A question about two texts tests how one author would respond to another author’s claim. Read the question to find who answers which claim, then put each text’s view and reason in a few words. Name the stance: reject means disagree, qualify means accept only part or add a limit, and extend means take the claim further. Check the reason too, because a choice can give the right stance for a reason the responding author never gives.
Hints
- Hint 1
Check who responds to whom in the question. Then find the claim that author is being asked to judge in Text 1’s opening sentence.
- Hint 2
Find what Text 2 says stays constant. Then ask how its final sentence connects that purpose to what libraries should offer.
Step-by-step
Find the stance and its reason
Step 1Identify the target claim
Start with libraries should remain primarily quiet repositories of books, the claim Text 2’s author must judge. Why does Text 1 favor that view? It says other uses strain budgets and threaten silence, so books and quiet should come first.
- Step 2
Find Text 2’s view
What does Text 2 put at the center of the library’s mission? It says the constant is access to knowledge and points to services that have changed over time. Its final sentence says Quiet rooms remain important but adds libraries should also support collaborative learning. That rejects Text 1’s narrow view of the mission, while keeping a place for quiet reading.
- Step 3
Match the reason, not only the stance
Which response uses Text 2’s own reason? Reject it as impractical says a consistently quiet library is impossible, but Text 2 never says that. Disagree instead explains that libraries have evolved and can support shared learning while keeping quiet rooms. Choice B.