In a recent study, David Cressy examines two central questions concern

Question

In a recent study, David Cressy examines two central questions concerning English immigration to New England in the 1630s: what kinds of people immigrated and why? Using contemporary literary evidence, shipping lists, and customs records, Cressy finds that most adult immigrants were skilled in farming or crafts, were literate, and were organized in families. Each of these characteristics sharply distinguishes the 21,000 people who left for New England in the 1630s from most of the approximately 377,000 English people who had immigrated to America by 1700. With respect to their reasons for immigrating, Cressy does not deny the frequently noted fact that some of the immigrants of the 1630s, most notably the organizers and clergy, advanced religious explanations for departure, but he finds that such explanations usually assumed primacy only in retrospect. When he moves beyond the principal actors, he finds that religious explanations were less frequently offered, and he concludes that most people immigrated because they were recruited by promises of material improvement.  
 For the following question, consider each of the choices separately and select all that apply. 
 1 
 1. The passage indicates that Cressy would agree with which of the following statements about the organizers among the English immigrants to New England in the 1630s?

A. Some of them offered a religious explanation for their immigration.
B. They did not offer any reasons for their immigration until some time after they had immigrated.
C. They were more likely than the average immigrant to be motivated by material considerations.

2 
 2. Select the sentence that provides Cressy’s opinion about what motivated English immigrants to go to New England in the 1630s.

3 
 3. In the passage, the author is primarily concerned with

A. summarizing the findings of an investigation
B. analyzing a method of argument
C. evaluating a point of view
D. hypothesizing about a set of circumstances
E. establishing categories

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Official Explanation

1. The passage indicates that Cressy would agree with which of the following statements about the organizers among the English immigrants to New England in the 1630s?

Explanation

Choice A  is correct: the organizers are mentioned in the second paragraph, where the passage says that Cressy  “does not deny”  that organizers  “advanced religious explanations”  for leaving England and immigrating to New England in the 1630s. This suggests that Cressy would agree with the statement in choice A about the organizers.

Choice B  is incorrect: the passage says that Cressy finds that religious reasons for immigration  “assumed primacy”  only in retrospect, but this is not the same as Cressy’s concluding that no reasons were given at the time of immigration. Therefore it cannot be inferred that Cressy would agree with the statement in  Choice B.

Choice C  is incorrect: the passage refers to  “promises of material improvement”  as a factor that in Cressy’s view motivated most immigrants other than  “the principal actors.”  This suggests that Cressy regards the principal actors, such as organizers, as having been less, not more, motivated by material considerations than average immigrants were. Therefore it cannot be inferred that Cressy would agree with the statement in  Choice C.

Choice A is correct.

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Official Explanation

2. Select the sentence that provides Cressy’s opinion about what motivated English immigrants to go to New England in the 1630s.

Explantion

The last sentence says that Cressy  “concludes that most people immigrated because they were recruited by promises of material improvement.”  Because this suggests that Cressy believes immigrants were motivated by these promises to go to New England, sentence 5 (“When he ... improvement) is the correct choice. The preceding sentence suggests that Cressy does not believe religion was a primary motive influencing immigrants’ decision to immigrate in the 1630s. Thus, although this sentence provides an opinion of Cressy’s concerning some immigrants’ stated reasons for immigrating, it does not say what motive he believes was actually behind the immigration, and therefore does not answer the question.

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Official Explanation

3. In the passage, the author is primarily concerned with

Explanation

The passage is about Cressy’s investigation of English immigration to New England in the 1630s, and it summarizes his findings concerning who immigrated and why.  Choice A, “summarizing the findings of an investigation,”  is therefore the best description of the author’s primary concern in the passage.

The passage does not analyze a method of argument, so  Choice B  is incorrect.
 
  Choice C  is incorrect because the passage is not primarily concerned with evaluating a point of view: it does not assess the merits or demerits of Cressy’s viewpoint.

The passage is concerned with reporting Cressy’s findings, not with hypothesizing or with establishing categories, so  Choices D and E  are incorrect. 
  
  Answer: A

In a recent study, David Cressy examines two central questions concern

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