Well do not get foolish by the difference among topic, main idea, purpose they essentially most of the time, overlap. Getting lost in this nuances will only lead you to confusion and distract you from focusing on the passage.
However, there is a difference between, for example, the topic and the main idea: the topic is WHY the author took his/her time to write a passage. for example, I want to write and essay about geometry. That is the topic.
But If I explain all the differences among the triangles and the rules then this is the main idea why I wrote the essay: the main idea is to explain to the students certain rules
Back to the question: there is not a golden rule to solve the two portions of the text. Nonetheless, you should read it and try to grasp why those sentences are there and how they are chained one another
The origins of the English language can be traced back to the Saxon and other Germanic settlers in Britain beginning in the 5th century CE. Ok. The origin of the language dates back to those people in Britain.
Its unusual nature can be attributed to the diverse linguistic origins of the groups that contributed to its development and their role in English society. Its weird configuration is due to the different origins of the groups and the amalgamation among them
Although English belongs to the Germanic language family, and its grammatical and syntactical rules reflect this, English vocabulary can be seen to be from multiple origins. We can certainly trace back the origin of the English vocabulary but we do have much more
In fact, a large part of the vocabulary was not derived from the Germanic languages at all but is rather of Latin origin. The vast majority of the vocabulary terms are from Latin
This can be explained by the influence on Old English of Old French and Latin during the Norman Invasion in the 11th century. The reason why of the previous sentence is explained above in this one
By the time of the Norman Invasion, Old English was already a language, with both its grammar and vocabulary based in the Germanic language family. More facts
However, the establishment of a ruling class who spoke a Romance language caused significant changes in the indigenous tongue. The fact that we had the rule of a class who spoke a Romance language created a further complication in the evolution of the English Language
It is also interesting to note the correlation between the length of a word and its origin—
most of the shorter words in the English language are derived from the Germanic languages, whereas the longer words are from a Latin background. The other highlighted portion tells us that there is a strong correlation and origin between
the length of a word and its originshort from Germanic
long from latin
Now
A The argument and its counterargument
The first is correct but the second do not
B Two examples of the scope of the passage
Not at all: the first is the scope but the second is not an example but a specific explanation of WHY the words are in a certain way. At most the second is an example but not the first
C The topic and scope of the passage
Not really
D The scope of the passage and an example
yes: we do have on one hand
why the passage is written and the second sentence is an example. Notice also the
It is also interesting to note the correlationE The topic of the passage and an example
We do have the scope in the first sentence NOT the topic: the topic we said is the main idea. But here we have the topic: WHY we are creating the passage
Let me know if now is clear to you
See also this interesting article by
Kaplan https://www.kaptest.com/study/lsat/lsat ... dea-scope/ and this video on the gmatclub channel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNYMDL9uyhU