A question about a study tests what its findings support, including how they connect to an earlier claim. Read that claim, then compare what each group or time period showed. Ask how the new finding relates to the earlier evidence, because both findings must support the same conclusion. Your conclusion should explain the reported changes without adding causes the study didn't test or going beyond what was measured. Wrong answers often tell a fuller story than the study supports.
Hints
- Hint 1
At the end of the first paragraph, look for the claim Reyes’s finding is meant to support. What does Gluckman say about how writers shape their narratives?
- Hint 2
Compare the entries from before and after unionization. How does the change Reyes found relate to the change Gluckman found?
Step-by-step
Connect the findings to the claim
Step 1Find the claim Reyes supports
Reyes says his finding reinforces Gluckman’s interpretation, so the blank must support her claim rather than explain the pronoun count alone. What did she argue? Diarists shape their narratives to fit prevailing social frameworks, meaning that their social setting affects how they tell their stories. The conclusion must connect language to that social setting.
- Step 2
Name each time period and its findings
What changed across unionization? Earlier diaries rarely mentioned collective grievances; later ones frequently highlighted shared struggles and group identity. Reyes found that the density of first-person singular pronouns also fell afterward, meaning these words made up a smaller share of the writing. The change in wording goes with a change in themes.
- Step 3
Predict what the findings support
What does that smaller share of singular pronouns mean in these diaries? Writers can use fewer words about themselves without giving up a point of view, and Gluckman tells us what the later diaries emphasized: shared struggles and group identity. So the drop in pronouns fits a change in how writers placed themselves within a group. The findings suggest that union membership went along with a more group-centered way of telling personal stories.
- Step 4
Check the wording and its limits
Which choice explains how this linguistic shift reinforces Gluckman’s interpretation? The phrase less in individual terms fits the reduced share of singular pronouns, while more in a communal perspective fits the themes of shared struggles and group identity. Communal means shared by a group, and tended describes a pattern rather than a rule for every entry. Choice D.