RC Question 19 Explanation
QUESTION TEXT: It can be inferred from the passage that the…
DISCUSSION: A very hard question. You should focus first on eliminating wrong answers. Then prove the remaining answers right or wrong with the passage.
If you picked D (the trap answer), then I suspect you thought “D seems true, so E probably isn’t”. That’s not good logic, especially if you are aiming for a high score. You need to prove the right answer, and disprove the wrong ones. You should either:
- Check if the passage said D. (It didn’t – in fact it contradicts D)
- To prove answer E, skim the parts talking about meaning, which is paragraph 2 and the second half of paragraph 3. See if they talk about certainty or uncertainty.
That’s a process for being sure you’re sure. If you just go with an answer that “feels right”, you’re leaving yourself open to traps on the harder questions.
(Note that if you are sure the other four answers are wrong, there is a better case for just picking the one that feels right. But in the scenario above I’ve assuming that you 1. Thought D was right, but 2. Couldn’t say for sure if E was true or not.)
___________
- The passage never mentions other peoples, or objects similar to wampum.
This answer wouldn’t be referring to Europeans – they were another people, but all we know about them is that they failed to understand wampum. - Lines 10-11 say that Europeans misinterpreted the significance of wampum. So that means they didn’t force the use of money despite knowing better. They just didn’t understand wampum.
- Not so. The only use Europeans adopted was money, and we have no evidence that the Haudenosaune used wampum as money before European contact.
- This is the trap answer. The formation of the confederacy in 1451 was a precondition. But the “long-term peaceful association” part isn’t correct.
Lines 38-42 say that the formation of the confederacy was the impetus for using wampum as a system of political symbols. The long period of peace came after this. - CORRECT. A hard answer, but it’s supported by the passage. See for example lines 50-51: “possibly indicating talks in progress”
That means we don’t know with certainty what that symbol means. So there are at least some wampum symbols whose meaning we are not 100% sure about.
Another part about rejecting D is that the passage mentions the Confederacy formed from a group of **warring** tribes. This directly contradicts the idea of long-term peaceful associations.
Another reason D is wrong that isn’t mentioned here is that D says the confederacy/peace were preconditions to wampum being used to communicate, but the passage says wampum were used for communication before the confederacy and peace, in the last line of paragraph 2.
That’s correct! Wampum was indeed used for communication more broadly before the confederacy. Good catch.
this question was really tough! Especially under time constraints
Hey Graeme,
I think (E) may be supported from the first paragraph. At least, that’s how I got to it (I didn’t even remember or acknowledge lines 50-51).
Lines 5-7: “Most Europeans *have* insisted that wampum was primarily a form of money.”
Lines 12-15: “*However,* the true significance… lies in its gradual development… into a method for maintaining permanent peace among distinct nations.”
The present-tense use of “have” along with “however” indicating divergent interpretations into their use as political tools (i.e. belts) suggests to me that (E) is supported in the opening lines much more clearly than in the last lines. Though lines 50-51 are a much more subtle, clever way of coming to that conclusion.