Q7

[jimmy902o]

I though passage A was about telling stories as in lines 26-28 rather than writing them. Thats why i chose B over D. Can someone explain?

[ohthatpatrick]

Hey, hey.

I see how you got the impression that what was being described in the 2nd paragraph was oral storytelling, rather than written. However, lines 21-24 do still say that historiographers were "presenting papers". So even if they were reading aloud at these conferences, the material came from a written form.

More importantly, let's look at line 15. The author of psg A is saying that stories might be able to address "this problem".

What is "this problem"? It's what was being negatively described in the first paragraph: it begins by saying that historiographers don't surprise their READERS. Line 6 says that undergrads are required to READ monographs that sap the vitality of history.

So the problem being described is how stilted, stuffy, and bland historiographic writing is.

In terms of picking (B), how would we support the language of "points of view it does not typically deal with"?

Does psg. A ever discuss a point of view that historians don't typically deal with?

Does psg. B ever discuss a point of view that lawyers don't typically deal with?

Telling stories isn't "a point of view". Boring, stuffy writing isn't "a point of view". A point of view refers to the mindset or belief system of someone. Neither passage was referring to types of people that historians or lawyers overlook or infrequently address.

Hopefully, we notice the overlapping emphasis on narrative in both passages. If so, then we should be further persuaded to go with (D) because it's reference to 'storytelling' is just code for 'narrative', the main overlap between the two passages.

Hope this helps.

[hippo3717]

I have a question.
I guess this question was designed to see the mainpoint/overlap but I chose C though due to the following reasons:

passage 1 talks about at line 9: formulaic arguments...

Passage 2 talks about at line 37: creativity is suspect...

don't they both support C?

[wj097]

I have a question.
I guess this question was designed to see the mainpoint/overlap but I chose C though due to the following reasons:

passage 1 talks about at line 9: formulaic arguments...

Passage 2 talks about at line 37: creativity is suspect...

don't they both support C?

Well the question here is whether the entire PASSAGE thus the main authors and not one specific proponent of a certain idea described in the passage mention. So though historians and some lawyers might display (C) not the PASSAGE. Hope this is relevant to your question.

[AyakiK696]

I was stuck between C and D, and couldn't justify choosing D because I couldn't find any proof in Passage A that the author demonstrated a "belief that the writing in a particular profession could benefit from more attention to storytelling." I can't find any subjective language that suggests that the author holds this belief, other than the fact that he talks about how monotonous the historiographic approach is. Are we just supposed to infer this belief from the fact that he acknowledges that it is a "problem"? I guess I can rule out C because it's contradicted by the fact that both authors talk about ways to address current issues within each field, but I'm still having a hard time accepting D.

[ohthatpatrick]

Yeah, it's definitely hard to find anything resembling explicit support.

But the last two sentences help me understand that the author was HOPING that narrative really WOULD have changed how historiography was being done.

He's crestfallen because "it was still historiography, intended only for academics" and because it wasn't moving people to smiles, chills, tears.

His disappointment that historians are only giving lip service to the "rediscovering stories" fad is an indication that he would welcome a genuine attempt at rediscovering stories.