Q11

[khaleesiwantstodolaw]

I picked D for this one over C. D and C say almost opposite things. I'm totally lost here. Can somebody please explain why C is the correct answer here!

[lkslaveeva]

khaleesiwantstodolaw,

I picked the same answer as you and then, after checking my work, realized I glossed over the answers too quickly. The quotation marks around the word "accommodating" mean sarcasm or scare quotes (as is accepted in literary terms [they can also mean you're quoting someone but here that's obviously not the case]. So we have to think what the author just stated in the previous, first, paragraph which deals with "The United States Supreme Court" and the fact that it "has not always resolved legal issues of concern to the Native Americans in a manner that has pleased the Indian nations." So, it's safe for us to infer that the author thinks the courts have not been accommodating to the Native Americans nor have they always been fair.
Answer choice C) says that the quotation marks provide an example/reason of "why the decisions of the United States Supreme Court have not always favored Native Americans." Thus it is the right answer.

I hope that wasn't confusing and it helped... at least a bit.

[tommywallach]

Hey Khaleesi,

Great explanation from lkslaveeva here. It's worth noting that quotes are often used for irony, the way you would do it with air quotes in real life:

Oh yeah, he's a really great (imagine air quotes) "friend" of mine, ever since he stole my car and my pet fish.

In this case, notice where the sentence goes after that:

Despite "accommodating"...it is worth noting that the power of the S.C. has been exercised in a manner that has usually been beneficial...

See how the structure of that sentence works? It ends on a positive note, but begins with the word "despite". This helps us know that the first half of the sentence needs to describe something bad, so the quotes must be ironic.

Hope that helps, and thanks lkslaveeva!

-t

[magnusgan]

Thank you both for the explanation, I learnt something important and new here.

[hope2015]

I'm still confused by this question. I understand that the author is making a sarcastic remark, but how would you rule out AC (B) and (E)?
Both imply that the judicial system isn't "accommodating" to the needs of Native Americans.

[maryadkins]

(B) is too narrow and is also a bit off the mark. "Goals" may be true, but this is really a more general statement about why the Court has not always resolved legal issues in favor of NAs, so (C) is a better match. (B) also prescribes behavior for the Court, which the author isn't doing here.

(E) brings in fairness which ins't actually mentioned anywhere in the referenced lines.

(A) misconstrues what is being discussed, and (D) is the opposite of what the passage states.

Hope this helps!

[bswise2]

I'm confused here about the "suggest a reason why" part of C. How is the author suggesting a reason why? Isn't the author just merely making the sarcastic point that the US Supreme Court hasn't always been accommodating, rather than suggesting a reason why these decisions have not favored Native Americans?

[ohthatpatrick]

The first paragraph was saying that a lot of the decisions the Supreme Court has made about Native Americans has NOT been based on enduring principles of law.
Instead, these decisions have been based on "the temper of the times" ... the Court has gone with what is politically popular, in other words.

Line 7 identifies this type of decision making as "accommodation".

So the "accommodating" nature, in line 10, is a reference to the idea that "sometimes the Court has ruled against Native Americans, [b]because[/bi] it was accommodating the political climate of the times".

[GauravP870]

@ohthatpatrick
Thanks a lot for clarification. I was also confused, but your statement "it was accommodating the political climate of the times" clarified everything.

[JorieB701]

Why am I still confused?

“Suggest a reason” sounds more to me like what was happening in the first paragraph. But are they just using it in a way that means something closer to “just simply referring to the thing that was offered as an explanation in the first paragraph to say that even in spite of this.. blah blah blah?”