For a words-in-context question, identify the exact relationship established by the surrounding evidence before comparing the choices. Pay particular attention to whether the passage describes causation, timing, concealment, or logical dependence; then choose the word that expresses that relationship without adding an unsupported claim.
Hints
- Hint 1
Examine the contrast
The tablets are presented as tools for translating among local measures, not as rules imposing one universal measure.
- Hint 2
Separate condition from cause
Consider whether the text says that the tablets made local standards persist or that the tablets functioned in a setting where those standards were already persisting.
- Hint 3
Focus on the later versions
Ask what must have remained true if scribes continued adding local measures to the tablets.
Step-by-step
- Step 1
Identify what the tablets did
The tablets gave equivalences among local units but did not designate any unit as preferred. Later versions even incorporated additional local measures.
- Step 2
Determine the logical relationship
This evidence shows that merchants continued to encounter multiple standards. It does not establish that the tablets caused those standards to persist; rather, the tablets were useful because the standards persisted.
- Step 3
Choose the precise word
"Presupposes" means takes something as an existing condition. It precisely describes the relationship between the tablets' commercial use and the persistence of multiple standards.