#6 - Specific Reference, Purpose/Function

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

The correct answer choice is (B).

Answer choice (A):

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

Answer choice (C):

Answer choice (D):

Answer choice (E):

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

[cindyhylee87]

Hi,

I am not sure why (E) does not work for this question. It seems to me that both (B) and (E) would work.

Thanks,
Cindy

[Francis O'Rourke]

Hi Cindy,

Answer Choice (E) states that the author's purpose in the third paragraph is to identify unique contributions made to music by this school. If that is the right answer choice, then we should be able to identify some unique contributions. The paragraph discusses the geography, market, and variety of the school, but I don't see any contributions that the author describes as unique.

Choice (B) however is well supported by the paragraph. Does the author introduce a discussion of the coherency of this school? He of She opens the paragraph by stating that we need to review the concept of the school itself. The author then goes on to say that "school" may be to strong, since the members were unified mainly by geography and the market for their products. All of this serves to question whether the school was a coherent entity.

[mshaikh]

For this question, I didn't choose answer choice B because I thought the answer choice was suggesting that London Pianoforte school is coherent. Instead I went with answer choice c since, the author did discuss Ringer's perspective although the author did not only discuss that. If answer choice b had been written in this way, ""introduce a discussion questioning the definition of the London Pianoforte school" I would have picked it. Basically I think what I am asking is what does answer choice B mean?

[nicholaspavic]

Hi ms shaikh,

I think that the word "coherency" from Answer choice (B) may be giving some trouble here so let's discuss it. The answer is not suggesting that the London school is actually "coherent." Although the author attributes commonalities like geography and time to the group, he/she also says at line 31: '"School" may well be too strong a word for what was arguably a group unified not so much by stylistic principles or aesthetic creed..." That sentence and others challenge the concept of "coherency" and suggests that at times it was not coherent at all. So Answer choice (B) does a nice job of summarizing that the author's purpose here was to discuss that the London School was possibly coherent for some purposes, but sometimes in fact, not coherent at all for other purposes.

Thanks and I hope that helped!

[mshaikh]

Yes that makes sense! Thanks again for all the help!

[Jared R]

I am unsure why the answer to question 6 is B. I put A because I thought that "calls for review" was casting doubt, and I don't see where the coherency is.

[KelseyWoods]

Hi Jared!

Sure, "calls for review" might be similar to "casts doubt." And, in fact, the phrase "cast doubt" even appears toward the end of paragraph 3. But we can't choose an answer choice based on one word/phrase. We need to look at the answer choice as a whole. Cast doubt on what?

Answer choice (A) states "cast doubt on the usefulness of Temperley’s study of the London Pianoforte school." But the author does not cast doubt on the usefulness of Temperley's study. Instead, the author is casting doubt on whether or not what is referred to as the London Pianoforte School should really be considered a "school." And he says in the last sentence of that paragraph that "Indeed, Temperley concedes that their "variety may be so great as to cast doubt on the notion of a ‘school.’"" So the author isn't casting doubt on Temperley's study. The author is agreeing with Temperley.

Answer choice (B) states "introduce a discussion of the coherency of the London Pianoforte school." Coherency refers to whether or not what is referred to as the London Pianoforte School should really be considered a "school." The author states: ""School" may well be too strong a word for what was arguably a group unified not so much by stylistic principles or aesthetic creed as by the geographical circumstance that they worked at various times in London and produced pianos and piano music for English pianos and English markets." There, the author is saying that this group was not unified by stylistic principles and aesthetic creed. Thus, the author is saying this group was not necessarily a coherent "school," Coherent means "unified as or forming a whole" so any discussion of how united this group was is a discussion of their coherency.

Hope this helps!

Best,
Kelsey