Author: Mark
Reading Level: C1+
Look below the example question to see some advice on how to answer it!
Question
Studying late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century artifacts from an agricultural and domestic site in Texas, archaeologist Ayana O. Flewellen found that Black women employed as farm workers utilized hook-and-eye closures to fasten their clothes at the waist, giving themselves a silhouette similar to the one that was popular in contemporary fashion and typically achieved through more restrictive garments such as corsets. Flewellen argues that this sartorial practice shows that these women balanced hegemonic ideals of femininity with the requirements of their physically demanding occupation.
Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?
A) To evaluate a scholarly work that offers explanations for the impact of urban fashion ideals on Black female farmworkers in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Texas
B) To describe an unexpected discovery that altered a researcher’s view of how rapidly fashions among Black female farmworkers in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Texas changed during the period
C) To summarize the findings of a study that explored factors influencing a fashion practice among Black female farmworkers in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Texas
D) To discuss research that investigated the ways in which Black female farmworkers in late nineteenth and early twentieth-century Texas used fashion practices to resist traditional gender ideals
Advice (part 1)
In order to correctly answer this question, we need to understand the text. You really need to build your vocabulary and experience to do this correctly.
However, if we do not fully understand the text, we can still look for grammar and vocabulary clues to help us:
We can look for comparative sentence structures and comparative vocabulary (for example “…giving themselves a silhouette similar to the one that was popular in contemporary fashion and typically achieved through more restrictive garments such as corsets”).
We can look for words and phrases that have a negative connotation (people use these kinds of words to show that something is bad, for example “restrictive” and “physically demanding“).
We can look for words and sentences that tell us that someone did research on a topic (for example “…archaeologist Ayana O. Flewellen found that…”).
We can look for words that tell us that someone reached a conclusion (this means they tell us their opinion, normally after doing research) (for example “Flewellen argues that…“).
We can look for linking words and clauses that show ACTION and RESULT ideas (there are many different ways to do this in English, in this text a reduced non-restrictive relative clause is used: “, giving themselves a silhouette similar to the one that was popular in contemporary fashion…“. This shows the RESULT of using “hook-and-eye closures”).
We can look for clues that a surprise/ unexpected result happened.
We can look for vocabulary that shows changes-over-time.
We can then use these clues to remove wrong answer options!
Let’s look at key words and grammar in answer option (B):
B) To describe an unexpected discovery that altered a researcher’s view of how rapidly fashions among Black female farmworkers in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Texas changed during the period
If this answer were correct, there should be:
vocabulary that shows surprise
vocabulary that shows a change in Ayana O. Flewellen’s opinion (the researcher here is Ayana O. Flewellen)
vocabulary and grammar that talks about changes over time
There are no words that show surprise here (eg: however, unexpectedly, despite). There are no words that show a change to Ayana’s opinions (she just gives her opinion at the end of the text and noone tries to prove that she is wrong). There are no words that show a change over time (eg: increase, decrease, fade away, become).
Therefore, this answer (B) must be wrong, and we can ignore it!
OK, now let’s look at the words and grammar in option (D):
D) To discuss research that investigated the ways in which Black female farmworkers in late nineteenth and early twentieth-century Texas used fashion practices to resist traditional gender ideals
If you do not know enough English, this answer might seem like it could be correct. “Discuss” just means “talk about” and the text does involve Ayana’s research (“…archaeologist Ayana O. Flewellen found that…”). The text is about Black women who worked on farms, and it is about fashion. However, we must pay attention to the words “the ways in which” and “resist” and “traditional gender ideals“. “The ways in which” just means “how”. “Resist” means “fight against” or “refuse to do something”. “Traditional gender ideals” means how people in the past expected men or women to behave and what they expected them to look like.
For this answer to be correct, we would need to see clues in the text showing:
fighting or disagreeing with “traditional gender ideals”
The text, and especially the conclusion of the text (“Flewellen argues that this sartorial practice shows that these women balanced hegemonic ideals of femininity with the requirements of their physically demanding occupation.”), does NOT do this.
Therefore, this answer (D) must be wrong, and we can ignore it!
To understand this, we need to learn what the words “balanced”, “hegemony”, “feminine”, “requirements” and “occupation” mean.
In our next blog post, we will teach you these words and other useful vocabulary from this example question! Then we will look at answer options (A) and (C).
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