Question #2107

B vs. C

Started by SarahA · started 2019-02-25 19:59 · last activity 2019-03-01 17:29 · 3 replies

The question states: “The author's attitude toward Roger Abraham's book can best be described as one of”… I chose (C) “uneasy ambivalence,” because on line 43 the author wrote “Another notable work is Roger Abraham's book, which presents a very clear picture of the significance of traditional singing in the life of noted ballad singer Almeda Riddle. Unfortunately, unlike Pentikainen's study, Abraham's study contains little repertoire analysis.” One would think that when stating ’Unfortunately, unlike…’ would suggest the authors’ uneasy ambivalence towards Abraham’s book. It was missing the element of repertoire analysis. And the author also alludes to there being value in the inclusion repertoire analysis on line 38 when they note that Pentikainen's works were both biographically oriented and touched on the subject of repertoire analysis. I understand that the author makes a note that “scholarship devoted to these women tended to focus primarily on presenting the performer's repertoire,” so as to indicate that the focus of scholarship should be more inclusive of other elements. And I understand why (B) “qualified admiration” is also correct because of the use of the phrase “Another notable work…” But I do not see why (B) is more correct than (C). Could you please explain? Thank you! Could you please hep me understand why I got this question wrong? When I look back at the majority of questions that I am getting wrong, it seems that they all have linguistic nuances. And, like other humans, I’m totally biased and emotional so I’m sure that’s not helping with these subtle differences. Maybe if you can help me understand how/why I missed this one I can then apply the strategy and avoid these hiccups down the road? You’re all pretty smart, I’m sure you can read what I wrote and point out exactly where I’m going wrong :) Thank you!

Replies

  1. Ravi · 2019-02-27 04:39

    @msaber, Happy to help. The question reads, "The author’s attitude toward Roger Abraham’s book can best be described as one of..." You asked about (B) vs. (C), so let's take a look at them. (C) says, "uneasy ambivalence" The problem with (C) is that the author's attitude toward Abraham's book is neither uneasy nor ambivalent. The key thing you might have been confused about with this answer choice is that it used the word 'ambivalent,' which means 'having mixed feelings.' While it's true that the author views both positives and negatives of the work, it's entirely possible that the author can do this without harboring mixed/conflicting feelings about the work. Plus, the author isn't uneasy at all, so we can get rid of this answer choice. (B) says, "qualified admiration" Abraham's name is mentioned in line 43. Here, the author states that Abraham's work is "notable" and "presents a very clear picture of the significance of traditional singing in the life of noted ballad singer Almeda Riddle." This suggests to us that the author has positive views of the work and does admire it to an extent. The author goes on to qualify her admiration of the work when she notes in line 46 that "unfortunately, unlike Pentikainen's study, Abraham's study contains little repertoire analysis." From this, we know that the author admires the work but does have some reservations about it, so "qualified admiration" is an excellent description of the author's attitude toward Abraham's work. (B) is the correct answer choice. Does this make sense? Let us know if you have any more questions!

  2. SarahA · 2019-02-27 20:37

    Thank you, Ravi. That was helpful!

  3. Ravi · 2019-03-01 17:29

    @msaber, you're welcome. I'm happy you found it helpful!

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