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Difficulty: MediumRhetorical Function of Specific Word Choices

Read the following passage from an essay about nineteenth-century oceanography:

For centuries, the open ocean was regarded as a vast, unchanging desert, a liquid void devoid of complex life below its sunlit surface. This 'azoic hypothesis,' championed by eminent naturalist Edward Forbes, posited that marine life could not survive the crushing pressures and perpetual darkness of the deep sea. When the HMS Challenger set sail in 1872, its crew sought to test this orthodoxy. Equipped with miles of hemp rope and heavy dredge nets, they plunged into the unknown. The biological specimens they retrieved from the abyss did not merely challenge Forbes’s theory; they shattered it entirely. The discovery of bizarre, highly adapted organisms at depths once thought sterile transformed the ocean from a simple barrier into a dynamic, three-dimensional biosphere. This monumental shift in perspective did not just expand the catalog of known species; it fundamentally redefined the planetary boundaries of life itself.

In the context of the passage, what does the author's choice of the word 'orthodoxy' primarily serve to do?

  1. A
    suggest that the crew of the HMS Challenger intended to conform to the dominant scientific opinions of the era
  2. characterize the azoic hypothesis as a widely accepted, established consensus within the scientific communityAnswer
  3. C
    highlight the specific biological evidence that Edward Forbes used to construct his theory of deep-sea life
  4. D
    detail the technological challenges of using hemp rope and heavy dredge nets to study the ocean floor

Answer

The choice stating that the word characterizes the azoic hypothesis as a widely accepted, established consensus within the scientific community.
The correct answer, which characterizes the hypothesis as a widely accepted consensus, is correct because the term 'orthodoxy' refers to an established and generally accepted belief system. By using this word to describe the azoic hypothesis, the author highlights the dominant status of this theory within the nineteenth-century scientific community, setting up the significance of the Challenger crew's mission to test it.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Locate the word 'orthodoxy' in the passage and identify its immediate context.
The word appears in the sentence: 'When the HMS Challenger set sail in 1872, its crew sought to test this orthodoxy.'
This establishes where the word is located to analyze its context.
2
Analyze what the term 'this orthodoxy' refers to in the preceding sentences.
The term refers to the 'azoic hypothesis,' which was 'championed by eminent naturalist Edward Forbes' and posited that the deep sea was sterile.
This identifies the target concept that the word is describing.
3
Determine the rhetorical function of the word 'orthodoxy' in describing the hypothesis.
An orthodoxy is an authorized or generally accepted theory. The author uses it to emphasize that the hypothesis was a dominant, widely accepted consensus in the scientific community.
This connects the meaning and usage of the word to its rhetorical purpose in the passage.

Key Concept

Rhetorical Function of Specific Word Choices
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Rhetorical Function of Specific Word Choices

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