Commonplace items sometimes play surprising roles in world

Question

Commonplace items sometimes play surprising roles in world development. For example, though most people today associate nutmeg with simple baked goods, this common spice once altered the course of political history. For centuries, the nutmeg tree grew only in the Banda Islands, a small chain in the southwest Pacific. Locals harvested the aromatic nuts of the tree and sold them to traders. Eventually these nuts, from which the spice is made, ended up as a luxury item in the European market, via Venetian spice merchants. Eager to establish a monopoly over this valuable spice, the Dutch attacked the Bandas, subjugating the native people in a mostly successful attempt to control the nutmeg trade.

However, one island in the Banda chain remained in the hands of the British and was the object of much conflict between the Netherlands and England. After many battles, the British offered to cede control of the island in exchange for New Amsterdam, a Dutch outpost on the east coast of North America. At the time, the Dutch, inveterate traders, were more interested in the spice trade than in the mercantile value of New Amsterdam and so accepted the offer. In 1667, the Treaty of Breda gave the Dutch complete control of the Banda Islands, and thus of the nutmeg trade, and gave the British New Amsterdam, which they promptly renamed New York.   1 
 1. Which of the following, if true, most strengthens the claim that New Amsterdam would have remained a Dutch possession if not for the conflict over nutmeg?

A. Attempts to cultivate nutmeg trees outside of the Banda Islands had failed.
B. Few people lived in New Amsterdam before it was ceded to the British.
C. The British controlled trade in other valuable spices, such as cloves.
D. New Amsterdam served as a trading center for furs exported to Europe.
E. The Netherlands controlled no North American territories other than New Amsterdam.

2 
 2. The second paragraph performs which of the following functions in the passage?

A. It offers specific information to complete the logic of the author's claims.
B. It summarizes and evaluates the evidence given thus far.
C. It presents the author's main point to explain a unique situation.
D. It cites a particular case to demonstrate the importance of historical change.
E. It discusses the necessary outcome of the author's assertions.

3 
 3. In the passage, the author is primarily interested in

A. tracing the history of a major city
B. discussing the role of spices in world development
C. offering a specific example to support a general claim
D. arguing for continued research into political history
E. presenting an innovative view of a commonplace item

samark · Accepted Answer

1. Which of the following, if true, most strengthens the claim that New Amsterdam would have remained a Dutch possession if not for the conflict over nutmeg?

A. Attempts to cultivate nutmeg trees outside of the Banda Islands had failed.
B. Few people lived in New Amsterdam before it was ceded to the British.
C. The British controlled trade in other valuable spices, such as cloves.
D. New Amsterdam served as a trading center for furs exported to Europe.
E. The Netherlands controlled no North American territories other than New Amsterdam.

This passage is about the prospects of business, some good business value product and how some countries wanted to possess business of nutmeg (a prospective business value product). So, the whole motivation was to get hold on anything which was a good business prospect.

"New Amsterdam served as a trading center for furs exported to Europe."

Now, if suppose Amsterdam were a trading center for furs. It would have commercial value(business prospect). So, Dutch would not have just given the island to British without showing any resilience. There would have wanted to keep Amsterdam for its commercial value.

Hence, its D.

Hope, it helps!

Alex75PAris · Answer

1. D
" At the time, the Dutch, inveterate traders, were more interested in the spice trade than in the mercantile value of New Amsterdam and so accepted the offer."

2. A
"However, one island in the Banda chain remained in the hands of the British and was the object of much conflict between the Netherlands and England."

3. C
"However, one island in the Banda chain remained in the hands of the British and was the object of much conflict between the Netherlands and England."

Abhinav_1630 · Answer

Explanation for Questions 3? Why not B?

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Hi

Between  B and C , B is incorrect because it didn't judges the direction of the author, This is tricky answer choice because in majority of the passages the main idea lies somewhere in  para 1 , but exceptions are always there and the case is different in this passage.

In  1st paragraph  the author provides example about topic of his/her interest. It is same when we write our research thesis, before writing about the variable being discuss in the research we first provide introduction or some basic information about the variable to to get people understand what we want them to. In this passage the author provides some basic information in form of an example in the first paragraph but that was not what author want to get notice to.

In the  second paragraph  the very first word  "However"  make us cautious that author has main thing to discuss yet. and then he/she provides what is the area of interest so that is the reason B is wrong.

Hope it helps

djangobackend · Answer

we know that "dutch Eager to establish a monopoly over this valuable spice" so basically dutch were very business minded and "At the time, the Dutch, inveterate traders, were more interested in the spice trade than in the mercantile value of New Amsterdam and so accepted the offer." so dutch found more value in the spices business than any other business available which can be the furs business as D states so D saying that NA was served as trading center and it had a "merchantile value" so it strengthens the claim that New Amsterdam would have remained a Dutch possession if not for the conflict over nutmeg, since the only reason they let NA go was because spices had more "business value" than NA mercantile business. while A - "Attempts to cultivate nutmeg trees outside of the Banda Islands had failed." doesn't tell us about dutch were influenced by business value of spices over "other businesses" and D clearly says that by demonstrating that another business existed and still dutched chose spices business over it since it provided more value.

Legallyblond · Answer

How is A correct for 2nd question--- there are no claim S given there is just one claim

egmat · Answer

Claims = all the assertions the author makes  (not the same as "main point")
The main point is that commonplace items like nutmeg can have surprising political impacts.

But the author makes multiple claims to build toward that point:
 
 "Commonplace items play surprising roles in world development" 
 "Nutmeg once altered the course of political history" 
 "The nutmeg tree grew only in the Banda Islands" 
 "Nutmeg ended up as a luxury item in European market" 
 "Dutch attacked the Bandas to control nutmeg trade"

That's 5 claims. Plural is correct. 
You confused "claims" (multiple assertions) with "main claim" (thesis). The passage has  ONE  main point but makes  MULTIPLE  claims to support it.

dhruva09 · Answer

Hi  Sajjad1994 . For Q2 I was confused between -

A. It offers specific information to complete the logic of the author's
and
C. It presents the author's main point to explain a unique situation.

I chose C, since the opening of the passage mentions that common place items play surprising roles in world development.
Is this wrong, since C mentions  unique  translating to not a common event and hence it's wrong ? Because if I negate this way, then I get A.

egmat · Answer

Is C wrong because "unique" contradicts "commonplace"?
 Answer:  No, that's not the issue.

"Commonplace items" = nutmeg is an ordinary spice "Unique situation" = this specific historical event is one-of-a-kind
These don't contradict. A commonplace item CAN create a unique situation.

The REAL problem with C:  The word "presents"
 C says paragraph 2  presents  (introduces) the main point.
But the main point was already introduced in paragraph 1, sentence 1: "Commonplace items sometimes play surprising roles."
Paragraph 2 doesn't introduce this idea—it finishes the example proving it.

Why A works:  Paragraph 2 gives specific details (the treaty, New York) that COMPLETE the nutmeg example. Now the logic is finished: nutmeg was so valuable → it literally created New York → this proves commonplace items can play surprising roles.

Important VR rule - VR has 4 wrong answers and 1 right answer. Even if a single word in the answer choice is incorrect, it makes the entire answer incorrect.

Commonplace items sometimes play surprising roles in world

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Commonplace items sometimes play surprising roles in world

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