ShmoopTube

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Here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by Piano Teachers. You have to give them props

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for not totally losing it every time they hear the song "Ladybird."

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Which of the following is the best definition for the word "pedantic" in line 10?

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If we don't already know the meaning of "pedantic," a little detective work will

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help us narrow down our options.

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We wish we could just hire Magnum P.I., but he got canceled years ago.

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Ask your parents about him.

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In lieu of Magnum's help, we'll just have to check out the context in and around line 10.

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We know from the passage that "pedantic" is used to describe Schumann's first piano

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teacher, whose teaching is described as "inadequate."

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The prefix "in" means "not" in this case, letting us know that this guy was not

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adequate at all. So basically the dude wasn't winning any piano teacher of the year awards.

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Knowing this allows us to nix choice (C). There's no way the author would describe

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Schumann's first teacher in a positive way, and she certainly wouldn't call him "gifted."

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Now let's see what choice (B) has up its sleeves...

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Well, yeah, Schumann's teacher was old. We know this because the line in the passage

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is: an "old, pedantic professor."

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If "pedantic" meant "old," however, this would be a pretty unimaginative sentence.

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It'd be like calling the guy an "old old professor."

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We'll give the author the benefit of the doubt and assume she knows how to avoid redundancy.

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Choice (B) is out of consideration.

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Choices (A) and (D) are a little harder to choose between. Neither description is particularly

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positive, which matches up with the idea that the teacher was "inadequate."

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We're leaning toward choice (A), however. If the teacher were completely "useless,"

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as (D) says, then we doubt Schumann would've been able to compose those dances at 7 or 8 years old.

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"Pedantic" also sounds a whole lot like the word "pedagogue," which describes

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a strict, super by-the-book teacher. This seals the deal for us, so we dub (A) the correct answer.

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If we were this poor piano teacher, we'd sue the author for slander.

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