BB T26 S2 P1018 Q17 or link: As Gilbert White, Darwin, and others observed long ago, all : Reading Comprehension - Page 2
- The author of the passage is primarily concerned with
A discussing two categories of factors that control population growth and assessing their relative importance
B describing how growth rates in natural populations fluctuate over time and explaining why these changes occur
C proposing a hypothesis concerning population sizes and suggesting ways to test it
D posing a fundamental question about environmental factors in population growth and presenting some currently accepted answers
E refuting a commonly accepted theory about population density and offering a new alternative
For question 17: I found it extremely hard to eliminate the wrong answer E. Can someone please help explain why did you eliminate E? I actually chose E and eliminated A.
E. refuting a commonly accepted theory about population density and offering a new alternative
For me, ‘the commonly accepted theory’ here is the school of thought mentioned in the passage: ‘the dichotomy of density-dependent and density-independent’. I think what the author did at the end of the passage was to refute the dichotomy: “But it now seems clear that all populations are regulated by a mixture of density-dependent and density-independent effects in varying proportions.” This means ‘refuting’ wording is correct
Isn’t it true that the author offers a new alternative: “all populations are regulated by a mixture of density-dependent and density-independent” not just the one or another just like dichotomy suggested
What am I doing wrong here?
I eliminated A bc it uses the phrase “two categories of factors.” I thought this equals “the environmental and biological factors,” and this phrase is only mentioned at the beginning of the passage. A very brief mention, can’t be the main or primary thing being discussed in the passage
*I watched the explanation video from Gregmat but he didn’t get into the depth of how he eliminated this choice
