The Indian grammarian and scholar Panini (c. 520460 BCE) is widely co

Question

The Indian grammarian and scholar Panini (c. 520–460 BCE) is widely considered to be the founder of the field of linguistics. Most renowned for codifying the Sanskrit language in an extended text that is still in use today, Panini devised thousands of rules that describe the full range of Sanskrit morphology with no redundancy. The central components of this systematic approach to grammar are the phoneme, the morpheme, and the root—concepts not introduced into Western linguistics until nearly two thousand years later. Panini’s approach, however, is not entirely without drawbacks. Much as a modern compiler takes human-readable code and uses a set of rules to turn it into machine language, unintelligible to all but machines or experienced programmers, Panini’s logical rules of grammar, which emphasize succinctness, result in an unintuitive structure. Nonetheless, many linguists contend that these sophisticated rules have had a great impact on both ancient and modern linguistics—though perhaps not the greatest impact. Some scholars claim that the work of South Indian grammarian Tolkappiyar (3rd century BCE) was even more influential in the field of linguistic theory. Like Panini’s treatment of Sanskrit, Tolkappiyar’s grammar text of Tamil is still in use today.    1 
 1. The passage states that Panini accomplished all of the following EXCEPT

A. devising a grammar text of Tamil
B. formulating rules of Sanskrit morphology
C. writing about morphology without redundancy
D. creating a grammar text still used today
E. devising a systematized grammar text

2 
 2. The passage suggests which of the following?

I. The influence of early linguists Panini and Tolkappiyar is less than what scholars assert.
II. Sanskrit grammar is logical and highly systematized as formulated by the earliest known linguist.
III. Scholars disagree about Panini's and Tolkappiyar's impact on linguistic theory.

A. I Only
B. III Only
C. I and III Only
D. II and III Only
E. I, II, and III

3 
 3. Which one of the following can be correctly inferred from the passage?

A. Inherent in Tolkappiyar's systematized approach are such linguistic concepts as the phoneme, the morpheme, and the root.
B. Most elements of the history of linguistics are highly contentious.
C. Indian linguists and Western linguists developed divergent concepts of the phoneme, the morpheme, and the root.
D. Western linguists disagreed with the earliest linguists who categorized Sanskrit and Tamil.
E. Western linguistics incorporates certain concepts that had been used much earlier in Indian linguistics.

RC Butler 2023  -  Practice Two RC Passages Everyday.   
Passage # 297 Date: 28 Aug-2023
 This question is part of RC Butler 2023 .  Click here for Details

SELVARASI · Answer

Can I get explanation for q.no. 2 and 3 ?

Posted from my mobile device

Navneet290 · Answer

Please provide an OE for Q2

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Official Explanation

1. The passage states that Panini accomplished all of the following EXCEPT

Explanation

Analyze the question stem

This is a Detail EXCEPT question; the four incorrect choices will all be accomplishments of Panini as stated in the passage, while the correct answer will not be supported.

Research the relevant text

The whole passage is about the accomplishments of Panini, so there's no specific place to research. Instead, review your passage map and keep the author's key points in mind, which were about Panini's Sanskrit grammar. It was  "technical and highly systematized,"  had a  "focus on brevity,"  and it's been influential in the field of linguistics, though possibly it is not the most influential work. You should also be ready to research each choice as needed. Make a prediction You can't predict something that's not supported by the passage, but you might be able to predict something about the incorrect choices. Here, they'll likely line up with the facts about Panini's grammar that you found in your research.

Evaluate the answer choices

The passage says that Panini devised a foundational grammar text for Sanskrit but that Tolkappiyar developed a grammar text for Tamil, so  (A)  is unsupported by the passage. For this EXCEPT question, this is a correct answer.

(B)  is supported by the second sentence of the passage, and  (C)  is supported by the sentence that says his rules  “describe the full range of Sanskrit morphology with no redundancy."

(D)  is supported by the second sentence, which says his Sanskrit grammar text is still in use today. The third sentence describes Panini's text as  "systematized "  so  (E)  is also supported

Answer: A

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Official Explanation

2. The passage suggests which of the following?

Explanation

Analyze the question stem

Since this question asks for something the passage suggests, it's an Inference question. Correct answers won't be explicitly stated in the passage, but they will be fully supported by it.

Research the relevant text

There's no clue as to where to research, so you'll have to be prepared to research each choice.

Make a prediction

The correct answer(s) will likely be in line with the purpose of the passage: to explain Panini's very logical grammar rules and their influence.

Evaluate the answer choices

The two statements that follow from this passage are  (B)  and  (C) . In support of  (B) , the first sentence says that Panini is the earliest known linguist, and the third sentence says that he wrote a  "systematized"  Sanskrit grammar. Later in the passage, his rules are described as logical. That scholars disagree on Panini’s and Tolkappiyar’s impact on linguistic theory,  (C) , is evident in this key clue:  "Some scholars claim that the South Indian linguist Tolkappiyar   was an even more influential author of linguistic theory  ."

(A)  is the opposite of what the passage implies, which is that both Panini and Tolkappiyar were important to the definition and development of linguistic theory and are considered to be so today.

TAKEAWAY:  The correct answers to Inference questions may require  "connecting the dots"  between two parts of the text, but they won't stray far from what the text says.

Answer: D

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Official Explanation

3. Which one of the following can be correctly inferred from the passage?

Explanation

Analyze the question stem

This is an Inference question.

Research the relevant text

There's no indication of where to research, so review the passage map and be prepared to research each choice.

Make a prediction

Similarly, no specific prediction is possible, but correct answers will likely have something to do with Panini's highly logical grammar or its influence on later linguists.

Evaluate the answer choices

(E)  is correct because the passage notes that Western scholars much later— "nearly two thousand years" —documented linguistic concepts that Panini had already described, and the first sentence describes Panini as Indian.

(A)  may or may not be true; the passage doesn’t address Tolkappiyar's approach but only Panini's systematized approach to linguistic concepts. While scholars may disagree about whether Panini or Tolkappiyar was more important in the history of linguistics, it is extreme to claim that  "most elements of the history of linguistics are highly contentious,"  so  (B)  is unsupported by the passage and therefore incorrect. The passage suggests that Indian and Western linguists developed similar, not divergent, concepts of the phoneme, the morpheme, and the root, so  (C)  is incorrect. It also states that many of the early Indian ideas about Sanskrit and Tamil linguistics were applied by later linguists, including Western scholars; therefore,  (D)  is also incorrect.

Answer: E

The Indian grammarian and scholar Panini (c. 520460 BCE) is widely co

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GMAT Reading Comprehension (RC) Questions

The Indian grammarian and scholar Panini (c. 520460 BCE) is widely co

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

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