The first sentence:
In the west in the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries,
marriage began to incorporate certain features of a contract- It presents a FACT which two distinct segments: an adverbial phrase of time (in the....centuries) AND a complete caluse (marriage....contract).
- From this, the highlight part (
marriage began to incorporate certain features of a contract) plays a role of an objective premise. NO subjective evaluation (cause or effect), opinion (wish or belief), suggestion (attempt or implication), etc. of any kind is presented.
Only choice B and C are qualified.The second sentence:
Historian have traditionally argued that this trend represented a gain for women;
but whatever gains marriage contracts may have meant for women were undermined by social nonchalance - Using grammatical structure alone, this sentence consists of two CONTRASTING clauses with the first clause (historian....women) presents an argument (or a belief) of historian depriving from the first sentence (the consequence of incorporating features of a contract to marrigae) AND the second clause (
but whatever gains marriage contracts may have meant for women were undermined by social nonchalance ) clearly contradicts any thinking that such gains from that incorporation would really benefit women because whatever the gains were, the were undermined by social nonchalance.
Only choice B is perfectly fit.I hope this helps.
daagh wrote:
In the west in the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, marriage began to incorporate certain features of a contract. Historian have traditionally argued that this trend represented a gain for women; but whatever gains marriage contracts may have meant for women were undermined by social nonchalance
A. The first is a cause; the second is the projected effect
B. The first is a premise and the second is a paradoxical eventuality
C. The first is a situation and second is its logical end
D. The first is an attempt to amend a social discrimination. The second is the amendment
E. The first was a wish and the second was the contrary outcome
OA after three responses
Updated on: 18 Dec 2015, 01:18 
