Information and IdeasVery hardMain idea of a passage on competing explanations
Information and Ideas practice question
The theory that the city's grid was laid out to face the midsummer sunrise has an obvious appeal, and the alignment is real. The difficulty is that the grid also aligns, within a degree, with the river the founders had to cross and with the slope they had to drain. When three explanations fit the same fact, the most dramatic is not thereby the most likely.
Which choice best states the main idea of the text?
- A. The sunrise explanation for the grid competes with two mundane explanations that fit the evidence equally well, and its appeal is no reason to prefer it.Correct
- B. The grid does not align with the sunrise.
- C. The founders laid out the grid to follow the river.
- D. The sunrise explanation is certainly correct.
Answer: A. The sunrise explanation for the grid competes with two mundane explanations that fit the evidence equally well, and its appeal is no reason to prefer it.
Three fits; drama is not evidence.
Why the other answers are wrong
- B. The grid does not align with the sunrise.
- The alignment is real.
- C. The founders laid out the grid to follow the river.
- The river is one candidate, not the conclusion.
- D. The sunrise explanation is certainly correct.
- The text warns against preferring it.
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