Q14

[kmewmewblue]

Why is (D) correct?

Line10-12 says "They SHOULD signal a much-needed reassessment." So I thought their studies are not complete.
Yet, (D) says they DID provide these much-needed reassessment....

[bbirdwell]

So let's pretend I'm your waiter at a breakfast restaurant. Your coffee cup is empty, so I start filling it up. When the cup is half-full, you say "That should be enough." What do you mean? You mean it's enough.

Or pretend you're a scientist. After three exhaustive rounds of research yielding identical results, your assistant asks you "Shall we do another?" You reply, "That should be enough."

When doing main point questions, avoid the tendency to overanalyze on single nebulous words and stick to the big picture. What's this passage ABOUT? It's about the impact of recent studies on revolutionary French women.

Even if you were confused about the word "should," there's plenty of evidence in the rest of the passage. The first sentence of the third paragraph says, "What makes these studies particularly compelling."

Middle of the last paragraph: "admirably, each gives center stage to a group that has been previously marginalized."

Then, eliminate bad answers.

(A) Too specific. It's not just about the three stages.
(B) No - the earlier assessment was no good. (1st paragraph)
(C) Too specific - this is just the end of the third paragraph.
(E) Too specific - it's not about limitations versus general features.

[WaltGrace1983]

I thought (B) was a particularly tempting answer choice. I guess what makes it wrong is that the reassessments weren't earlier, the historians reassessed in their own studies. However, even if (B) had said, "The findings of certain recent historical studies have resulted from a general reassessment, by historians, of women's participation in the revolutionary events...", wouldn't this still be not fully complete because it fails to include the author's opinion?

I find it crucial that the author attaches a value to these reassessments.

In other words, will the main point (pretty much) always include the author's general opinion?

[christine.defenbaugh]

I thought (B) was a particularly tempting answer choice. I guess what makes it wrong is that the reassessments weren't earlier, the historians reassessed in their own studies. However, even if (B) had said, "The findings of certain recent historical studies have resulted from a general reassessment, by historians, of women's participation in the revolutionary events...", wouldn't this still be not fully complete because it fails to include the author's opinion?

I find it crucial that the author attaches a value to these reassessments.

In other words, will the main point (pretty much) always include the author's general opinion?

Not necessarily. It tends to depend somewhat on how strong the author's opinion is, and how forcefully and clearly it was made known through the passage.

If (B) were as you re-worded it, I wouldn't kick it out at first glance just for failing to express the author's perspective. Frankly, I'd be surprised if they would construct a wrong answer choice that was wrong solely for that reason, unless the author's opinion was an absolutely essential component of the passage structure itself (i.e., the entire point of the passage is how X idea is a horrible idea that no one should do, backed up by all the various reasons we shouldn't do it - in that case, author's opinion and the main idea are indistinguishable from one another, and a main point answer would HAVE to reflect it).

But when the author's opinion is more of a side-dish, or recurring backdrop, it's less necessary to include it. Remember that you are not being asked to construct, out of thin air, the most perfect answer. Instead, you are asked to determine which of five pre-existing answers best expresses the main idea.

That's a critical distinction in terms of practicality. On test day, if we had your re-worded (B), and four answers with clear and explicit flaws, I'd pick it and move on. If I got it down to your reworded (B) and another answer which said essentially the same thing PLUS expressed the author's opinion, I'd pick the latter.

But honestly, I'd be really surprised to see such a hairsplitting distinction between answer choices for a passage like this one.

What do you think?