If we are to understand the evolution of writing, we should focus more

Question

If we are to understand the evolution of writing, we should focus more on the writings from the Maya Civilization rather than on the writings from the Egyptian Civilization. While both civilizations provide ample evidence of a variety of writing scripts, understanding the Maya Civilization’s writings will throw more light on the evolution of writing itself.

Which one of the following, if true, would most help to explain the author’s preference towards studying the Maya Civilization writings?

A) Less expertise would be required to understand and interpret the Maya Civilization writings.
B) The Maya Civilization was a standalone civilization while the Egyptian Civilization had some connection with other civilizations such as the Indus Valley Civilization.
C) Information gained while studying the Maya Civilization will be helpful in understanding the evolution of writing.
D) The Maya Civilization writing is letter-based or alphabet-based which is close to the way most languages are written today, while the Egyptian Civilization writing is picture-based.
E) The Maya Civilization had developed advanced spoken language when they began writing scripts, but the Egyptian Civilization’s spoken language at the time the Egyptians began writing scripts was only primitively developed

gvij2017 · Answer

Why not B over D?
If MC is standalone then it can give clear picture of evolution of writing then the EC which is mixed with other civilization. 
Please explain why D, not B.

aalam383 · Answer

I have the same doubt. Why not B over D?

mehro023 · Answer

Hi, I will try my best to explain. Feel free to critique, this is my first time on here

Even if MC is standalone, it, in no way means having a standalone civilization would shed greater light on writing than a mix of civilizations. I feel it would be an extreme assumption to make that a standalone civilzation is the one that sheds greater light on writing. D, on the other hand explicitly states that MC writing is letter or alphabet based, which as you are reading this, is also the modern form of writing

I believe this is the reason why D>B, i first thought B too was correct until I read D. Does this make sense ? Thanks, K Kudos if you think its good

OnikJoshi · Answer

Why not C I think it is more appropriate

Posted from my mobile device

aalam383 · Answer

I get it, we have to make a far reaching assumption for B. Thank you for the explanation

aalam383 · Answer

I will try to explain this. To be honest I eliminated this option as it was "too good to be true" when I attempted this question yesterday

The option states "Information gained while studying the Maya Civilization will be helpful in understanding the evolution of writing" which is good, but that could be true for the Egyptian Civilization writings as well. In this option they are just saying information gained will be helpful in understanding evolution of writing but there is no comparison with Maya vs. Egyptian. And that's where the gap between the reasoning is that why we should choose to study Maya vs. Egyptian.

I hope this makes sense!

Mavisdu1017 · Answer

I think C is just repeating the conclusion, but not explain why.

nimishb23 · Answer

Paradox: Why understanding the Maya Civilizations writings will throw more light on evolution of writing, compared to the Egyptian Civilization?

A: Needing less expertise to understand and interpret the Maya Civilization or Egyptian Civilization writings aren't helping us to resolve the paradox given. It is in no way tell us anything related to why the Maya civilization writings would have contributed to the the evolution of writing.

B: This would probably be a weakener. If the Egyptian Civilization had some connection with other civilizations then there scripts would probably be more advanced than the Maya Civilization or would be more advanced which would give us reason to believe the egyptian civilization would have been able to shed more light on the evolution of writing.

C: By gaining information while studying about a civilization is not telling us why certain civilizations writing is more evolved than the other. We need to find out Why not how.

D: By having a system that is letter based, we can see how the writing must have evolved over time as compared to picture based writing. It also mentions that it is close to the writing today as well so it is giving us a clear indication of how the language must have evolved. 
 
 E: If the Maya Civilization indeed had developed advanced spoken languages when they began writing scripts and the Egyptians spoken language was primitively developed, it tells us nothing about evolution. Having an advanced spoken language does not result in having writing that can throw light on evolution of written language.

Joe258 · Answer

Hi,

I like how you elaborated the options. However, I was still very hesitant to choose D because it might have based on an assumption that picture-based writing must precede letter-based writing, and that the Maya Civilization ought to have started their writing as picture-based. Because if it had started with letter-based language, it would have provided no more evidence of evolution of writing than Egyptian Civilization (no evolution at all). The point I just made is indeed very unrealistic, however, D may require that you have to acknowledge that letter-based language has never been a starting form of writing of any civilization. So, the question now has elements of historical accuracy rather than fully about critical reasoning.

Please feel free to correct my points and elaborate more as it is an interesting question. Thank you!

arushi118 · Answer

Why is C not correct instead of D?

guddo · Answer

If we are to understand the evolution of writing, we should focus more on the writings from the Maya Civilization rather than on the writings from the Egyptian Civilization. While both civilizations provide ample evidence of a variety of writing scripts, understanding the Maya Civilization’s writings will throw more light on the evolution of writing itself.
 
 Which one of the following, if true, would most help to explain the author’s preference towards studying the Maya Civilization writings?

The author’s point is comparative: both civilizations have many writing scripts, but the author says Maya writings would tell us more about the  evolution of writing itself . So the correct answer must explain why Maya writing is more revealing for that specific purpose.

(A) Less expertise would be required to understand and interpret the Maya Civilization writings.

This only says Maya writings may be easier to study. Easier to study does not mean more useful for understanding the evolution of writing.

(B) The Maya Civilization was a standalone civilization while the Egyptian Civilization had some connection with other civilizations such as the Indus Valley Civilization.

This is possible, but it is too indirect. It does not clearly show why Maya writings would reveal more about the evolution of writing itself.

(C) Information gained while studying the Maya Civilization will be helpful in understanding the evolution of writing.

This just repeats the conclusion in different words. It does not explain why the author prefers Maya writings.

(D) The Maya Civilization writing is letter-based or alphabet-based which is close to the way most languages are written today, while the Egyptian Civilization writing is picture-based.

This is the best answer. If Maya writing is closer to the way modern writing works, then studying it could more clearly show the development of writing toward later and more familiar systems. That directly explains the preference.

(E) The Maya Civilization had developed advanced spoken language when they began writing scripts, but the Egyptian Civilization’s spoken language at the time the Egyptians began writing scripts was only primitively developed

This is too speculative and not clearly tied to why Maya writings would better explain the evolution of writing.

Answer: (D)

TK0697 · Answer

If we are to understand the evolution of writing, we should focus more on the writings from the Maya Civilization rather than on the writings from the Egyptian Civilization. While both civilizations provide ample evidence of a variety of writing scripts, understanding the Maya Civilization’s writings will throw more light on the evolution of writing itself.

Which one of the following, if true, would most help to explain the author’s preference towards studying the Maya Civilization writings?

Paradox is more Maya writing is better for understanding evolution of writing - at least better than Egyptian...WHY IS THAT? Correct answer will shed light on why.

A) Less expertise would be required to understand and interpret the Maya Civilization writings.
Wrong - does not address why Maya writing will throw more light on evolution of writing

B) The Maya Civilization was a standalone civilization while the Egyptian Civilization had some connection with other civilizations such as the Indus Valley Civilization.
wrong b/c this choice is about civilization....stimulus abt writing development

C) Information gained while studying the Maya Civilization will be helpful in understanding the evolution of writing.
wrong - does not address why this is better than Egyptian

D) The Maya Civilization writing is letter-based or alphabet-based which is close to the way most languages are written today, while the Egyptian Civilization writing is picture-based.
Correct - gives extra info on potentially why Maya is better than Egyptian for understanding how written language has evolved

E) The Maya Civilization had developed advanced spoken language when they began writing scripts, but the Egyptian Civilization’s spoken language at the time the Egyptians began writing scripts was only primitively developed
wrong - choice abt spoken language, we want choice about why Maya is better for written language

vasu1104 · Answer

to understand evolution of writing, should focus more on writing from MC than on from EC.
both provides ample evidence of a variety of writing scripts, but understanding MC writing will provide more light on evolution of writing itself.

A out goal is to understand the evolution of writing and not level of expertise required to understand either of writings. reject.
B this talks about MC's independence whereas EC was having connection with others. but it doesnt tell anything ab out writing history. reject.
C this is what passage tells. so reject.
D if this is the thing and most language are closely developed through alphabet based and letter based writing then it make sense to study MC writing as it gives clear picture on how evolution happened.
E this doesnt tell me why MC writing provides more reason to understand the evolution of writings. reject.

If we are to understand the evolution of writing, we should focus more

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If we are to understand the evolution of writing, we should focus more

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