the precise wording of (D), you'll notice that it doesn't actually involve Luminism (or even art) at all. It's talking about the treatment of nature in a very broad, general sense. This passage is pretty clearly about a specific art movement (Luminism), not about the treatment of nature in a general sense. So essentially answer choice (D) isn't covered by ANY of the paragraphs in the passage.

Answer choice (B) refers to an artist, and as you point out, the specific Luminist artist, Lane, was only discussed in the last 2 paragraphs of the passage. However, the work of this artist is introduced as an example to further illustrate the points that the author was making in the first 2 paragraphs. So, in that sense, answer choice (B) better encompasses the passage as a whole. The passage shows how one artist's work (Lane's) illustrates a tradition of painting (Luminism).

For questions about the passage's primary purpose, I would caution you not to get too caught up in the exact number of paragraphs addressed in an answer choice. Your task is not to directly list everything covered in the passage. Rather, think of these questions as sort of abstract versions of Main Point questions. Knowing the structure of the passage and what is in each paragraph can definitely help with understanding the overarching purpose of the passage. But focus more on how the paragraphs connect to one another and support the author's main point.

Hope this helps!

Best,
Kelsey

[desiboy96]

Hey powersore so I'm a bit stumped on this one. I went with D and crossed out B on my initial read through thinking it was too restrictive. While I see how B works in that it implicitly refers to the work of luminists and includes the importance of Lane as an example to what was discussed in paragraph 2, I fail to see how this is a better choice than D for a couple of reasons.

1. While the third paragraph does spend a considerable portion of the passage discussing Lane, I feel like his introduction was meant to serve as an example to what I thought the main point was which is how the views discussed in paragraph one were limited as explained in paragraph two. After all, since we are asked to find what the author is PRIMARILY concerned with, doesn't it make more sense then to pick a choice that specifically deals with the IDEA that Lane's work according to the author is meant to exemplify as opposed to how Lane "illustrates a tradition of painting"?

2. I noticed that the reason why D was ruled out here was that it does not mention the Luminists. However, given the nature of the passage, is it not fair to assume that choice D is referring to Luminists or is that too much of a stretch?

Thank you for reading this

[Robert Carroll]

desi,

If the passage isn't about Luminism, what is it about? Every paragraph discussed Luminism. In the first, people have a certain interpretation of it. In the second, the author considers that interpretation faulty. In the third, the author discusses an example of a Luminist and how people have misinterpreted his work. In the last, we have an expansion of the author's view about Luminism. If Luminism is not central to the point of this passage, it's hard to explain why it was mentioned throughout, being the central topic of discussion throughout the passage.

In conclusion, the passage is about Luminism, with a selection from a specific example of that.

I don't see anything in answer choice (D) that refers to Luminism in any way.

Robert Carroll