#19 - Specific Reference, Must Be True, Purpose/Function

[Administrator]

Please post below with any questions!

[Alexander Rothschild]

I don't know what the correct answer choice is, but I believe it is "E". However, answer choice "C" sounds tempting.

[lanereuden]

I don't know what the correct answer choice is, but I believe it is "E". However, answer choice "C" sounds tempting.

Strangely
It’s d
But I keep thinking it’s a or b

[rozewiczp1]

Hello PS,

I was wondering why D is a better answer than C. I can see how it could be either but chose C during the test because I felt that the paragraph mentioned in the question stem introduced the hypothesis of Yi-Fu Tuan that is also shared by the author in the next paragraph. I read it as Yi-Fu Tuan holds an opinion in that paragraph and the author agrees and expands in the next paragraph.

Thanks,

Peter

[Jeremy Press]

Hi Peter,

The reason answer choice C is incorrect is because there's no evidence in the passage that Tuan developed the hypothesis specifically "about clearings" that the author favors. Tuan's argument is, more generally, that "right up through the modern era, human behavior has been driven by fear of the wilderness." Since Tuan is only talking generally about human behavior, we have no evidence that Tuan was thinking about the specific human behavior of creating clearings. It's the author who goes further and applies Tuan's general insight about behavior to the specific behavior of making clearings. So since we have no evidence that Tuan ever applied the hypothesis to clearings specifically, answer choice C is unsupported.

Answer choice D is better because it implies that the reference to Tuan is a general introduction (laying the groundwork) to a specific hypothesis about clearings that the author goes on to develop ("the hypothesis about clearings that the author outlines").

I hope this helps!

[mkarimi73]

I narrowed this question down to (A) and (D). How can one make the decision of choosing (D) over (A)?

(A) is not only true, since the author introduces Yi-Fu Tuan in order to create doubt regarding the resource-procurement model, but (A) also captures the function of the third paragraph too! So does (D)! He also uses Yi-Fu Tuan to set up his final hypothesis in the last paragraph! Am I missing something here?

[Adam Tyson]

Think of the author's purpose here, mkarimi73. Are they trying to show that the resource procurement model is incorrect or inherently flawed? Or are they just suggesting that an alternate explanation may be correct? That's the word the author keeps using - our view may change, fear may have been the primary motivator, paths may be explained another way.

The author isn't arguing against the other hypothesis. Instead, they are just trying to suggest that there may be another explanation, and bringing up fear of the wilderness is meant to support that hypothesis rather than raise doubt about the other one. Also, answer A is far too strong - fear of the wilderness does not, by itself, render the original hypothesis doubtful. It just gives rise to a possible alternative.

[mkarimi73]

Ok that helps a lot. Thank you Mr. Tyson!