#10 - Godinez: In the past, land was sometimes measured by

[Administrator]

Please post your questions below!

[emekj]

Hi!
I am having trouble determining what the difference is between D and E. To me it seems like they are both saying the same thing. Please help!

[James Finch]

Hi Emekj,

(D) and (E) are saying very similar things, which means we should always go back to the scope and precise language and meaning of the original conclusion to parse out the difference and choose the correct answer. Here the stimulus's conclusion is that "it became necessary to adopt new measures of land, such as acreage, when land uses diversified." So necessity is an element, as is a new diversification of land uses (ie people started doing more than just plowing the land). (D) deals with a "realization of inadequacy" for "some land uses," neither of which are in the stimulus's original conclusion. (E), on the other hand, deals directly with how "new diversified land uses" (check) "made new measurements necessary" (check). So (E) is the correct answer because it deals with the precise topics the stimulus does, rather than merely similar ones.

Hope this clears things up!

[andrewb22]

I almost got tripped up by (D) but recognized that (E) was the stronger answer. My main reason for dismissing (D) was that it used "modern measures of land". To me, that was a distinction the stimulus did not make. Am I correct in my thinking here?

[Ryan Twomey]

Hey AndrewB22,

Whenever I am teaching my students main point questions, I tell them to be confident in the conclusion before going down to the answer choices. In this case, our conclusion is just the last sentence: "it became necessary to adopt new measures of land, such as acreage, when land use diversified."

Then at that point you just want to match the answer choice to the conclusion. Answer choice D adds the modern measures of land part, which you correctly identified as new information, but even more so, answer choice D added "when people realized that plowing time was an inadequate measure for some land uses."

Answer choice E is an exact match, they just switched the order of the sentence, but not the meaning: "the advant of diversified land uses made new measures of land necessary." This is an exact match and thus is the correct answer choice.

Find your conclusion in the stimulus and stick to it. Then pick the answer choice that matches that conclusion. Main point correct answer choices should not contain evidence or sub conclusions.

I hope all this helps you and I wish you good luck in your studies.

Best,
Ryan

[andrewb22]

Thanks for the response, Ryan. I can see why that would be a better reason to dismiss (D).