Q25

[ban2110]

Although I chose correctly, I find that I was very, very tempted by answer choice (E) "are reassured by parental approval." Could someone please explain why this is wrong? Or perhaps how I should have went about thinking about this question? Thank you so much!!

[ohthatpatrick]

I'm assuming you're tempted by (E) because "reassured by parental approval" is close to the language of lines 44-45.

I have 2 suggestions for how you could convince yourself that (A) is correct:

1. Lines 44-45 don't actually say that the children feel reassured. Similarly, this sentence isn't saying that the parents approve of the children. Rather, it's saying that the parents approve of the story. The parents endorse its message. Choice (E), meanwhile, is saying that the "children are approved by parents, and thus reassured". So we can't say that 44-45 is a match for what (E) is saying.

2. Lines 44-45 come from another paragraph. This question is asking for a specific detail about something that comes in the last paragraph. The correct answer will normally reinforce something in the immediate context (a sentence or two before or after). Big picture questions are free to grab from any paragraph, but specific detail questions (i.e., "According to the passage ...") basically use keywords to send you to the appropriate paragraph and then test your understanding of the immediate vicinity.

Hope this helps.

[ban2110]

Ah thank you so very much! As soon as I finished reading your post I had that lightbulb moment and the confusion cleared. Just as you assumed, I mis-read lines 44-45 as parents approving of the children.

Thank you again!

[ericha3535]

Patrick,

I have a question.

I got this question right because all of the other answer choices seemed unattractive.

Also, the question stem says "where the children interpret a story benignly," which specifically refers to the last paragraph.

Here are my questions:

1) So, this question is supported by line 50 - 55 right?

2) when a question stem actually uses the key words and a particular paragraph actually uses that key word, do I have to refer "only" to that paragraph in searching for the answer? Or if some other paragraph that didn't use the key word but talked about it in general sense, do I have to refer both of those paragraphs? Am I making sense?

Sometimes I feel as though the key word in the question stem doesn't help to pinpoint where the answer lies...