The author concedes that "correlating federal intervention and the acceleration of black economic progress might be i...
BrendanJuly 11, 2017
Role of the Argument
I chose E over A. I got every other question right so I feel like I am fairly familiar with the passage. I guess I am having a hard time with role of the arguments in reading comprehension. Can you explain why A is correct and the others are wrong? Thank you
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Writing this post so that I can alert the instructors. It does not ask me when I start the discussion for some reason. Thank you
MehranAugust 31, 2017
Hi @Brendan, thanks for your posts and apologies for the delayed reply.
This is an Argument Structure question that asks you to identify the role played by a specific concession made by the passage author, namely, that "correlating federal intervention and the acceleration of black economic progress might be incorrect."
Let's find that phrase. It's at lines 58-60. Always wise to read a few lines above and a few lines below, to refresh your understanding of the context.
Here, the preceding sentence identifies a correlation: "the coincidence of increased United States government antidiscrimination pressure in the mid-1960s with the acceleration in the rate of black economic progress beginning in 1965 argues against the continuity theorists' view." (Lines 53-57)
If we take a step back and assess the passage as a whole, the writer is arguing against "continuity theorists'" views of what brought about a decrease in racial discrimination in employment and wages in the United States in the mid-1960s.
The paragraph in which the quoted phrase appears, paragraph 4, sets out "an additional problem for continuity theorists" (Lines 49-51), and identifies this "additional problem" as the coincidence quoted above (Lines 53-57).
Yet the author acknowledges a potential weakness or objection to this line of argument, in Lines 58-60. He does this in order to subsequently bolster the argument (Lines 67-71).
This is why answer choice (A) is correct.
Answer choice (E) is incorrect because the quoted phrase does not serve to *introduce* a discussion about the impact of federal intervention on discrimination--that discussion is actually introduced way up at Line 1.
Hope this helps! Please let us know if you have any additional questions.
