Q18

[layamaheshwari]

The correct answer is B: The formation of the Haudenosaune Confederacy called for a more complex method of communication than wampum as used until then provided.

I selected D: Prior to Haudenosaune contact with the Europeans, wampum served primarily as a means of promulgating official edicts and policies of the Haudenosaune Confederacy.

Can someone explain why E is correct? Moreover, any general tips for tackling "most strongly supports" questions would be highly appreciated. Thanks.

[ohthatpatrick]

Question Type: Inference (no keywords)

Task:
Pick the answer choice that is most provable. Do not pick an answer choice unless you have a line reference to back it up.

Tendencies:
Wrong answers often have EXTREME, COMPARATIVE, or OUT OF SCOPE wording.
Correct answers often have weak, wishy-washy, safe wording.

(A) It's possible, but we get no nudge of support in that direction. The author instead suggests that EUROPEANS introduced the monetary significance to wampum. (line 9)

(B) This is supported by lines 37-42. This answer choice sounds a lot like "the formation of the Confederacy .. supplied the impetus .. for making wampum arbitrary and pictorially derived symbols". And line 35 stresses that previously the political messages were 'simple'. There were only the two colors, no pictures like later wampum. So that's how we justify 'more complex'.

(C) Extreme wording. The constitution HAD to be RE-codified? We can't support that.

(D) Extreme wording. "Primarily" to disseminate edicts and Confederacy policy? Lines 12-17 talk about other purposes wampum served in its gradual evolution.

(E) Out of scope. Where do we talk about more subtle shades of colors? In fact in line 56 it's still referring to "THE two colors" as though we're still just using white and purple.

Hope this helps.

[andrewgong01]

I had a follow up regarding how D is eliminated

I understand this was an evolution and the passage never said the religious use of wampum went away (it could be that we used wampum for political reasons still but the majority of its use was still for religious uses). However, at the same time Lines 16 through 17 seem to imply that Wampum eventually became used to disseminate sociopolitcal messages, which is in line with "D" , albeit there is a shift in wording from general messages to "official edict and policies".

Question Type: Inference (no keywords)

Task:
Pick the answer choice that is most provable. Do not pick an answer choice unless you have a line reference to back it up.

Tendencies:
Wrong answers often have EXTREME, COMPARATIVE, or OUT OF SCOPE wording.
Correct answers often have weak, wishy-washy, safe wording.

(A) It's possible, but we get no nudge of support in that direction. The author instead suggests that EUROPEANS introduced the monetary significance to wampum. (line 9)

(B) This is supported by lines 37-42. This answer choice sounds a lot like "the formation of the Confederacy .. supplied the impetus .. for making wampum arbitrary and pictorially derived symbols". And line 35 stresses that previously the political messages were 'simple'. There were only the two colors, no pictures like later wampum. So that's how we justify 'more complex'.

(C) Extreme wording. The constitution HAD to be RE-codified? We can't support that.

(D) Extreme wording. "Primarily" to disseminate edicts and Confederacy policy? Lines 12-17 talk about other purposes wampum served in its gradual evolution.

(E) Out of scope. Where do we talk about more subtle shades of colors? In fact in line 56 it's still referring to "THE two colors" as though we're still just using white and purple.

Hope this helps.

[ohthatpatrick]

Sure, but don't think so hard. Use extreme words to your benefit. They're the time-savers of RC. Can we find any line reference to support the claim that "the NUMBER ONE reason" was to disseminate edicts and policy?

If not, there's no reason to keep thinking about this one.

[muriella]

Sure, but don't think so hard. Use extreme words to your benefit. They're the time-savers of RC. Can we find any line reference to support the claim that "the NUMBER ONE reason" was to disseminate edicts and policy?

If not, there's no reason to keep thinking about this one.

I truly want to stop thinking about this one, but could someone help me out here....

Like the previous poster, I found it stupid hard eliminating (D). Like him, I saw the same Lines 16-17, in addition to the last lines of the passage where it talked about wampum enforcing laws of the confederacy for hundreds of years, AND the beginning of the passage: where it
talked about pre-European contacts and said that wampum was developed "primarily for political purposes." That all collectively seemed to support (D), especially Line 4's "primarily for political purposes"). So what gives???

Is it wrong on a more basic level - that to pick (D) would be sort of like ignoring the entire 2nd paragraph's discussion of wampum's early use for both religious meaning and later political messaging?

Thanks in advance.

[ohthatpatrick]

The passage says "Once Europeans got here, they used wampum as money. PRIOR TO THAT, it evolved from simple religious stuff to complex political stuff."

Then we hear that wampum was
1. religious wishin' beads
2. simple political messages on strings
3. complex political updates/information on belts

Which of those three was the PRIMARY purpose.
(D) is saying that #3 was.
Why?
Is there a line reference that says that the 3rd one was the primary one?
We don't know how long each of these periods was, if we're to judge primary based on longevity.

We don't know how the Haudenosaune think about them, if we're to judge primary based on how this tribe itself sees wampum.

Prior to Europeans, it had 3 different uses, and this answer arbitrarily elevates one of them to being the PRIMARY use.