Multiple choice

Which of the following statements best reflects the underlying tone of the passage?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the given questions.

Literature and history are twin sisters, inseparable. In the days of our own grandfathers, and for many generations before them, the basis of education was the Greek and Roman classics for the educated, and the Bible for all. In the classical authors and in the Bible, history and literature were closely intervolved, and it is that circumstance which made the old form of education so stimulating to the thought and imagination of our ancestors. To read the classical authors and to read the Bible was to read at once the history and the literature of the three greatest races of the ancient world. No doubt the classics and the Bible were read in a manner we now consider uncritical but they were read according to the best tenets of the time and formed a great humanistic education. Today the study both of the classics and of the Bible has dwindled to small proportions. What has taken their place? To some extent the vacuum has been filled by a more correct knowledge of history and a wider range of literature. But I fear that the greater part of it has been filled up with rubbish.

  1. Literature and history are mutually exclusive

  2. Literature and history are complementary to each other

  3. The study of literature is meaningless without knowledge of history

  4. Literature and history are inseparably linked together in the classics and the Bible

Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

Literature and history are inseparably linked together in the classics and the Bible. The author clearly states this in the third sentence of the passage. In the classical authors and in the Bible, history and literature were closely intervolved. Intervolved means twisted together or closely linked. This clearly shows they are not mutually exclusive or even complementary but inseparably linked.