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SAT Reading 3.6 Long Passages 171 Views
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Description:
SAT Reading: Long Passages Drill 3, Problem 6
- Foreign Language / Spanish Subtitled
- Foreign Language / Korean Subtitled
- Foreign Language / Arabic Subtitled
- Foreign Language / Chinese Subtitled
- Information and Ideas / Interpreting words and phrases in context
- Product Type / SAT Reading
- Vocabulary / Determine meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words
- Reading closely / Interpreting words and phrases in context
Transcript
- 00:03
This question has come down with an acute case of Shmoopitis.
- 00:12
It's baaa-aaack...
- 00:14
If you aren't completely sick of this thing by now...
- 00:19
Hit pause anyway and read it.
- 00:31
In line 45, "prolific" most nearly means... what?
Full Transcript
- 00:38
And here are the potential answers...
- 00:45
Context? We have lots of it. In the sentence
- 00:47
before "prolific" appears, we learn that Muir was writing for newspapers and becoming popular.
- 00:53
You know like a cheerleader...or something like that in those days.
- 00:56
Then the passage describes Muir as a "prolific writer" who started focusing on preservation
- 01:01
efforts.
- 01:03
Armed with this context we're now ready to embark on our quest to discover the meaning
- 01:07
of the word "prolific."
- 01:09
The prefix "intro" means "inward," which reminds us that the word "introvert"
- 01:15
refers to someone who's turned inward, or is kind of shy.
- 01:19
Knowing this, we ask ourselves: would it make sense to describe Muir as being shy while
- 01:23
he's skyrocketing in popularity?
- 01:26
Well, it wouldn't be the first time that an introverted writer got mega-famous...we're
- 01:32
looking at you J.D. Salinger...
- 01:36
But the word just doesn't fit here. The context surrounding the word "prolific"
- 01:41
is positive, so it would seem kind of weird to drop the idea that Muir was a forgetful dude.
- 01:46
Therefore we can cross out (B).
- 01:48
One thing's for sure: this guy was not underappreciated...
- 01:51
If the context of this passage is to be believed--which it kind of has to be--then this guy was the
- 01:56
toast of the town. Sure, being witty usually helps a guy become
- 02:02
popular, but there's nothing in the context that tells us that Muir was a comedian.
- 02:07
Get off the stage, choice (E)! We've now whittled our choices down to (D).
- 02:13
This definition of "prolific" makes a lot of sense given the context. Being a "highly
- 02:18
productive" writer can certainly be a big help in skyrocketing you to fame.
- 02:22
Of course, sometimes it's enough to write one super popular novel, a few short stories
- 02:26
and novellas, and then hide out in the woods for the rest of your life.
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