16Hit1600
Craft and StructureVery hardTwo views on when a dialect began to fade

Craft and Structure practice question

Text 1 The decline of the town's dialect began with the railway in 1850, which brought in outsiders and their speech. Text 2 A schoolmaster recorded the dialect's distinctive vowels in 1848 as already heard only among the old, two years before the railway. The railway found a decline already under way.

How would the author of Text 2 most likely respond to Text 1?

  1. A. By using a dated source to argue that the decline began before the cause that Text 1 names.Correct
  2. B. By agreeing that the railway started the decline.
  3. C. By denying that outsiders came on the railway.
  4. D. By arguing that the dialect has not declined.

Answer: A. By using a dated source to argue that the decline began before the cause that Text 1 names.

Already fading in 1848.

Why the other answers are wrong

B. By agreeing that the railway started the decline.
Text 2 places the start earlier.
C. By denying that outsiders came on the railway.
Not denied.
D. By arguing that the dialect has not declined.
Text 2 accepts the decline.

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