Chapter 4 - Exercise 3-B: Review of Main Idea and Methods of Development<br><FONT SIZE="3"><P>Read this paragraph and answer the questions that follow.</P><P>The general European view is that English is an illogical, chaotic language, unsuited for clear thinking, and it is easy to understand this view, for no other European language admits of such shoddy treatment. Yet, on the other hand, none other admits of such poetic exquisiteness, and often the apparent chaos is only the untidiness of a workshop in which a great deal of repair and other work is in progress: the benches are crowded, the corners piled with lumber, but the old workman can lay his hands on whatever spare parts or accessories he needs, or at least on the right tools and materials for improvising them. French is a language of fixed models: it has none of this workshop untidiness and few facilities for improvisation. In French, one chooses the finished phrase nearest to one's purpose, and, if there is nothing that can be "made to do," a long time is spent getting the Works--the Academy --to supply or approve a new model. Each method has its own advantages. The English method tends to ambiguity and obscurity of expression in any but the most careful writing; the French to limitation of thought.</P><P ALIGN="RIGHT">--author unknown</P></FONT>

Chapter 4 - Exercise 3-B: Review of Main Idea and Methods of Development

Read this paragraph and answer the questions that follow.

The general European view is that English is an illogical, chaotic language, unsuited for clear thinking, and it is easy to understand this view, for no other European language admits of such shoddy treatment. Yet, on the other hand, none other admits of such poetic exquisiteness, and often the apparent chaos is only the untidiness of a workshop in which a great deal of repair and other work is in progress: the benches are crowded, the corners piled with lumber, but the old workman can lay his hands on whatever spare parts or accessories he needs, or at least on the right tools and materials for improvising them. French is a language of fixed models: it has none of this workshop untidiness and few facilities for improvisation. In French, one chooses the finished phrase nearest to one's purpose, and, if there is nothing that can be "made to do," a long time is spent getting the Works--the Academy --to supply or approve a new model. Each method has its own advantages. The English method tends to ambiguity and obscurity of expression in any but the most careful writing; the French to limitation of thought.

--author unknown


1. The purpose of the first sentence is A. to state the main idea
B. to set up a statement that the writer wishes to challenge
C. to argue for a particular point of view that most readers would probably disagree with
D. to provide historical background for the remainder of the paragraph.
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