#25 - Purpose

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

The correct answer choice is (D).

The "historical record" referenced in the passage at lines 20 (end of the second paragraph) and 37 (middle of the fourth paragraph) are those records described in the first paragraph, the documents that have proven to be inadequate for shedding much light on the changing Irish landscape because they are too scarce prior to the 17th Century and because those that date from the 17th and 18th centuries are primarily concerned with military and commercial matters. We should look for an answer that describes those old, inadequate documents.

Answer choice (A): These are the wrong documents. We need an answer that describes those old, scarce, inadequate documents from the 18th century and earlier.

Answer choice (B): This answer has nothing to do with documentary records.

Answer choice (C): "Current historians" kills this answer, as we want some reference to older writings.

Answer choice (D): This is the correct answer choice. As this is the only answer that describes written records from the past, it is the best answer and the credited response.

Answer choice (E): As with answer C, the reference to "current historians" makes this answer a loser. We need an answer about records from long ago, not current ones.

[saranash1]

I don't understand why the answer is D. The passage never mentions anything about governmental or commercial records, maps and similar documents. The passage mentions historical documents of studies of fossilized pollen grain as does answer choice a.

I chose answer A

[Nikki Siclunov]

Saranash1,

You should find the first paragraph helpful in answering your question. The author mentions that many of the available documents from the 16th and 17th centuries focus selectively on matters relating to military or commercial interests (which is why they weren't all that helpful). In other words, they were gov't and commercial records, etc.

The phrase "documentary record," as it is used in lines 20 and 37, refers to those documents, not to the documented results of pollen analysis (the latter supplements the fragmentary record).

Hope this helps.

[saranash1]

But line 23 talks about cereal-grain pollen beginning by about 400 A.D. This is in reference to the documentaqry record prior to the seventeenth century

[Nikki Siclunov]

Line 23 does not refer to the documentary record mentioned in lines 20 and 37. In line 23, the author talks about how current analyses of samples reveal patterns of cereal-grain pollen beginning by about 400 AD: just because we have evidence of what occurred in the past does not mean that the evidence has to relate to the documentary record discussed previously. Remember - the documentary record is fragmentary (line 4): it reveals very little about the Irish landscape. The analyses of samples discussed in the third paragraph serve to supplement that record.

[chekellog1010]

Saranash1,

You should find the first paragraph helpful in answering your question. The author mentions that many of the available documents from the 16th and 17th centuries focus selectively on matters relating to military or commercial interests (which is why they weren't all that helpful). In other words, they were gov't and commercial records, etc.

The phrase "documentary record," as it is used in lines 20 and 37, refers to those documents, not to the documented results of pollen analysis (the latter supplements the fragmentary record).

Hope this helps.

I read the the paragraph that nikki said, its very helpfull one.

[Khodi7531]

I unfortunately still chose C over D...but had a question abut that.


I was looking at C D E... I didn't like E cause it said "current historians" which is not what it was referring too. Then I saw C said the same. So I wanted to get rid of both but couldn't find support for D's use of "gov't maps" - even though I had the last sentence of the first paragraph UNDERLINED, so I see it now without time.


But could C and E have been eliminated from this? Because obviously I knew that the documentary record it was referring too was the "fragmented and outdated" evidence/recordings that they had.

[Emily Haney-Caron]

Hi Khodi,

Yep, you got it! Good work going back and figuring this one out. "Current historians" can rule out both C and E.