PrepTest 146, Section 4, Question 15
Hundreds of clay tablets marked in cuneiform have(447 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(9 more words not shown)
- ABased on her(26 more words not shown)
- BThe discovery of(28 more words not shown)
- CInscription-bearing clay envelopes(26 more words not shown)
- DThe inscriptions found(31 more words not shown)
- EThe discovery of(30 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
We've already predicted the main point: Schmandt-Besserat sees the clay tokens as predecessors of abstract writing. The envelopes and their impressions help explain the connection, and the final paragraph follows the development into a more flexible system of signs.
What we’re looking for
We need that whole developmental claim, not just one proposed use of the tokens. Also keep her theory distinct from a declaration that every part has been conclusively established.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
This identifies the evidence she examines and the conclusion she draws: the token system evolved into abstract written language. It captures the overall explanation rather than stopping at temple records or token shapes.
- B
The temple-contribution interpretation is part of her theory, but it's a step in the larger explanation of writing's development. Making that proposed function the main point leaves out the culmination. Confirms also presents the interpretation more conclusively than the author's theorizes does.
- C
The opening puzzle is the early appearance of abstract writing, not sophisticated crafts. Crafts help explain the diversification of token forms; their origin isn't the central problem being resolved.
- D
Modern languages goes beyond the development traced here. We follow tokens into an early abstract written form, not the history connecting them to modern languages. A more detailed picture doesn't fix that change in scope.
- E
No relationship is proposed in which language grows more abstract because arts and crafts become more abstract. The account describes crafts becoming more diversified and sophisticated, which is a different claim. This isn't the theory she advances.
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