| Lines | Simplifying | Function |
|---|---|---|
| In eighteenth-century France and England, reformers rallied around egalitarian ideals, but few reformers advocated higher education for women. | Split into two groups of reformers present during a certain time | Author’s observation / fact |
| Although the public decried women’s lack of education, it did not encourage learning for its own sake for women | Pub did not support less-educated women and did not push or encourage them to study | States a fact / presents a paradox |
| In spite of the general prejudice against learned women, there was one place where women could exhibit their erudition: the literary salon. | Educated women were given importance at only one place | Exception / silver lining |
| Many writers have defined the woman’s role in the salon as that of an intelligent hostess, but the salon had more than a social function for women. | Writers say educated women served a social function, and the author opposes stating it did more than that | Author’s opinion about the writers |
| It was an informal university, too, where women exchanged ideas with educated persons, read their own works and heard those of others, and received and gave criticism. | P2P learning | Supports the author’s opinion by explaining why the author thinks educated women did more than a social function |
Can someone verify / analyse whether my function part of the above passage is correct? I identified the main idea as exception / silver lining. I identified the next line as author’s opinion.