#3 - Global Reference, Must Be True

[Administrator]

Please post your questions below!

[dripgal]

Hello!


I understand now that C is correct because line 21 talks about photosynthesis as the process by which plants produce oxygen, however, I marked B because line 3 in the very start of the passage mentions 5000 commercial products that are derived from forests. Is B a Shell Game because it distinguishes between "plants" and "forests"?



Thank you!

[Robert Carroll]

dr,

Be careful! Answer choice (B) refers to "commercial plantations" specifically, and we don't know how many products come from plantations. Plantations are discussed later, but without a specific number being associated with them. I'd call that a Shell Game for sure, because the line you're looking at discusses "commercial products".

Robert Carroll

[mikeross1234]

I understand why C is correct, but I have a question on answer choice E. I chose E because I thought that the passage implied that trees absorbed more carbon dioxide. Paragraph two begins by presenting the argument that people believe that the "foliage" absorbs so much carbon dioxide and produces so much oxygen... and then rebuts this position by explaining that "tree" processes end in a net zero for forests producing oxygen. So if tree functions are enough to debunk this myth, I took this as saying that trees are the major players in the "foliage" from the first position. Thereby inferring that trees absorb more carbon dioxide or produce more oxygen than other vegetation. Is this wrong because it can simply be a very large number of trees compared to other vegetation absorbing little amounts of carbon dioxide?

[Jonathan Evans]

Excellent question, Mike!

I understand how (E) could be attractive. After all, the passage does appear to call into question the extent to which tropical rain forests are net consumers of carbon dioxide.

The one missing element is the "other vegetation." The second paragraph only addresses the effects of living and dead trees. The "foliage" is that of the trees. There is no reference, either explicit or implicit, to other types of vegetation.