Information and IdeasMediumMain idea shifting the explanation
Information and Ideas practice question
It is often said that the Inuit have no word for war. The claim is doubtful as linguistics — several Inuit languages have words for conflict — and beside the point as anthropology. What kept war away was not vocabulary but the way people lived: small, scattered hunting groups had neither the numbers nor the reason for organised fighting.
Which choice best states the main idea of the text?
- A. The 'no word for war' claim is shaky, and the real explanation for the absence of war lies in how the groups lived.Correct
- B. Inuit languages have unusually few words.
- C. The Inuit fought frequent organised wars.
- D. A people's vocabulary determines how they behave.
Answer: A. The 'no word for war' claim is shaky, and the real explanation for the absence of war lies in how the groups lived.
The text doubts the linguistic claim and replaces it with a social explanation. Choice A holds both.
Why the other answers are wrong
- B. Inuit languages have unusually few words.
- The text says several Inuit languages have words for conflict; it says nothing about vocabulary size.
- C. The Inuit fought frequent organised wars.
- The text explains why war was absent.
- D. A people's vocabulary determines how they behave.
- The text argues the opposite: vocabulary is 'beside the point'.
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