Which one of the following is most clearly an example of the kind of evidence that would lend support to the author's...

Annie on December 12, 2019

Hi @sprozes,

This question is asking you to choose the answer choice which would “lend support to the authors proposal in the second to last paragraph.” When you get a question like this, the first step is to read through the passage. Then, this question points you to a specific paragraph, so re-read that paragraph before turning to the answer choices and try to identify the “proposal” mentioned in the question.

Lines 41-45 tell us the authors proposal: that people may have established paths in the woods because they were scared of the woods.

Now turning to the answer choices:
(A) is incorrect. This makes no reference to the idea that people were scared of the woods.
(B) is incorrect. This also has nothing to do with fear of the woods.
(C) is incorrect. This answer is like B and has nothing to do with humans fear.
(D) is incorrect. This answer is tempting as it mentions anxiety. However, the proposal has nothing to do with “modern urban dwellers” but is instead about Mesolithic forest dwellers.
(E) is correct. The proposal states that paths may have been made out of fear of the forest. If there was evidence that the people had also performed rituals for protection in the forest, this tells us that people thought they needed protection in the forest, which indicates they were scared of the woods.

cglee on October 21, 2022

Excellent Annie! This is what I had to do, re-read the passage paragraph. I was thinking a map would support the author, however, these folks were afraid of forests according to the geographer and author.