Please Help-Tough Passage Based Reading Q

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
1

<p>A section of the passage states, </p>

<p>"In the little I had learnt of him at luncheon, a smattering of hearsay garnered by her ten months ago from the daily papers and stored in her memory for
future use, I could imagine, in spite of my youth and inexperience of the world, that he would resent this sudden bursting in upon his solitude.</p>

<p>The question asks:</p>

<p>In context, “garnered” (line 74) is closest in meaning to
A) gathered
B) earned
C) assumed
D) inferred
E) harvested</p>

<p>It seems to me that A and E would both be very good answers, so I’m not sure which one to choose. I would really appreciate some help. This thread has the entire passage written out if you think that would help
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/424929-question-about-grammar-cr-passage.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/424929-question-about-grammar-cr-passage.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

2

<p>A) gathered</p>

3

<p>Was this from an official CB test? I haven’t seen a word question with two answers that were synonyms before. Garnered is closest in meaning to gathered. You typically gather information, not harvest it. Harvest is most appropriate when talking about gathering plants (ex. he harvested the plants.)</p>

4

<p>Thanks for the input JAMCAFE, can you please explain why you think that “gathered” is better than “harvested”?</p>

5

<p>Hi physicsman. Yes, this was from an official test that came from a test prep company. You have a good argument; since we’re talking about information, perhaps “gathered” is the more appropriate choice.</p>

6

<p>An “official test” is one that doesn’t come from a test prep company. Those tests are (justifiably) know as “bootleg” or “third party” because they hopelessly attempt to imitate CollegeBoard’s tests.</p>

<p>I don’t particularly like this question, but I would’ve chosen A. </p>

<p>Harvested means precisely: “To gather (in a crop)”</p>

<p>You can’t literally say that you harvested information. For the answer choices, you have to go by their literal denotations.</p>

7

<p>What DAL said. But I think the question is fair game. Questions that ask for the best answer are looking for your knowledge of subtle nuances. Keep up your practice!</p>