#26 - Specific Reference, Purpose/Function

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

The correct answer choice is (A).

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

Answer choice (B):

Answer choice (C):

Answer choice (D):

Answer choice (E):

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

[tmcc]

Can you please explain by #26 is A and not D?

[Adam Tyson]

I'll do my best, tmcc!

The first paragraph tells us what most studies of this sort have focused on, and that Tollefson focused on something else. It then lists some of the materials that he used to conduct his study. There really isn't an "accepted theory", just the usual way of doing things, and Tollefson doesn't so much challenge that usual approach as he does deviate from it. In other words, nobody says that something is "right", and Tollefson never sets about trying to show that it's actually wrong. That's what answer D describes, and since that isn't what actually happened, that makes it a bad description and a wrong answer.

Answer A much better captures the fairly neutral and academic tone of the first paragraph, which is more descriptive than argumentative. While later we get that Tollefson didn't like what he found, and our author appears to share that sentiment, the first paragraph lacks that negative connotation and is just giving us the background without judgment. That makes answer A the better answer here.

[chian9010]

I would like to know the reason that B is wrong is because his argument is presented on the second paragraph?

[James Finch]

Hi Chian,

(B) is a classic half right/half wrong answer choice. Correct answer choices will always fit almost exactly, and lack any extra information that would make them incorrect based on what the question is asking for.

The major issue with (B) is that it while it correctly describes a comparison of Tollefson's book with other studies (made in the first sentence), nowhere in the paragraph is Tollefson's "main argument" described. From only reading the first paragraph, we don't yet have any idea what his arguments are, so we certainly can't say that the first paragraph "presents the main argument."

Hope that clears things up!