#19 - Global Reference, Must be True, Author's Perspective

[Administrator]

Please post your questions below! Thank you!

[nrpandolfo]

Hi,

Why is E and not D correct?

[Daniel Stern]

Hello:

D is not supported by the passage because D says that the peace among the groups was an important precondition for using wampum for communication. At line 35-36, we see that wampum was being used for communication even before the formation of the confederacy; it's just that confederacy accelerated the development of this use of wampum, particularly for political communication (L 36-42). However, the confederacy was not, as D suggests, a precondition for using wampum to communicate at all.

E is supported by the passage because in lines 47-58 when describing the meaning of the wampum symbols, the author uses indefinite language such as "usually meant," "possibly indicating," and "seem to have indicated." This indefinite language supports the proposition in answer choice E that present day interpretations of the symbols are not conclusive.

I hope that is helpful,
Dan

[crispycrispr]

Hi,

I have two questions--
1. Is it common that answers are to questions like these are very minor details and not related to broad-stroke ideas/the main point of the passage? To me, the evidence supporting the answer choice (E) seemed not so related to the main point.

2. Is answer choice (B) wrong because the passage states that the Europeans misinterpreted the wampum's true significance? Are there other reasons that (B) is wrong/would (B) be right if the answer choice had said "un-awareness" or something along that line?

Thank you!

[Poonam Agrawal]

Hi crispy,

1.) Since this is not a main point question, we don't really expect or require the correct answer to tell us about a broad idea from the passage. With this question, our goal is to find a single answer choice that we can prove the author would agree with and have evidence from the passage to back it up. So, yes - a lot of times, the correct answer to a global question like this one will just pick up on a minor detail from the passage.

2.) You're exactly right. Answer choice (B) is wrong because we can't prove from the passage that the Europeans were aware of its true significance. All we know, from line 10, is that the Europeans misinterpreted the significance of wampum. Answer choice (B) is also wrong because it says the Europeans "insisted," but maybe they were just confused about how to use wampum. This is a weaker point, but still a reason why we can't necessarily prove this statement from the information in the passage.

Hope this is helpful, and let us know if you have any other questions!