While the best sixteenth-century Renaissance scholars mastered the

Question

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Passage # 127, Date: 03-Jun-2020
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While the best sixteenth-century Renaissance scholars mastered the classics of ancient Roman literature in the original Latin and understood them in their original historical context, most of the scholars’ educated contemporaries knew the classics only from school lessons on selected Latin texts. These were chosen by Renaissance teachers after much deliberation, for works written by and for the sophisticated adults of pagan Rome were not always considered suitable for the Renaissance young: the central Roman classics refused (as classics often do) to teach appropriate morality and frequently suggested the opposite. Teachers accordingly made students’ needs, not textual and historical accuracy, their supreme interest, chopping dangerous texts into short phrases, and using these to impart lessons extemporaneously on a variety of subjects, from syntax to science. Thus, I believe that a modern reader cannot know the associations that a line of ancient Roman poetry or prose had for any particular educated sixteenth-century reader.
   1 
 1. The passage is primarily concerned with discussing the

A) unsuitability of the Roman classics for the teaching of morality
B) approach that sixteenth-century scholars took to learning the Roman classics
C) effect that the Roman classics had on educated people in the Renaissance
D) way in which the Roman classics were taught in the sixteenth century
E) contrast between the teaching of the Roman classics in the Renaissance and the teaching of the Roman classics today

2 
 2.The information in the passage suggests that which of the following would most likely result from a student’s having studied the Roman classics under a typical sixteenth-century teacher?

A) The student recalls a line of Roman poetry in conjunction with a point learned about grammar.
B) The student argues that a Roman poem about gluttony is not morally offensive when it is understood in its historical context.
C) The student is easily able to express thoughts in Latin.
D) The student has mastered large portions of the Roman classics.
E) The student has a sophisticated knowledge of Roman poetry but little knowledge of Roman prose.

3 
 3. Which of the following, if true, would most seriously weaken the assertion made in the passage concerning what a modern reader cannot know?

A) Some modern readers are thoroughly familiar with the classics of ancient Roman literature because they majored in classics in college or obtained doctoral degrees in classics.
B) Some modern readers have learned which particular works of Roman literature were taught to students in the sixteenth century.
C) Modern readers can, with some effort, discover that sixteenth-century teachers selected some seemingly dangerous classical texts while excluding other seemingly innocuous texts.
D) Copies of many of the classical texts used by sixteenth-century teachers, including marginal notes describing the oral lessons that were based on the texts, can be found in museums today.
E) Many of the writings of the best sixteenth-century Renaissance scholars have been translated from Latin and are available to modern readers.

TestPrepUnlimited · Answer

1. Correct answer: D

The argument claims the following: 
a. Renaissance scholars considered certain Latin texts dangerous and distilled them in their teachings. 
b. Most students of Latin received their education directly from scholars' lessons. 
c. Therefore, we cannot know today how students then related directly to the text.

(A): Incorrect. The author is not concerned with the Roman classics' suitability toward teaching morality; the author is only concerned with Renaissance scholars' opinion on the subject.
(B): Incorrect. The author is not primarily concerned with the approach scholars took, only how that approach translated into educating students. 
(C): Incorrect. The author is not concerned with the effect that the lessons had on students, only what we can determine about how those students understood the texts. 
(D): Correct. The author is concerned with how the classics were taught and, therefore, what we can determine about how the students related to texts.
(E): Incorrect. The author does not contrast teaching between the Renaissance time and today; the author only makes an argument about how well we can assess Renaissance students' relationships to texts.

2. Correct answer: A

(A) refers directly to the author's claim that Renaissance scholars would use lines from Latin texts to make points about myriad subjects, including syntax and grammar. (B) through (D) have no basis in the author's claims but, instead, suggest that the students had a more intimate relationship with Latin texts (e.g. by knowing Latin). (E) makes a comparison between poetry and prose not mentioned by the author.

3. Correct answer: D

(A) through (C) only concern how modern readers understand Latin texts or how well they understood which content the Renaissance students studied. However, they do not allow that the modern reader knows how the Renaissance students related to the material. 
(D) allows that modern readers may have a window directly into how Renaissance students related to the texts (via marginalia), weakening the author's claim that modern readers cannot know how those students felt. 
(E) is out of scope; whether modern readers can read Renaissance scholars' work does not inform how well they understand a Renaissance student's relationship to a particular work.

Rohan30 · Answer

It Would be very helpful if someone were to provide an explanation for Q2.

Posted from my mobile device

Sajjad1994 · Answer

I suppose you missed the explanation already available, please read the post in the link below. https://gmatclub.com/forum/while-the-be ... l#p2450803

Iceman2020 · Answer

Here's my mind map and rationale. Mind Map: Renaissance scholars mastered Roman Literature, their contemporaries had poor knowledge. Later the reasons for their lack of knowledge (in comparison to scholars) is explained. 1. The passage is primarily concerned with discussing the A) unsuitability of the Roman classics for the teaching of morality Suitability is never discussed B) approach that sixteenth-century scholars took to learning the Roman classics The scholar themselves never took any approach C) effect that the Roman classics had on educated people in the Renaissance Effect on educated people in Renaissance not discussed D) way in which the Roman classics were taught in the sixteenth century Fits the bill. As line 4 & 5 say that they gained knowledge based on what was taught is school E) contrast between the teaching of the Roman classics in the Renaissance and the teaching of the Roman classics today OOS 2.The information in the passage suggests that which of the following would most likely result from a student’s having studied the Roman classics under a typical sixteenth-century teacher? I got this wrong

A) The student recalls a line of Roman poetry in conjunction with a point learned about grammar. Did not find anything about grammar B) The student argues that a Roman poem about gluttony is not morally offensive when it is understood in its historical context. Selected this based on POE C) The student is easily able to express thoughts in Latin. This ability is not discussed D) The student has mastered large portions of the Roman classics. 180 degree answer E) The student has a sophisticated knowledge of Roman poetry but little knowledge of Roman prose. Incorrect. OOS 3. Which of the following, if true, would most seriously weaken the assertion made in the passage concerning what a modern reader cannot know? This reference can be found in the last line of the para. Basically we need evidence that will weaken the claim that modern reader cannot know the associations that a line had on educated sixteenth-century reader. Also we were told about a technique that was used to teach the educated people. A) Some modern readers are thoroughly familiar with the classics of ancient Roman literature because they majored in classics in college or obtained doctoral degrees in classics. Does not help us understand the method and text that were used to teach people in 16th century B) Some modern readers have learned which particular works of Roman literature were taught to students in the sixteenth century. Still does not help us identify the exact text & technique used C) Modern readers can, with some effort, discover that sixteenth-century teachers selected some seemingly dangerous classical texts while excluding other seemingly innocuous texts. Irrelevant. OOS D) Copies of many of the classical texts used by sixteenth-century teachers, including marginal notes describing the oral lessons that were based on the texts, can be found in museums today. Bang on. If we able to get our hands on the notes used to teach people we can study from it and understand things the way they did in 16th century E) Many of the writings of the best sixteenth-century Renaissance scholars have been translated from Latin and are available to modern readers. Writing of 16th century scholars are irrelevant

Amir78 · Answer

Could anybody answer my grammar question about a sentence in this RC?
what is the grammatical structure of this phrase: "not textual and historical accuracy" in the following sentence:
Teachers accordingly made students’ needs, not textual and historical accuracy, their supreme interest, chopping dangerous texts into short phrases, and using these to impart lessons extemporaneously on a variety of subjects, from syntax to science.

Fdambro294 · Answer

Effectively, the sentence is saying that the teachers did not focus on the “textual and historical accuracy” when they taught these classics. Rather, they chopped out large portions because they believed the classics were “immoral”. So these teachers instead focused on using the classics to teach subjects like grammar and science.

By cutting out the immoral stuff, these teachers focused on what (presumably) they thought the “students needs” were. And the teachers thought the students did not “need” the immorality in these classics.

Posted from my mobile device

Amir78 · Answer

Hi
This is not an answer to my question, because I didn't ask about the meaning. My question is about the grammatical structure of the following phrases:
"not textual and historical accuracy" 
and
" their supreme interest"
Actually, I asked about analyzing the sentence grammatically and structurally.
For example: Are they "OBJECT" or "Object Complement" for the verb "made"; OR maybe they are "reduced adjective clauses" for the noun "needs" ? or one of them is object and the other is a reduced adj clause. 
Moreover, we cannot use two paired adjective with "and" in between. I mean we cannot say " textual AND historical accuracy". and because of accuracy, it cannot be a reduced adj clause for the noun "need". What is its grammatical structure?
You see! this is a vague sentence with complex structure that many natives cannot explain.

Fdambro294 · Answer

I will absolutely agree with you: when I first read the sentence, I had to do a “double take.”

I wish I was more of a grammarian and could help you. Sorry I misinterpreted your first question.

Without using the technical terms, I read the sentence as the following:

“Students’ needs” is the object of made - “not the other two”

I wish I could be of more help from the grammarian side of things. Maybe  generis  will come to the rescue?

I’m usually worried about understanding these convoluted passages and I’m not focused too heavily on the grammar side.

I hope you get your answer

VerbalBot · Answer

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While the best sixteenth-century Renaissance scholars mastered the

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While the best sixteenth-century Renaissance scholars mastered the

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