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SAT Reading: Why Does Thoreau Use the Phrase "Mechanical Aids" in this Passage?
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Thoreau was all about simplicity; anything that took away from his vision was the enemy. Mechanical aids were one of them. Guess he had to train a...

SAT Reading: Suggesting a Reason for Thoreau's Word Choice
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Thoreau wants our lives to be simplified. He claims that we gain less from life when we over-complicate things.

How Does Thoreau Feel about Commerce?
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How does Thoreau feel about commerce? He writes, "We don't ride upon the railroad; it rides upon us." He wants and end to the war fighting for the...

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SAT Reading 6.4 Passage Comparison 170 Views


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Description:

SAT Reading: Passage Comparison Drill 6, Problem 4

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:03

Here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by big game hunting. Fun for the whole family.

00:09

Unless you're a family of water buffalo.

00:28

By referring to "the then-prevailing view of the first inhabitants as big game hunters

00:32

on the western prairies", the author of Passage 2 implies that the first inhabitants... what?

00:45

Answering this question takes a little bit of close reading, so prepare to decipher the

00:49

many mysteries of question 4.

00:51

Okay, the one mystery of question 4.

00:54

The biggest clue here is the phrase "then-prevailing,"

00:58

otherwise known as "formerly dominating" or "previously convincing."

01:03

Basically, we no longer think that the first inhabitants were big game hunters on the western prairie.

01:08

(A) is totally wrong. The whole point of this passage is that we have a better understanding

01:12

these days. Previous generations got nothin' on us.

01:17

Nope, like we just said, today's archaeologists have a much better understanding. Choice (C)

01:22

can't be right. It's probably true that these cultures left

01:25

less evidence than others. However, this has nothing to do with what the author is implying.

01:29

(D) isn't right either. It might also be true that the ideas of earlier

01:35

archaeologists still shape the way a lot of people think about America's earliest inhabitants.

01:40

That just isn't what the author is implying with the lines in question, though, so we

01:44

can eliminate choice (B).

01:46

Choice (E) hits the nail on head.

01:47

The author is telling us that we now know that American Indians had more ways of getting

01:51

food than big game hunting.

01:53

Probably good news for the buffalo.

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