by ohthatpatrick Mon Apr 22, 2013 7:05 pm
I would say they're testing roughly the same skill, which is "Can you synthesize what you read and find the important, overarching point/purpose?"
There are a number of passages like this one in which the first question is Main Point and the last question is Primary Concern/Primary Purpose.
They're both testing us on the big picture, but they normally approach things from two slightly different angles (just so the correct answers don't sound TOO similar to each other).
The other big difference between Main Point and Primary Purpose/Concern is that Main Point has to actually contain details about the topic. Primary Purpose/Concern, meanwhile, can sound incredibly generic.
The correct answer to Q20, (B), could potentially apply to a thousand different passages.
Meanwhile, the correct answer to Q14, (D), could only describe this passage.
For Q14 and Q20, when I ask myself, "where do I look in the passage to answer this question?", my answer would be the same. In this passage, the big picture ideas are found in the first paragraph.
This author, like so many others, is trying to emphasize something that has been under-appreciated, under-studied, misinterpreted, etc.
Like most big picture ideas, the normal BUT/YET/HOWEVER/RECENTLY signposts help give us clues.
The first sentence says that this topic has only recently been given nuanced treatment.
And lines 9-12 give us our Most Valuable Sentence (the best encapsulation of the big idea) ... surprise, surprise - the word however gets used there.
Let me know if you had any questions about Q20 itself.