"Purely social phenomena"
Bit confused on this meaning in context question -- how do we get to AC A, and assume that these phenomena are by-products? Re-reading it, I can understand why AC A is correct; however is there a specific strategy for these types of questions that can help?
Thanks.
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Re: Q21
Question Type:
Meaning in Context
Answer expected in lines/paragraph:
54-58 will be important, but the significance of this final sentence is that it is the author's REPLACEMENT for the earlier considered explanations for clearings: the "resource-procurement model" (lines 19, 24). Line 24-26 offers a potential replacement for "purely social phenomena", because it says "Although there's some evidence for resource-procurement, this passage is really going to argue that the reason for clearings was [non-economic] (purely social)".
Any prephrase?
Non-economic / not related to gaining a hunting advantage. Just related to managing humans' fears about wilderness and the associated path-forming that led to clearings.
Correct answer:
A
Answer choice analysis:
(A) Yes. This has the "noneconomic" reference from line 26. But it seems weird to say that social phenomena "arise as the BY-PRODUCT" of noneconomic practices. However, when we check the last sentence again, we can make peace with that wording, since it says that "wider clearings EMERGE" as corners are cut. Since the clearing happened more or less by accident, as a by-product of our fear of the wilderness, this seems like a fair description of these clearings.
(B) Strong: exist in ALL human societies?
(C) Trappy: sounds like what we'd pick if we were just going off the term "purely social phenomena", rather than the passage itself. Would the author say that these clearings served the purpose of strengthening ties between society's members? The clearings may have had that effect, but the context of the sentence is more about what CAUSED the clearings to exist in the first place. The author doesn't think that the clearings were created with a specific intention; she thinks that the clearings happened to develop as paths converged.
(D) Trappy: "social" sounds too much like the phrase itself. Again, the clearings weren't intentionally created. They emerged.
(E) "cultural and economic development"? How is that connected? If anything, we wanted NON-economic.
Takeaway/Pattern: Tough one! To be receptive to "noneconomic" in (A), we definitely need a good sense of The Scale: "Clearings were made to gain an advantage in attracting/hunting animals (economic)" vs. "Clearings just kinda happened because we were scared of the forest and so we made deliberate paths through the forest (noneconomic)". One technique we can usually use to test these answers is simply to drop them into the same spot in the sentence and see which one seems to preserve the original meaning best. For example, testing (C), we might try out line 54-58 again and say "It may lead us to explain some clearings as [serving the purpose of strengthening social ties], since where paths meet, wider clearings emerge."
#officialexplanation
Meaning in Context
Answer expected in lines/paragraph:
54-58 will be important, but the significance of this final sentence is that it is the author's REPLACEMENT for the earlier considered explanations for clearings: the "resource-procurement model" (lines 19, 24). Line 24-26 offers a potential replacement for "purely social phenomena", because it says "Although there's some evidence for resource-procurement, this passage is really going to argue that the reason for clearings was [non-economic] (purely social)".
Any prephrase?
Non-economic / not related to gaining a hunting advantage. Just related to managing humans' fears about wilderness and the associated path-forming that led to clearings.
Correct answer:
A
Answer choice analysis:
(A) Yes. This has the "noneconomic" reference from line 26. But it seems weird to say that social phenomena "arise as the BY-PRODUCT" of noneconomic practices. However, when we check the last sentence again, we can make peace with that wording, since it says that "wider clearings EMERGE" as corners are cut. Since the clearing happened more or less by accident, as a by-product of our fear of the wilderness, this seems like a fair description of these clearings.
(B) Strong: exist in ALL human societies?
(C) Trappy: sounds like what we'd pick if we were just going off the term "purely social phenomena", rather than the passage itself. Would the author say that these clearings served the purpose of strengthening ties between society's members? The clearings may have had that effect, but the context of the sentence is more about what CAUSED the clearings to exist in the first place. The author doesn't think that the clearings were created with a specific intention; she thinks that the clearings happened to develop as paths converged.
(D) Trappy: "social" sounds too much like the phrase itself. Again, the clearings weren't intentionally created. They emerged.
(E) "cultural and economic development"? How is that connected? If anything, we wanted NON-economic.
Takeaway/Pattern: Tough one! To be receptive to "noneconomic" in (A), we definitely need a good sense of The Scale: "Clearings were made to gain an advantage in attracting/hunting animals (economic)" vs. "Clearings just kinda happened because we were scared of the forest and so we made deliberate paths through the forest (noneconomic)". One technique we can usually use to test these answers is simply to drop them into the same spot in the sentence and see which one seems to preserve the original meaning best. For example, testing (C), we might try out line 54-58 again and say "It may lead us to explain some clearings as [serving the purpose of strengthening social ties], since where paths meet, wider clearings emerge."
#officialexplanation
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