#25 - Global Reference, Must Be True

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

The correct answer choice is (E).

Answer choice (A):

Answer choice (B):

Answer choice (C):

Answer choice (D):

Answer choice (E): This is the correct answer choice.


This explanation is still in progress. Please post any questions below!

[nusheenaparvizi]

Hi, I initially immediately eliminated E and chose D, thinking that each passage was coming from the difference in conceptual v. linguistic differences. Now that I'm looking back, E looks like the right answer, but I still can't fully push D out as entirely wrong either? Is there something I am missing that makes D entirely incorrect?

[KelseyWoods]

Hi Nusheena!

Passage A does not posit that conceptual differences cause linguistic differences. Check out the first sentence of the second paragraph: "Whorf’s main mistake was to assume that our mother tongue prevents us from being able to think
certain thoughts; new research suggests that in reality its influence consists in what it obliges us to think about." The author is suggesting that linguistic differences may influence what we think about--gendered nouns in German and Spanish seem to make speakers associate different genders with inanimate objects. Answer choice (D) gets the relationship discussed in passage A backwards (plus its more about associations than concepts), and so it is incorrect.

Hope this helps!

Best,
Kelsey

[woods_elle]

Hi! I originally chose D but seeing your explanation I understand why it is incorrect. However, I do not understand why E is the correct answer as it seems a bit vague. I can understand subjective associations, but I'm not exactly sure how passage B focuses on the "possession" of concepts or what that means.

[Rachael Wilkenfeld]

Hi there Elle Woods,

The key concept in Passage B is the concept of numeracy or numerical understanding. Passage B is almost entirely concerned with how language impacts people's concepts of number and amount. If you look at Passage B, near line 60 at the end of the passage, it discusses the ways in which numerical language can relate to the concepts of numeracy.

Hope that helps!