More Solitary Passages Questions - - Question 15
The author's attitude toward Roger Abraham's book can best be described as one of
Replies
Ravi February 27, 2019
@msaber,Happy to help.
The question reads, "The author’s attitude toward Roger Abraham’s book
can best be described as one of..."
You asked about (B) vs. (C), so let's take a look at them.
(C) says, "uneasy ambivalence"
The problem with (C) is that the author's attitude toward Abraham's
book is neither uneasy nor ambivalent. The key thing you might have
been confused about with this answer choice is that it used the word
'ambivalent,' which means 'having mixed feelings.' While it's true
that the author views both positives and negatives of the work, it's
entirely possible that the author can do this without harboring
mixed/conflicting feelings about the work. Plus, the author isn't
uneasy at all, so we can get rid of this answer choice.
(B) says, "qualified admiration"
Abraham's name is mentioned in line 43. Here, the author states that
Abraham's work is "notable" and "presents a very clear picture of the
significance of traditional singing in the life of noted ballad singer
Almeda Riddle." This suggests to us that the author has positive views
of the work and does admire it to an extent. The author goes on to
qualify her admiration of the work when she notes in line 46 that
"unfortunately, unlike Pentikainen's study, Abraham's study contains
little repertoire analysis." From this, we know that the author
admires the work but does have some reservations about it, so
"qualified admiration" is an excellent description of the author's
attitude toward Abraham's work. (B) is the correct answer choice.
Does this make sense? Let us know if you have any more questions!
SarahA February 27, 2019
Thank you, Ravi. That was helpful!
Ravi March 1, 2019
@msaber, you're welcome. I'm happy you found it helpful!