#11 - Specific Reference, Must Be True

[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!

[Catherine.Sims]

The question referenced lines 25 - 29 which didn't specify which scientists are having the debate so I looked at lines 17 - 25 to figure out who was having the debate. When I first read the passage I wasn't sure who they were referring to and even after looking at it again while answering the question, it still wasn't clear to me.

This paragraph looks like it's giving us the "thesis" lines 18 - 21 then the "antithesis" lines 21 - 32 so I reasoned that the lines referring to the nature of protoplasm was a debate between cytologists and biochemists. Is the correct answer A because the protoplasm debate is actually a part of the "thesis" that the biochemists are trying to clarify with the antithesis?

[James Finch]

Hi Catherine,

The difficulty of this question comes from the ambiguity of the word "debate;" there is both a debate between cytologists and biochemists over how much structure cells actually had (lines 17-25) as well as a second debate (which this question is concerned with) over what form the structure took. As we are told explicitly that biochemists did not involve themselves in the second debate, we can infer that only cytologists were involved (as they would be the only ones left).

Hope this helps!

[olivia]

For some reason I'm still not understanding how this debate is carried on among cytologists. The beginning of the second paragraph made it sound like it was carried on between cytologists and biochemists.

Thanks!

[Paul Marsh]

Hi Olivia! The question is asking us about who took part in the "debate over the structural nature of protoplasm" referenced around line 26. The beginning of that paragraph does indeed talk about biochemists. However, let's take a look at the sentence that the question stem is actually referring to(beginning with "Also, they..."). That sentence specifically tells us that biochemists did not take part in that debate.

Also, they stood apart from the debate then raging over whether
protoplasm, the complex of living material within a cell, is homogeneous, networklike, granular, or foamlike.

The "they" in that sentence is referring to "biochemists", the subject of the previous sentence. And "stood apart" here means "did not take part in". So that sentence is telling us, "Biochemists did not take part in the debate then raging over whether protoplasm is homogenous". As a result, we can safely cross out any answer choice that contains biochemists (B, C, and E).

Hope that helps!

[alex.r.berson@gmail.com]

Hi there,

I'm still a little unsure why (C) is incorrect. As the end of the passage highlights, both disciplines merged and thus the "carries" in the answer stem would imply that they both more or less carried on the debate, which was my reasoning.

Is the correct answer (A) because the "debate" referenced in the question only refers to the ongoing debate in the nineteenth century prior to the disciplines merging?

[Jeff Wren]

Hi Alex,

Yes, the question is only referring to the debate that took place in the late nineteenth century over the structural nature of protoplasm. Notice the words in the question "was most likely carried on" (my emphasis). This debate took place at a specific period of time. Even though the two disciplines later merged during the twentieth century, at the time of this debate, they were separate. By the time that the fields merged, this debate was likely long over. We have no reason to think that it was/is still going on into the twentieth century.

For the purposes of this passage, it's important to keep the different groups/terms separate. (Cytology, biochemistry, molecular biology, modern cellular biology, molecular genetics) are all separate, albeit related terms in the passage. For example, when a question or answer specifically mentions cytologists, don't assume that this includes modern cellular biology.

When a reading comp question states "it can be inferred from the passage," the answer will not directly come from the passage verbatim. Instead, the correct answer will be an inference that you can make based on what was stated in the passage.

The second paragraph is contrasting the differences between the fields of cytology and biochemistry in the late nineteenth century. When the passage states that the biochemists "stood apart from the debate then raging over whether protoplasm ... is homogeneous, networklike, granular, or foamlike" (my emphasis)(lines 25-29), this is implied to be in contrast to cytologists.

How can we infer this? Because the whole point of the second paragraph is showing the differences between two fields at that time, and this is an example of one of the differences. If cytologists also stood apart from this debate, then this sentence makes no sense in the context of the paragraph. In addition, understanding that cytologists focused on "cell architecture" (lines 18-19) should be a clue that they would be very interested in the structural nature of protoplasm, as that is exactly the type of debate that falls within their area of focus.

[alex.r.berson@gmail.com]

This was a light buld over my head response thank you!