#12 - In a scene in an ancient Greek play, Knights, the

[leahaddad]

Hi all,

I've read some of the comments and answers above, but I am still quite confused. Firstly, as someone else already mentioned, Answer D specifically says In ancient Greece (and not in ancient Greek plays) so I'm not sure how we can derive any knowledge about Ancient Greece.

Secondly, the answer choice says that "In ancient Greece people did not read SILENTLY to themselves" The stimulus tells us that although he did not read the words on the tablet out loud, he also did not read silently because he was making comments about what he was reading ie. what we can assume to be "wow, awesome etc."

Thus, it's unclear to me how we can be sure that "In ancient Greece, people did not read SILENTLY to themselves" if we know nothing about ancient Greece and if Demosthenes was not actually silent as he read.

[Frank Peter]

Hi Leah,

Keep in mind what the question stem is asking - we want an answer choice that cannot be true based upon the information presented. We can be sure that Demosthenes wasn't reading in total silence, because he was expressing amazement at the contents of the tablet. I do agree that the reference to Ancient Greece, rather than "Ancient Greek plays" is a bit of a curveball here, especially since other answer choices do refer specifically to plays. But in this case, (D) is the only answer choice that we can most readily say is directly at odds with the stimulus.

[lavalsat]

Hello,

The part of this problem I struggled with the most was "expresses his amazement". Would someone be able to explain to me why we should interpret that as vocalizing something? I actually interpreted it as making other expressions such as facial expressions or head nods- because that is what I think most people would do to express amazement when reading something. I think without making that (in my opinion very sketchy) assumption, D is by no means a good answer. Am I missing something?

[lavalsat]

Ok, now I get it hinges on the phrase "reading silently" not necessarily being silent.

[fkskfbemkxj]

I absolutely do not understand how D is still the answer.
"he continuously expresses his amazement at its contents" and his friend wondered about what was written. Yes my logic was that Demosthenes said things like "omg" while reading.
Answer choice D) is saying "In ancient Greece, people did not read silently to themselves". Reading silently to themselves does not just imply that the person didn't say about the content aloud. However, without saying a word and in a dead silence while reading is considered "reading silently to themselves". Since it can be reasonably inferred that continuously expressing one's amazement at its contents mean that the person either gasped or made a noise, that shouldn't be considered as reading silently to oneself.

[Rachael Wilkenfeld]

Hi fkskfbemkxj,

Reading silently doesn't mean that you have to be silent. You just can't be reading aloud. You can make other noises as long as they are not reading. Demosthenes couldn't have been reading aloud because then the friend would not have had questions about the contents of the tablet. If you aren't reading aloud, you are reading in your head, or silently. There is no other way to read other than out loud or not out loud.

Hope that helps!

[ashpine17]

isn't it problematic to assume just because someone read silently in a greek play, that ancient greeks did so in real life?

[Rachael Wilkenfeld]

Hiya Ash,

It wouldn't be an action the audience would be able to understand the actions on stage if it wasn't a familiar action for them. If there was no silent reading in ancient Greece, the audience wouldn't understand how the actor knew what the tablet said before he read it aloud. It's a reasonable inference to make based on the information given in the stimulus.

Hope that helps!

[jdleggett]

Let me get this straight. A character in an ancient Greek play was reading silently to himself, therefore, in ancient Greece, people read silently to themselves.

You just have to deduce that Demosthenes was reading silently to himself, and wade through all the negatives.

[Jeff Wren]

Hi jdleggett,

That's it in a nutshell!

To be a little more precise, what we can reasonably conclude from the actions of the characters in the play is that reading silently would have been common enough during Ancient Greece that the scene would have made sense to the audience without further explanation.

Therefore we can most reasonably reject the idea that no one in Ancient Greece read silently.