Read the following passage.
A. Marshall McLuhan argued that people should study the means of communication itself, and not only the content it carries. He put this idea into a memorable phrase: "the medium is the message." He also described two kinds of media. "Hot" media, like radio or print, carry a lot of information and leave the audience little to fill in. "Cool" media, such as the telephone or television, offer less information, so people must take a more active part. McLuhan did not present these ideas as finished theories. He called them "probes" rather than fixed concepts, because he believed that electronic communication kept changing the world around people.
B. He was born in Edmonton, Alberta, on July 21, 1911, and was raised in Winnipeg. At the University of Manitoba he received a bachelor's degree in 1933 and a master's degree in English in 1934. He then went to Cambridge University in England, where he later received a doctorate in English literature. In 1936 he began teaching at the University of Wisconsin in the United States. As an adult he converted to Roman Catholicism, a faith that had a deep effect on his thinking throughout his career. In 1946 he joined the University of Toronto as a professor of English, and he stayed there for the rest of his working life.
C. Two books made his name. The Gutenberg Galaxy appeared in 1962, and Understanding Media followed in 1964. He also spoke of a "global village," a world that electronic communication was quickly turning into one connected community. During the 1960s he became famous far beyond the university, and in 1970 he was named a Companion of the Order of Canada. In 1977 he even made a brief appearance in Woody Allen's film Annie Hall. Yet the public excitement was not always shared by his fellow scholars, and one critic called him a mere "popularizer." By the 1970s the interest in him had died down somewhat.
D. In the early 1960s McLuhan started a Centre for Culture and Technology at the University of Toronto, and he served as its director. From 1968 the centre was based in a building called the Coach House, where his Monday Night Seminars began. A stroke in 1979 ended his teaching, and he died in Toronto on December 31, 1980. Interest in his work grew again in the early 1990s. When the technology magazine Wired was launched in 1993, it named him its "patron saint." Today a centre in the university's Faculty of Information carries his name.
E. Not given in any of the above paragraphs.
Decide which paragraph, A to D, has the information given in each statement below. Select E if the information is not given in any of the paragraphs.
AI explanationShows the answer. Tap to open.
Correct Answer: E
Why this is correct: Paragraph A explains what hot and cool media are, and Paragraph B says he studied at Cambridge in England. Neither paragraph tells us when or where the idea first came to him, so the link between them is missing.
Passage Reference: "Hot" media, like radio or print, carry a lot of information and leave the audience little to fill in.
Tips: Two true pieces (England, hot and cool media) sit in different paragraphs. Check whether any sentence actually joins them.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Paragraph A explains the difference between hot and cool media with examples. But it gives no time or place for when he thought of it.
- B: Paragraph B names Cambridge University in England and his doctorate there. It says nothing about which ideas he developed as a student.
- C: The third paragraph talks about his two famous books, the global village and his fame. The date of the hot and cool idea is not there.
- D: Look at paragraph D: it covers the Centre, the Coach House seminars, his death and his later reputation. His student years are not part of it.
Correct Answer: B
Passage Reference: In 1936 he began teaching at the University of Wisconsin in the United States.
Why this is correct: Paragraph B says that in 1936 he began teaching at the University of Wisconsin. The same sentence places that school in the United States. So his first teaching job was at an American university. His post in Toronto came ten years later.
Tips: Watch the words began teaching. The question is about his first job, not the long one in Toronto.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: His ideas on media and his probes fill paragraph A. Where he worked is not stated.
- C: The third paragraph mentions the university only when it says his fame spread beyond it. Where he first taught is not in this paragraph.
- D: Look at paragraph D: it places him at the University of Toronto in his later years, running the Centre. That was not his first job.
- E: Wisconsin, a university in the United States, is where Paragraph B says his teaching began in 1936.
Correct Answer: D
Passage Reference: When the technology magazine Wired was launched in 1993, it named him its "patron saint."
Why this is correct: Paragraph D says he died in 1980. It also says that Wired, a technology magazine, called him its "patron saint" when it began in 1993. That is years after his death, and "patron saint" is an honorary title.
Tips: Notice that paragraph C also has an honour. The words after his death and magazine point to only one of them.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: In paragraph A, the writer explains his ideas about media. No magazine or title is mentioned.
- B: Look at paragraph B: it gives his birth, degrees and early teaching jobs. It is all before his fame, not after his death.
- C: Notice that paragraph C does include an honour, the Order of Canada in 1970. But that came during his life and from the country, not a magazine.
- E: Wired and its 1993 title for him appear near the end of Paragraph D, after the sentence about his death.
Correct Answer: E
Passage Reference: The Gutenberg Galaxy appeared in 1962, and Understanding Media followed in 1964.
Why this is correct: Paragraph C names his two famous books and gives their years, 1962 and 1964. It says the two books made his name, but it never compares their sales.
Tips: A comparison needs the text to compare. Check whether any sentence says one book did better than the other.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: The first paragraph is about his ideas, like hot and cool media. It names no books and gives no sales.
- B: In paragraph B, the writer covers his education and early jobs. His books have not yet appeared at that point.
- C: The third paragraph gives both book titles and their years. But it treats them together and says nothing about which one sold more.
- D: The fourth paragraph talks about the Centre, his death and his later reputation. Book sales are not mentioned.
Correct Answer: B
Passage Reference: As an adult he converted to Roman Catholicism, a faith that had a deep effect on his thinking throughout his career.
Why this is correct: Paragraph B says he converted to Roman Catholicism as an adult and that this faith had a deep effect on his thinking. Converting as an adult means adopting a new religion as a grown man.
Tips: Find where his beliefs come up. Then check two things: he made the change when he was grown, and it shaped his ideas.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Look at paragraph A: it explains his theories about media and why he called them probes. His faith is not mentioned.
- C: In paragraph C, the writer covers his books, his fame and the critics. Religion does not come up.
- D: The fourth paragraph is about the Centre, his death and how interest in him returned. Nothing about his beliefs.
- E: His conversion to Roman Catholicism as an adult, and its effect on his ideas, is in Paragraph B.
Correct Answer: C
Passage Reference: Yet the public excitement was not always shared by his fellow scholars, and one critic called him a mere "popularizer."
Why this is correct: Paragraph C says that during the 1960s he became very famous. Yet his fellow scholars did not always share the public excitement, and one critic called him a "popularizer." Scholars are academics, so some were not convinced.
Tips: The statement is about 'some academics' who 'were not convinced'. Check that the doubt comes from other people, not from him, at the height of his fame.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: In paragraph A we read that he did not present his ideas as finished theories. That is his own view of his work, not criticism from other academics.
- B: The second paragraph describes him as a university teacher and professor, but it reports no opinions of his work.
- D: Look at paragraph D: it describes new interest in the 1990s and praise from Wired. It shows later approval, not doubts at the time.
- E: The third paragraph reports the doubts of his fellow scholars and a critic's word for him, right after his film appearance.
Correct Answer: A
Passage Reference: Marshall McLuhan argued that people should study the means of communication itself, and not only the content it carries.
Why this is correct: Paragraph A opens by saying he wanted people to study the means of communication itself and not only its content. The way information reaches people is the means, and the information is the content.
Tips: The statement compares how information travels with the information itself. Find the place where he says both deserve study.
Why the other options are wrong:
- B: The second paragraph is about his life before fame: birth, degrees and first jobs. It does not explain what he believed.
- C: The global village, another of his ideas, comes up in paragraph C. But the paragraph does not make the point that the channel of communication matters more than the content.
- D: Paragraph D is about the Centre he ran and how his reputation changed. His central argument is not repeated there.
- E: His argument that the means of communication deserves study is the first sentence of Paragraph A.
Correct Answer: C
Passage Reference: By the 1970s the interest in him had died down somewhat.
Why this is correct: The third paragraph says his books came out in 1962 and 1964. By the 1970s, interest in him had died down somewhat. That is about ten years later, and died down somewhat means a little less excitement.
Tips: Two places talk about how popular he was. Choose the one where people cared less, not more, about ten years after his books.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Notice that paragraph A explains his media ideas. It says nothing about how popular he was over time.
- B: The second paragraph ends in 1946 with his job in Toronto, long before his books or his fame.
- D: Look at paragraph D: it says interest grew again in the early 1990s. That is the return of interest, not the drop that came before it.
- E: The fall in interest by the 1970s is the last sentence of Paragraph C, just after the critics.
Correct Answer: A
Passage Reference: "Cool" media, such as the telephone or television, offer less information, so people must take a more active part.
Why this is correct: Paragraph A divides media into hot and cool. Hot media leave the audience little to fill in, and cool media make people take a more active part. So the groups depend on how much the audience must add.
Tips: Look for the two groups of media and what each asks the audience to do.
Why the other options are wrong:
- B: Look at paragraph B: it covers where he was born, studied and taught. His ways of grouping media are not explained there.
- C: The third paragraph names his books and the idea of a global village, but it does not describe hot and cool media.
- D: Notice that paragraph D mentions seminars at the Coach House, but not what he taught in them.
- E: Notice that paragraph A sets out the two groups, hot and cool, and says how much each asks of the audience.
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