The primary purpose of the passage is to

BenMingov December 20, 2019

Hi Silvia, thanks for the question.

The primary purpose of this passage is to show the difference between interpretations of political words/ideas between American colonists from England and the English themselves, elaborating on different interpretations of the power of parliament and the constitution.

This is what answer choice E describes. An aspect of their relationship is the difference in their understanding of political ideas, despite being based on the same political system.

A) The passage was not primarily concerned with exposing a misunderstanding a characterizing descriptions of these groups. It was concerned with elaborating on the differences between the understandings of two groups.

B) The passage never discussed how England treated certain of its American colonies.

C) The passage did not settle any debate. Nor does it seem to be ongoing.

D) This did not happen.

E) As discussed above.

I hope this helps. Please let me know if you have any other questions.

rinavaleriano May 29, 2020

A and E both seem very similar to me. Can you elaborate on why A would be incorrect as compared to E? Thank you.

Brett-Lindsay September 9, 2020

Hi @rinavaleriano,

(A) cannot be the answer because nowhere in the passage does it mention anybody who has a misunderstanding. Misunderstandings are not something we can ever infer from a passage without words such as the following:

"For many years, people have believed that... However, ...."
"There are those who mistakenly hold the view that..."
"Traditionally, the consensus was..."
"Some scholars insist that..."

All of the above introduce ideas that are typically overthrown later, in the classis "old information, new information" format. First, introduce the old, mistaken belief. Then, say why it's incorrect and give evidence for the new belief. That does not happen in this passage, so (A) is not supported.

Hope that helps.