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07 Jul 2020, 23:59
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A
Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!
Difficulty:
35%
(medium)
Question Stats:
64% (01:14) correct
36%
(01:26)
wrong
based on 692
sessions
History
Date
Time
Result
Not Attempted Yet
Keniston suggests that many of the agencies ostensibly ministering to the family have only succeeded in undermining the role of parents.
A) have only succeeded in undermining
B) have succeeded only in the undermining of
C) have undermined, with some success,
D) are, with some success, only undermining
E) are only successful in that they undermine
08 Jul 2020, 00:10
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OFFICIAL EXPLANATION[/textarea]
Irony is involved: agencies that are supposed to help people should not be succeeding at making parents' lives more difficult.
Succeeded = done well at, done a good job of.
The agencies are supposed to help. They don’t help. In reality, the agencies have only “done a good job” of underminining the role of parents.
Another important word, obviously, is only.
Only should be placed right before the word, phrase, or clause that it modifies.
→ when a two- or three-word verb is “split,” and we want to stress the verb (succeeded), we place the word only after the first helping or modal verb.
(To understand what I mean by a “split” verb, see my post here.
→ Agencies have only succeeded in making things worse.
Shorten the prompt a bit.
Many agencies ostensibly ministering to the family have only succeeded in undermining the role of parents.
THE OPTIONS
• Although agencies allegedly (“ostensibly”) take care of the family, in reality they have only achieved a bad result—have only made things worse for the family.
KEEP A
• the meaning is illogical.
→ Now succeeded is not ironic. The sentence implies that the agencies’ mission was to undermine the role of parents.
Meaning (wrong!): Agencies that minister to the family have failed at almost everything; they have only succeeded at undermining the role of parents.
→ Notice that I did not say “Option B changes the meaning of option A.”
→ It is okay to change the meaning of option A, which is not sacrosanct.
Option B is incorrect because it is not concise and it is illogical.
ELIMINATE B
• we lose the contrast between ostensibly ministering and having only succeeded in making things worse
• logically, agencies that minister to families should not be described as hurting families with some success. That sentence is silly.
ELIMINATE C
→ ostensibly gets lost.
Like the bad logic in B and C, helping a family should not logically include getting praised for having “some success” at harming a family.
→ The phrase with some success makes almost no sense
Remove with some success.
-- Now the sentence makes sense: Many agencies that seem to minister to the family are [in reality] only undermining the role of parents. Unfortunately, this correct sentence is not what we have in option D.
ELIMINATE D
• This option botches the irony between ostensibly and successfully undermining the role of the parent
• (E) is illogical
-- The agencies are only successful? They do not fail?
-- Worse, the agencies are only successful because they undermine the role of the parent?
No. Epic fail.
ELIMINATE E
The answer is A.
COMMENTS
anthien128 , yet again, welcome to SC Butler.
Everyone, I am quite impressed; this sentence should be really hard for non-native speakers, and option B might catch native speakers, but you all handled the subtlety pretty well.
A couple of you could explain a bit more.
These answers range from good to excellent. Nicely done!
Quote:
One key to this sentence is the word ostensibly, which means allegedly, seemingly, or purportedly. ,
Irony is involved: agencies that are supposed to help people should not be succeeding at making parents' lives more difficult.
Succeeded = done well at, done a good job of.
The agencies are supposed to help. They don’t help. In reality, the agencies have only “done a good job” of underminining the role of parents.
Another important word, obviously, is only.
Only should be placed right before the word, phrase, or clause that it modifies.
→ when a two- or three-word verb is “split,” and we want to stress the verb (succeeded), we place the word only after the first helping or modal verb.
(To understand what I mean by a “split” verb, see my post here.
→ Agencies have only succeeded in making things worse.
Shorten the prompt a bit.
Many agencies ostensibly ministering to the family have only succeeded in undermining the role of parents.
THE OPTIONS
Quote:
• This sentence is both grammatical (no errors) and logical (it makes sense)
• Although agencies allegedly (“ostensibly”) take care of the family, in reality they have only achieved a bad result—have only made things worse for the family.
KEEP A
Quote:
• too many words! Why would we say in the undermining of when in undermining means exactly the same thing?
• the meaning is illogical.
→ Now succeeded is not ironic. The sentence implies that the agencies’ mission was to undermine the role of parents.
Meaning (wrong!): Agencies that minister to the family have failed at almost everything; they have only succeeded at undermining the role of parents.
→ Notice that I did not say “Option B changes the meaning of option A.”
→ It is okay to change the meaning of option A, which is not sacrosanct.
Option B is incorrect because it is not concise and it is illogical.
ELIMINATE B
Quote:
• this sentence is just a clearer version of option B. Option C is also illogical
• we lose the contrast between ostensibly ministering and having only succeeded in making things worse
• logically, agencies that minister to families should not be described as hurting families with some success. That sentence is silly.
ELIMINATE C
Quote:
• this one is a bit more nonsensical than options B and C, though D’s logic is bad
→ ostensibly gets lost.
Like the bad logic in B and C, helping a family should not logically include getting praised for having “some success” at harming a family.
→ The phrase with some success makes almost no sense
Remove with some success.
-- Now the sentence makes sense: Many agencies that seem to minister to the family are [in reality] only undermining the role of parents. Unfortunately, this correct sentence is not what we have in option D.
ELIMINATE D
Quote:
• in that means for the reason that or because
• This option botches the irony between ostensibly and successfully undermining the role of the parent
• (E) is illogical
-- The agencies are only successful? They do not fail?
-- Worse, the agencies are only successful because they undermine the role of the parent?
No. Epic fail.
ELIMINATE E
The answer is A.
COMMENTS
anthien128 , yet again, welcome to SC Butler.
Everyone, I am quite impressed; this sentence should be really hard for non-native speakers, and option B might catch native speakers, but you all handled the subtlety pretty well.
A couple of you could explain a bit more.
These answers range from good to excellent. Nicely done!
08 Jul 2020, 02:00
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Bookmarks
Keniston suggests that many of the agencies ostensibly ministering to the family have only succeeded in undermining the role of parents.
A) have only succeeded in undermining // correct, "success" is used to imply irony
B) have succeeded only in the undermining of // the undermining of the role of parents is unnecessarily wordy.
C) have undermined, with some success, // the intended meaning is distorted. the word "success" is supposed to be used to convey an ironic meaning, yet in this sentence, it is the opposite.
D) are, with some success, only undermining // the intended meaning is distorted. the word "success" is supposed to be used to convey an ironic meaning, yet in this sentence, it is the opposite.
E) are only successful in that they undermine // the intended meaning is distorted. the word "success" is supposed to be used to convey an ironic meaning, yet in this sentence, it is the opposite.
ostensibly means "in a way that appears or claims to be one thing when it is really something else". here is an example.
He has spent the past three months in Florida, ostensibly for medical treatment, but in actual fact to avoid prosecution
A) have only succeeded in undermining // correct, "success" is used to imply irony
B) have succeeded only in the undermining of // the undermining of the role of parents is unnecessarily wordy.
C) have undermined, with some success, // the intended meaning is distorted. the word "success" is supposed to be used to convey an ironic meaning, yet in this sentence, it is the opposite.
D) are, with some success, only undermining // the intended meaning is distorted. the word "success" is supposed to be used to convey an ironic meaning, yet in this sentence, it is the opposite.
E) are only successful in that they undermine // the intended meaning is distorted. the word "success" is supposed to be used to convey an ironic meaning, yet in this sentence, it is the opposite.
ostensibly means "in a way that appears or claims to be one thing when it is really something else". here is an example.
He has spent the past three months in Florida, ostensibly for medical treatment, but in actual fact to avoid prosecution
