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Directions:Read the passages and choose the best answer to each question.PassageHUMANITIES: This passage is adapted from The Nature of Goodness by George Herbert Palmer ©1903My reader may well feel that goodness is alreadythe most familiar of all the thoughts we employ, and yethe may at the same time suspect that there is somethingabout it perplexingly remote. Familiar it certainly is. It(5) attends all our wishes, acts, and projects as nothingelse does, so that no estimate of its influence can beexcessive. When we take a walk, read a book, pick outa dress, visit a friend, attend a concert, cast a vote, enterinto business, we always do it in the hope of attaining(10) something good. Since they are so frequently encoun-tering goodness, both laymen and scholars are apt toassume that it is altogether clear and requires no expla-nation. But the very reverse is the truth. Familiarityobscures. It breeds instincts and not understanding. So(15) woven has goodness become with the very web of lifethat it is hard to disentangle.Consequently, we employ the word or somesynonym of it during pretty much every waking hour ofour lives. Wishing some test of this frequency I turned(20) to Shakespeare, and found that he uses the word “good”fifteen hundred times, and its derivatives “goodness,”“better,” and “best,” about as many more. He couldnot make men and women talk right without incessantreference to this concept.(25) How then do we employ the word “good”? I donot ask how we ought to employ it, but how we actuallydo. For the present, we shall be engaged in a psycho-logical inquiry, not an ethical one. We need to get atthe plain facts of usage. I will therefore ask each reader(30) to look into his own mind, see on what occasions heuses the word, and decide what meaning he attaches toit. Taking up a few of the simplest possible examples,we will through them inquire when and why we callthings good.(35) Here is a knife. When is it a good knife? Why,a knife is made for something, for cutting. Wheneverthe knife slides evenly through a piece of wood, andwith a minimum of effort on the part of him who steersit, when there is no disposition of its edge to bend or(40) break, but only to do its appointed work effectively,then we know that a good knife is at work. Or, lookingat the matter from another point of view, whenever thehandle of the knife neatly fits the hand, following itslines and presenting no obstruction, we may say that(40) in these respects also the knife is a good knife. That is,the knife becomes good through adaptation to its work,an adaptation realized in its cutting of the wood and inits conformity to the hand. Its goodness always hasreference to something outside itself, and is measured(50) by its performance of an external task.Or take something not so palpable. What gloriousweather! When we woke this morning, drew aside ourcurtains and looked out, we said “It is a good day!”And of what qualities of the day were we thinking? We(55) meant, I suppose, that the day was well fitted to itsvarious purposes. Intending to go to our office, we sawthere was nothing to hinder our doing so. We knew thatthe streets would be clear, people in an amiable mood,business and social duties would move forward easily.(60) In fact, whatever our plans, in calling the day a goodday we meant to speak of it as excellently adapted tosomething outside itself.A usage more curious still occurs in the nursery.There when the question is asked, “Has the baby(65) been good?” one discovers by degrees that the anx-ious mother wishes to know if it has been crying orquiet. This elementary life has as yet not acquiredpositive standards of measurement. It must be reckonedin negative terms, a failure to disturb.(70) This signification of goodness is lucidly put in theremark of Shakespeare’s Portia, “Nothing I see is goodwithout respect.” We must have some respect or end inmind in reference to which the goodness is compared.Good always means good “for.” That little preposition(75) cannot be absent from our minds, though it need notaudibly be uttered. The knife is good for cutting and theday for business. Omit the “for,” and goodness ceases.To be bad or good implies external reference. To begood means to be an efficient means; and the end to(80) be furthered must be already in mind before the wordgood is spoken.In short, whenever we inspect the usage of theword good, we always find behind it an implication ofsome end to be reached. Good is a relative term. The(85) good is the useful, and it must be useful for something.Silent or spoken, it is the mental reference to some-thing else which puts all meaning into it. So Hamletsays, “There’s nothing either good or bad, but thinkingmakes it so.” No new quality is added to an object or(90) act when it becomes good.Q.The author of the passage asserts that the weather and a knife are similar because:a)both are defined as good if and only if they can be helpful to many people for a variety of reasons.b)neither can be defined as good unless they remain consistent and unchanged in the wake of fluctuating circumstances.c)both are defined as good when their characteristics serve appropriate external circumstances.d)neither one can be good unless a universal definition of the concept is accepted.Correct answer is option 'C'. Can you explain this answer? for ACT 2025 is part of ACT preparation. The Question and answers have been prepared according to the ACT exam syllabus. Information about Directions:Read the passages and choose the best answer to each question.PassageHUMANITIES: This passage is adapted from The Nature of Goodness by George Herbert Palmer ©1903My reader may well feel that goodness is alreadythe most familiar of all the thoughts we employ, and yethe may at the same time suspect that there is somethingabout it perplexingly remote. Familiar it certainly is. It(5) attends all our wishes, acts, and projects as nothingelse does, so that no estimate of its influence can beexcessive. When we take a walk, read a book, pick outa dress, visit a friend, attend a concert, cast a vote, enterinto business, we always do it in the hope of attaining(10) something good. Since they are so frequently encoun-tering goodness, both laymen and scholars are apt toassume that it is altogether clear and requires no expla-nation. But the very reverse is the truth. Familiarityobscures. It breeds instincts and not understanding. So(15) woven has goodness become with the very web of lifethat it is hard to disentangle.Consequently, we employ the word or somesynonym of it during pretty much every waking hour ofour lives. Wishing some test of this frequency I turned(20) to Shakespeare, and found that he uses the word “good”fifteen hundred times, and its derivatives “goodness,”“better,” and “best,” about as many more. He couldnot make men and women talk right without incessantreference to this concept.(25) How then do we employ the word “good”? I donot ask how we ought to employ it, but how we actuallydo. For the present, we shall be engaged in a psycho-logical inquiry, not an ethical one. We need to get atthe plain facts of usage. I will therefore ask each reader(30) to look into his own mind, see on what occasions heuses the word, and decide what meaning he attaches toit. Taking up a few of the simplest possible examples,we will through them inquire when and why we callthings good.(35) Here is a knife. When is it a good knife? Why,a knife is made for something, for cutting. Wheneverthe knife slides evenly through a piece of wood, andwith a minimum of effort on the part of him who steersit, when there is no disposition of its edge to bend or(40) break, but only to do its appointed work effectively,then we know that a good knife is at work. Or, lookingat the matter from another point of view, whenever thehandle of the knife neatly fits the hand, following itslines and presenting no obstruction, we may say that(40) in these respects also the knife is a good knife. That is,the knife becomes good through adaptation to its work,an adaptation realized in its cutting of the wood and inits conformity to the hand. Its goodness always hasreference to something outside itself, and is measured(50) by its performance of an external task.Or take something not so palpable. What gloriousweather! When we woke this morning, drew aside ourcurtains and looked out, we said “It is a good day!”And of what qualities of the day were we thinking? We(55) meant, I suppose, that the day was well fitted to itsvarious purposes. Intending to go to our office, we sawthere was nothing to hinder our doing so. We knew thatthe streets would be clear, people in an amiable mood,business and social duties would move forward easily.(60) In fact, whatever our plans, in calling the day a goodday we meant to speak of it as excellently adapted tosomething outside itself.A usage more curious still occurs in the nursery.There when the question is asked, “Has the baby(65) been good?” one discovers by degrees that the anx-ious mother wishes to know if it has been crying orquiet. This elementary life has as yet not acquiredpositive standards of measurement. It must be reckonedin negative terms, a failure to disturb.(70) This signification of goodness is lucidly put in theremark of Shakespeare’s Portia, “Nothing I see is goodwithout respect.” We must have some respect or end inmind in reference to which the goodness is compared.Good always means good “for.” That little preposition(75) cannot be absent from our minds, though it need notaudibly be uttered. The knife is good for cutting and theday for business. Omit the “for,” and goodness ceases.To be bad or good implies external reference. To begood means to be an efficient means; and the end to(80) be furthered must be already in mind before the wordgood is spoken.In short, whenever we inspect the usage of theword good, we always find behind it an implication ofsome end to be reached. Good is a relative term. The(85) good is the useful, and it must be useful for something.Silent or spoken, it is the mental reference to some-thing else which puts all meaning into it. So Hamletsays, “There’s nothing either good or bad, but thinkingmakes it so.” No new quality is added to an object or(90) act when it becomes good.Q.The author of the passage asserts that the weather and a knife are similar because:a)both are defined as good if and only if they can be helpful to many people for a variety of reasons.b)neither can be defined as good unless they remain consistent and unchanged in the wake of fluctuating circumstances.c)both are defined as good when their characteristics serve appropriate external circumstances.d)neither one can be good unless a universal definition of the concept is accepted.Correct answer is option 'C'. Can you explain this answer? covers all topics & solutions for ACT 2025 Exam. Find important definitions, questions, meanings, examples, exercises and tests below for Directions:Read the passages and choose the best answer to each question.PassageHUMANITIES: This passage is adapted from The Nature of Goodness by George Herbert Palmer ©1903My reader may well feel that goodness is alreadythe most familiar of all the thoughts we employ, and yethe may at the same time suspect that there is somethingabout it perplexingly remote. Familiar it certainly is. It(5) attends all our wishes, acts, and projects as nothingelse does, so that no estimate of its influence can beexcessive. When we take a walk, read a book, pick outa dress, visit a friend, attend a concert, cast a vote, enterinto business, we always do it in the hope of attaining(10) something good. Since they are so frequently encoun-tering goodness, both laymen and scholars are apt toassume that it is altogether clear and requires no expla-nation. But the very reverse is the truth. Familiarityobscures. It breeds instincts and not understanding. So(15) woven has goodness become with the very web of lifethat it is hard to disentangle.Consequently, we employ the word or somesynonym of it during pretty much every waking hour ofour lives. Wishing some test of this frequency I turned(20) to Shakespeare, and found that he uses the word “good”fifteen hundred times, and its derivatives “goodness,”“better,” and “best,” about as many more. He couldnot make men and women talk right without incessantreference to this concept.(25) How then do we employ the word “good”? I donot ask how we ought to employ it, but how we actuallydo. For the present, we shall be engaged in a psycho-logical inquiry, not an ethical one. We need to get atthe plain facts of usage. I will therefore ask each reader(30) to look into his own mind, see on what occasions heuses the word, and decide what meaning he attaches toit. Taking up a few of the simplest possible examples,we will through them inquire when and why we callthings good.(35) Here is a knife. When is it a good knife? Why,a knife is made for something, for cutting. Wheneverthe knife slides evenly through a piece of wood, andwith a minimum of effort on the part of him who steersit, when there is no disposition of its edge to bend or(40) break, but only to do its appointed work effectively,then we know that a good knife is at work. Or, lookingat the matter from another point of view, whenever thehandle of the knife neatly fits the hand, following itslines and presenting no obstruction, we may say that(40) in these respects also the knife is a good knife. That is,the knife becomes good through adaptation to its work,an adaptation realized in its cutting of the wood and inits conformity to the hand. Its goodness always hasreference to something outside itself, and is measured(50) by its performance of an external task.Or take something not so palpable. What gloriousweather! When we woke this morning, drew aside ourcurtains and looked out, we said “It is a good day!”And of what qualities of the day were we thinking? We(55) meant, I suppose, that the day was well fitted to itsvarious purposes. Intending to go to our office, we sawthere was nothing to hinder our doing so. We knew thatthe streets would be clear, people in an amiable mood,business and social duties would move forward easily.(60) In fact, whatever our plans, in calling the day a goodday we meant to speak of it as excellently adapted tosomething outside itself.A usage more curious still occurs in the nursery.There when the question is asked, “Has the baby(65) been good?” one discovers by degrees that the anx-ious mother wishes to know if it has been crying orquiet. This elementary life has as yet not acquiredpositive standards of measurement. It must be reckonedin negative terms, a failure to disturb.(70) This signification of goodness is lucidly put in theremark of Shakespeare’s Portia, “Nothing I see is goodwithout respect.” We must have some respect or end inmind in reference to which the goodness is compared.Good always means good “for.” That little preposition(75) cannot be absent from our minds, though it need notaudibly be uttered. The knife is good for cutting and theday for business. Omit the “for,” and goodness ceases.To be bad or good implies external reference. To begood means to be an efficient means; and the end to(80) be furthered must be already in mind before the wordgood is spoken.In short, whenever we inspect the usage of theword good, we always find behind it an implication ofsome end to be reached. Good is a relative term. The(85) good is the useful, and it must be useful for something.Silent or spoken, it is the mental reference to some-thing else which puts all meaning into it. So Hamletsays, “There’s nothing either good or bad, but thinkingmakes it so.” No new quality is added to an object or(90) act when it becomes good.Q.The author of the passage asserts that the weather and a knife are similar because:a)both are defined as good if and only if they can be helpful to many people for a variety of reasons.b)neither can be defined as good unless they remain consistent and unchanged in the wake of fluctuating circumstances.c)both are defined as good when their characteristics serve appropriate external circumstances.d)neither one can be good unless a universal definition of the concept is accepted.Correct answer is option 'C'. Can you explain this answer?.

Solutions for Directions:Read the passages and choose the best answer to each question.PassageHUMANITIES: This passage is adapted from The Nature of Goodness by George Herbert Palmer ©1903My reader may well feel that goodness is alreadythe most familiar of all the thoughts we employ, and yethe may at the same time suspect that there is somethingabout it perplexingly remote. Familiar it certainly is. It(5) attends all our wishes, acts, and projects as nothingelse does, so that no estimate of its influence can beexcessive. When we take a walk, read a book, pick outa dress, visit a friend, attend a concert, cast a vote, enterinto business, we always do it in the hope of attaining(10) something good. Since they are so frequently encoun-tering goodness, both laymen and scholars are apt toassume that it is altogether clear and requires no expla-nation. But the very reverse is the truth. Familiarityobscures. It breeds instincts and not understanding. So(15) woven has goodness become with the very web of lifethat it is hard to disentangle.Consequently, we employ the word or somesynonym of it during pretty much every waking hour ofour lives. Wishing some test of this frequency I turned(20) to Shakespeare, and found that he uses the word “good”fifteen hundred times, and its derivatives “goodness,”“better,” and “best,” about as many more. He couldnot make men and women talk right without incessantreference to this concept.(25) How then do we employ the word “good”? I donot ask how we ought to employ it, but how we actuallydo. For the present, we shall be engaged in a psycho-logical inquiry, not an ethical one. We need to get atthe plain facts of usage. I will therefore ask each reader(30) to look into his own mind, see on what occasions heuses the word, and decide what meaning he attaches toit. Taking up a few of the simplest possible examples,we will through them inquire when and why we callthings good.(35) Here is a knife. When is it a good knife? Why,a knife is made for something, for cutting. Wheneverthe knife slides evenly through a piece of wood, andwith a minimum of effort on the part of him who steersit, when there is no disposition of its edge to bend or(40) break, but only to do its appointed work effectively,then we know that a good knife is at work. Or, lookingat the matter from another point of view, whenever thehandle of the knife neatly fits the hand, following itslines and presenting no obstruction, we may say that(40) in these respects also the knife is a good knife. That is,the knife becomes good through adaptation to its work,an adaptation realized in its cutting of the wood and inits conformity to the hand. Its goodness always hasreference to something outside itself, and is measured(50) by its performance of an external task.Or take something not so palpable. What gloriousweather! When we woke this morning, drew aside ourcurtains and looked out, we said “It is a good day!”And of what qualities of the day were we thinking? We(55) meant, I suppose, that the day was well fitted to itsvarious purposes. Intending to go to our office, we sawthere was nothing to hinder our doing so. We knew thatthe streets would be clear, people in an amiable mood,business and social duties would move forward easily.(60) In fact, whatever our plans, in calling the day a goodday we meant to speak of it as excellently adapted tosomething outside itself.A usage more curious still occurs in the nursery.There when the question is asked, “Has the baby(65) been good?” one discovers by degrees that the anx-ious mother wishes to know if it has been crying orquiet. This elementary life has as yet not acquiredpositive standards of measurement. It must be reckonedin negative terms, a failure to disturb.(70) This signification of goodness is lucidly put in theremark of Shakespeare’s Portia, “Nothing I see is goodwithout respect.” We must have some respect or end inmind in reference to which the goodness is compared.Good always means good “for.” That little preposition(75) cannot be absent from our minds, though it need notaudibly be uttered. The knife is good for cutting and theday for business. Omit the “for,” and goodness ceases.To be bad or good implies external reference. To begood means to be an efficient means; and the end to(80) be furthered must be already in mind before the wordgood is spoken.In short, whenever we inspect the usage of theword good, we always find behind it an implication ofsome end to be reached. Good is a relative term. The(85) good is the useful, and it must be useful for something.Silent or spoken, it is the mental reference to some-thing else which puts all meaning into it. So Hamletsays, “There’s nothing either good or bad, but thinkingmakes it so.” No new quality is added to an object or(90) act when it becomes good.Q.The author of the passage asserts that the weather and a knife are similar because:a)both are defined as good if and only if they can be helpful to many people for a variety of reasons.b)neither can be defined as good unless they remain consistent and unchanged in the wake of fluctuating circumstances.c)both are defined as good when their characteristics serve appropriate external circumstances.d)neither one can be good unless a universal definition of the concept is accepted.Correct answer is option 'C'. Can you explain this answer? in English & in Hindi are available as part of our courses for ACT. Download more important topics, notes, lectures and mock test series for ACT Exam by signing up for free.

Here you can find the meaning of Directions:Read the passages and choose the best answer to each question.PassageHUMANITIES: This passage is adapted from The Nature of Goodness by George Herbert Palmer ©1903My reader may well feel that goodness is alreadythe most familiar of all the thoughts we employ, and yethe may at the same time suspect that there is somethingabout it perplexingly remote. Familiar it certainly is. It(5) attends all our wishes, acts, and projects as nothingelse does, so that no estimate of its influence can beexcessive. When we take a walk, read a book, pick outa dress, visit a friend, attend a concert, cast a vote, enterinto business, we always do it in the hope of attaining(10) something good. Since they are so frequently encoun-tering goodness, both laymen and scholars are apt toassume that it is altogether clear and requires no expla-nation. But the very reverse is the truth. Familiarityobscures. It breeds instincts and not understanding. So(15) woven has goodness become with the very web of lifethat it is hard to disentangle.Consequently, we employ the word or somesynonym of it during pretty much every waking hour ofour lives. Wishing some test of this frequency I turned(20) to Shakespeare, and found that he uses the word “good”fifteen hundred times, and its derivatives “goodness,”“better,” and “best,” about as many more. He couldnot make men and women talk right without incessantreference to this concept.(25) How then do we employ the word “good”? I donot ask how we ought to employ it, but how we actuallydo. For the present, we shall be engaged in a psycho-logical inquiry, not an ethical one. We need to get atthe plain facts of usage. I will therefore ask each reader(30) to look into his own mind, see on what occasions heuses the word, and decide what meaning he attaches toit. Taking up a few of the simplest possible examples,we will through them inquire when and why we callthings good.(35) Here is a knife. When is it a good knife? Why,a knife is made for something, for cutting. Wheneverthe knife slides evenly through a piece of wood, andwith a minimum of effort on the part of him who steersit, when there is no disposition of its edge to bend or(40) break, but only to do its appointed work effectively,then we know that a good knife is at work. Or, lookingat the matter from another point of view, whenever thehandle of the knife neatly fits the hand, following itslines and presenting no obstruction, we may say that(40) in these respects also the knife is a good knife. That is,the knife becomes good through adaptation to its work,an adaptation realized in its cutting of the wood and inits conformity to the hand. Its goodness always hasreference to something outside itself, and is measured(50) by its performance of an external task.Or take something not so palpable. What gloriousweather! When we woke this morning, drew aside ourcurtains and looked out, we said “It is a good day!”And of what qualities of the day were we thinking? We(55) meant, I suppose, that the day was well fitted to itsvarious purposes. Intending to go to our office, we sawthere was nothing to hinder our doing so. We knew thatthe streets would be clear, people in an amiable mood,business and social duties would move forward easily.(60) In fact, whatever our plans, in calling the day a goodday we meant to speak of it as excellently adapted tosomething outside itself.A usage more curious still occurs in the nursery.There when the question is asked, “Has the baby(65) been good?” one discovers by degrees that the anx-ious mother wishes to know if it has been crying orquiet. This elementary life has as yet not acquiredpositive standards of measurement. It must be reckonedin negative terms, a failure to disturb.(70) This signification of goodness is lucidly put in theremark of Shakespeare’s Portia, “Nothing I see is goodwithout respect.” We must have some respect or end inmind in reference to which the goodness is compared.Good always means good “for.” That little preposition(75) cannot be absent from our minds, though it need notaudibly be uttered. The knife is good for cutting and theday for business. Omit the “for,” and goodness ceases.To be bad or good implies external reference. To begood means to be an efficient means; and the end to(80) be furthered must be already in mind before the wordgood is spoken.In short, whenever we inspect the usage of theword good, we always find behind it an implication ofsome end to be reached. Good is a relative term. The(85) good is the useful, and it must be useful for something.Silent or spoken, it is the mental reference to some-thing else which puts all meaning into it. So Hamletsays, “There’s nothing either good or bad, but thinkingmakes it so.” No new quality is added to an object or(90) act when it becomes good.Q.The author of the passage asserts that the weather and a knife are similar because:a)both are defined as good if and only if they can be helpful to many people for a variety of reasons.b)neither can be defined as good unless they remain consistent and unchanged in the wake of fluctuating circumstances.c)both are defined as good when their characteristics serve appropriate external circumstances.d)neither one can be good unless a universal definition of the concept is accepted.Correct answer is option 'C'. Can you explain this answer? defined & explained in the simplest way possible. Besides giving the explanation of Directions:Read the passages and choose the best answer to each question.PassageHUMANITIES: This passage is adapted from The Nature of Goodness by George Herbert Palmer ©1903My reader may well feel that goodness is alreadythe most familiar of all the thoughts we employ, and yethe may at the same time suspect that there is somethingabout it perplexingly remote. Familiar it certainly is. It(5) attends all our wishes, acts, and projects as nothingelse does, so that no estimate of its influence can beexcessive. When we take a walk, read a book, pick outa dress, visit a friend, attend a concert, cast a vote, enterinto business, we always do it in the hope of attaining(10) something good. Since they are so frequently encoun-tering goodness, both laymen and scholars are apt toassume that it is altogether clear and requires no expla-nation. But the very reverse is the truth. Familiarityobscures. It breeds instincts and not understanding. So(15) woven has goodness become with the very web of lifethat it is hard to disentangle.Consequently, we employ the word or somesynonym of it during pretty much every waking hour ofour lives. Wishing some test of this frequency I turned(20) to Shakespeare, and found that he uses the word “good”fifteen hundred times, and its derivatives “goodness,”“better,” and “best,” about as many more. He couldnot make men and women talk right without incessantreference to this concept.(25) How then do we employ the word “good”? I donot ask how we ought to employ it, but how we actuallydo. For the present, we shall be engaged in a psycho-logical inquiry, not an ethical one. We need to get atthe plain facts of usage. I will therefore ask each reader(30) to look into his own mind, see on what occasions heuses the word, and decide what meaning he attaches toit. Taking up a few of the simplest possible examples,we will through them inquire when and why we callthings good.(35) Here is a knife. When is it a good knife? Why,a knife is made for something, for cutting. Wheneverthe knife slides evenly through a piece of wood, andwith a minimum of effort on the part of him who steersit, when there is no disposition of its edge to bend or(40) break, but only to do its appointed work effectively,then we know that a good knife is at work. Or, lookingat the matter from another point of view, whenever thehandle of the knife neatly fits the hand, following itslines and presenting no obstruction, we may say that(40) in these respects also the knife is a good knife. That is,the knife becomes good through adaptation to its work,an adaptation realized in its cutting of the wood and inits conformity to the hand. Its goodness always hasreference to something outside itself, and is measured(50) by its performance of an external task.Or take something not so palpable. What gloriousweather! When we woke this morning, drew aside ourcurtains and looked out, we said “It is a good day!”And of what qualities of the day were we thinking? We(55) meant, I suppose, that the day was well fitted to itsvarious purposes. Intending to go to our office, we sawthere was nothing to hinder our doing so. We knew thatthe streets would be clear, people in an amiable mood,business and social duties would move forward easily.(60) In fact, whatever our plans, in calling the day a goodday we meant to speak of it as excellently adapted tosomething outside itself.A usage more curious still occurs in the nursery.There when the question is asked, “Has the baby(65) been good?” one discovers by degrees that the anx-ious mother wishes to know if it has been crying orquiet. This elementary life has as yet not acquiredpositive standards of measurement. It must be reckonedin negative terms, a failure to disturb.(70) This signification of goodness is lucidly put in theremark of Shakespeare’s Portia, “Nothing I see is goodwithout respect.” We must have some respect or end inmind in reference to which the goodness is compared.Good always means good “for.” That little preposition(75) cannot be absent from our minds, though it need notaudibly be uttered. The knife is good for cutting and theday for business. Omit the “for,” and goodness ceases.To be bad or good implies external reference. To begood means to be an efficient means; and the end to(80) be furthered must be already in mind before the wordgood is spoken.In short, whenever we inspect the usage of theword good, we always find behind it an implication ofsome end to be reached. Good is a relative term. The(85) good is the useful, and it must be useful for something.Silent or spoken, it is the mental reference to some-thing else which puts all meaning into it. So Hamletsays, “There’s nothing either good or bad, but thinkingmakes it so.” No new quality is added to an object or(90) act when it becomes good.Q.The author of the passage asserts that the weather and a knife are similar because:a)both are defined as good if and only if they can be helpful to many people for a variety of reasons.b)neither can be defined as good unless they remain consistent and unchanged in the wake of fluctuating circumstances.c)both are defined as good when their characteristics serve appropriate external circumstances.d)neither one can be good unless a universal definition of the concept is accepted.Correct answer is option 'C'. Can you explain this answer?, a detailed solution for Directions:Read the passages and choose the best answer to each question.PassageHUMANITIES: This passage is adapted from The Nature of Goodness by George Herbert Palmer ©1903My reader may well feel that goodness is alreadythe most familiar of all the thoughts we employ, and yethe may at the same time suspect that there is somethingabout it perplexingly remote. Familiar it certainly is. It(5) attends all our wishes, acts, and projects as nothingelse does, so that no estimate of its influence can beexcessive. When we take a walk, read a book, pick outa dress, visit a friend, attend a concert, cast a vote, enterinto business, we always do it in the hope of attaining(10) something good. Since they are so frequently encoun-tering goodness, both laymen and scholars are apt toassume that it is altogether clear and requires no expla-nation. But the very reverse is the truth. Familiarityobscures. It breeds instincts and not understanding. So(15) woven has goodness become with the very web of lifethat it is hard to disentangle.Consequently, we employ the word or somesynonym of it during pretty much every waking hour ofour lives. Wishing some test of this frequency I turned(20) to Shakespeare, and found that he uses the word “good”fifteen hundred times, and its derivatives “goodness,”“better,” and “best,” about as many more. He couldnot make men and women talk right without incessantreference to this concept.(25) How then do we employ the word “good”? I donot ask how we ought to employ it, but how we actuallydo. For the present, we shall be engaged in a psycho-logical inquiry, not an ethical one. We need to get atthe plain facts of usage. I will therefore ask each reader(30) to look into his own mind, see on what occasions heuses the word, and decide what meaning he attaches toit. Taking up a few of the simplest possible examples,we will through them inquire when and why we callthings good.(35) Here is a knife. When is it a good knife? Why,a knife is made for something, for cutting. Wheneverthe knife slides evenly through a piece of wood, andwith a minimum of effort on the part of him who steersit, when there is no disposition of its edge to bend or(40) break, but only to do its appointed work effectively,then we know that a good knife is at work. Or, lookingat the matter from another point of view, whenever thehandle of the knife neatly fits the hand, following itslines and presenting no obstruction, we may say that(40) in these respects also the knife is a good knife. That is,the knife becomes good through adaptation to its work,an adaptation realized in its cutting of the wood and inits conformity to the hand. Its goodness always hasreference to something outside itself, and is measured(50) by its performance of an external task.Or take something not so palpable. What gloriousweather! When we woke this morning, drew aside ourcurtains and looked out, we said “It is a good day!”And of what qualities of the day were we thinking? We(55) meant, I suppose, that the day was well fitted to itsvarious purposes. Intending to go to our office, we sawthere was nothing to hinder our doing so. We knew thatthe streets would be clear, people in an amiable mood,business and social duties would move forward easily.(60) In fact, whatever our plans, in calling the day a goodday we meant to speak of it as excellently adapted tosomething outside itself.A usage more curious still occurs in the nursery.There when the question is asked, “Has the baby(65) been good?” one discovers by degrees that the anx-ious mother wishes to know if it has been crying orquiet. This elementary life has as yet not acquiredpositive standards of measurement. It must be reckonedin negative terms, a failure to disturb.(70) This signification of goodness is lucidly put in theremark of Shakespeare’s Portia, “Nothing I see is goodwithout respect.” We must have some respect or end inmind in reference to which the goodness is compared.Good always means good “for.” That little preposition(75) cannot be absent from our minds, though it need notaudibly be uttered. The knife is good for cutting and theday for business. Omit the “for,” and goodness ceases.To be bad or good implies external reference. To begood means to be an efficient means; and the end to(80) be furthered must be already in mind before the wordgood is spoken.In short, whenever we inspect the usage of theword good, we always find behind it an implication ofsome end to be reached. Good is a relative term. The(85) good is the useful, and it must be useful for something.Silent or spoken, it is the mental reference to some-thing else which puts all meaning into it. So Hamletsays, “There’s nothing either good or bad, but thinkingmakes it so.” No new quality is added to an object or(90) act when it becomes good.Q.The author of the passage asserts that the weather and a knife are similar because:a)both are defined as good if and only if they can be helpful to many people for a variety of reasons.b)neither can be defined as good unless they remain consistent and unchanged in the wake of fluctuating circumstances.c)both are defined as good when their characteristics serve appropriate external circumstances.d)neither one can be good unless a universal definition of the concept is accepted.Correct answer is option 'C'. Can you explain this answer? has been provided alongside types of Directions:Read the passages and choose the best answer to each question.PassageHUMANITIES: This passage is adapted from The Nature of Goodness by George Herbert Palmer ©1903My reader may well feel that goodness is alreadythe most familiar of all the thoughts we employ, and yethe may at the same time suspect that there is somethingabout it perplexingly remote. Familiar it certainly is. It(5) attends all our wishes, acts, and projects as nothingelse does, so that no estimate of its influence can beexcessive. When we take a walk, read a book, pick outa dress, visit a friend, attend a concert, cast a vote, enterinto business, we always do it in the hope of attaining(10) something good. Since they are so frequently encoun-tering goodness, both laymen and scholars are apt toassume that it is altogether clear and requires no expla-nation. But the very reverse is the truth. Familiarityobscures. It breeds instincts and not understanding. So(15) woven has goodness become with the very web of lifethat it is hard to disentangle.Consequently, we employ the word or somesynonym of it during pretty much every waking hour ofour lives. Wishing some test of this frequency I turned(20) to Shakespeare, and found that he uses the word “good”fifteen hundred times, and its derivatives “goodness,”“better,” and “best,” about as many more. He couldnot make men and women talk right without incessantreference to this concept.(25) How then do we employ the word “good”? I donot ask how we ought to employ it, but how we actuallydo. For the present, we shall be engaged in a psycho-logical inquiry, not an ethical one. We need to get atthe plain facts of usage. I will therefore ask each reader(30) to look into his own mind, see on what occasions heuses the word, and decide what meaning he attaches toit. Taking up a few of the simplest possible examples,we will through them inquire when and why we callthings good.(35) Here is a knife. When is it a good knife? Why,a knife is made for something, for cutting. Wheneverthe knife slides evenly through a piece of wood, andwith a minimum of effort on the part of him who steersit, when there is no disposition of its edge to bend or(40) break, but only to do its appointed work effectively,then we know that a good knife is at work. Or, lookingat the matter from another point of view, whenever thehandle of the knife neatly fits the hand, following itslines and presenting no obstruction, we may say that(40) in these respects also the knife is a good knife. That is,the knife becomes good through adaptation to its work,an adaptation realized in its cutting of the wood and inits conformity to the hand. Its goodness always hasreference to something outside itself, and is measured(50) by its performance of an external task.Or take something not so palpable. What gloriousweather! When we woke this morning, drew aside ourcurtains and looked out, we said “It is a good day!”And of what qualities of the day were we thinking? We(55) meant, I suppose, that the day was well fitted to itsvarious purposes. Intending to go to our office, we sawthere was nothing to hinder our doing so. We knew thatthe streets would be clear, people in an amiable mood,business and social duties would move forward easily.(60) In fact, whatever our plans, in calling the day a goodday we meant to speak of it as excellently adapted tosomething outside itself.A usage more curious still occurs in the nursery.There when the question is asked, “Has the baby(65) been good?” one discovers by degrees that the anx-ious mother wishes to know if it has been crying orquiet. This elementary life has as yet not acquiredpositive standards of measurement. It must be reckonedin negative terms, a failure to disturb.(70) This signification of goodness is lucidly put in theremark of Shakespeare’s Portia, “Nothing I see is goodwithout respect.” We must have some respect or end inmind in reference to which the goodness is compared.Good always means good “for.” That little preposition(75) cannot be absent from our minds, though it need notaudibly be uttered. The knife is good for cutting and theday for business. Omit the “for,” and goodness ceases.To be bad or good implies external reference. To begood means to be an efficient means; and the end to(80) be furthered must be already in mind before the wordgood is spoken.In short, whenever we inspect the usage of theword good, we always find behind it an implication ofsome end to be reached. Good is a relative term. The(85) good is the useful, and it must be useful for something.Silent or spoken, it is the mental reference to some-thing else which puts all meaning into it. So Hamletsays, “There’s nothing either good or bad, but thinkingmakes it so.” No new quality is added to an object or(90) act when it becomes good.Q.The author of the passage asserts that the weather and a knife are similar because:a)both are defined as good if and only if they can be helpful to many people for a variety of reasons.b)neither can be defined as good unless they remain consistent and unchanged in the wake of fluctuating circumstances.c)both are defined as good when their characteristics serve appropriate external circumstances.d)neither one can be good unless a universal definition of the concept is accepted.Correct answer is option 'C'. Can you explain this answer? theory, EduRev gives you an ample number of questions to practice Directions:Read the passages and choose the best answer to each question.PassageHUMANITIES: This passage is adapted from The Nature of Goodness by George Herbert Palmer ©1903My reader may well feel that goodness is alreadythe most familiar of all the thoughts we employ, and yethe may at the same time suspect that there is somethingabout it perplexingly remote. Familiar it certainly is. It(5) attends all our wishes, acts, and projects as nothingelse does, so that no estimate of its influence can beexcessive. When we take a walk, read a book, pick outa dress, visit a friend, attend a concert, cast a vote, enterinto business, we always do it in the hope of attaining(10) something good. Since they are so frequently encoun-tering goodness, both laymen and scholars are apt toassume that it is altogether clear and requires no expla-nation. But the very reverse is the truth. Familiarityobscures. It breeds instincts and not understanding. So(15) woven has goodness become with the very web of lifethat it is hard to disentangle.Consequently, we employ the word or somesynonym of it during pretty much every waking hour ofour lives. Wishing some test of this frequency I turned(20) to Shakespeare, and found that he uses the word “good”fifteen hundred times, and its derivatives “goodness,”“better,” and “best,” about as many more. He couldnot make men and women talk right without incessantreference to this concept.(25) How then do we employ the word “good”? I donot ask how we ought to employ it, but how we actuallydo. For the present, we shall be engaged in a psycho-logical inquiry, not an ethical one. We need to get atthe plain facts of usage. I will therefore ask each reader(30) to look into his own mind, see on what occasions heuses the word, and decide what meaning he attaches toit. Taking up a few of the simplest possible examples,we will through them inquire when and why we callthings good.(35) Here is a knife. When is it a good knife? Why,a knife is made for something, for cutting. Wheneverthe knife slides evenly through a piece of wood, andwith a minimum of effort on the part of him who steersit, when there is no disposition of its edge to bend or(40) break, but only to do its appointed work effectively,then we know that a good knife is at work. Or, lookingat the matter from another point of view, whenever thehandle of the knife neatly fits the hand, following itslines and presenting no obstruction, we may say that(40) in these respects also the knife is a good knife. That is,the knife becomes good through adaptation to its work,an adaptation realized in its cutting of the wood and inits conformity to the hand. Its goodness always hasreference to something outside itself, and is measured(50) by its performance of an external task.Or take something not so palpable. What gloriousweather! When we woke this morning, drew aside ourcurtains and looked out, we said “It is a good day!”And of what qualities of the day were we thinking? We(55) meant, I suppose, that the day was well fitted to itsvarious purposes. Intending to go to our office, we sawthere was nothing to hinder our doing so. We knew thatthe streets would be clear, people in an amiable mood,business and social duties would move forward easily.(60) In fact, whatever our plans, in calling the day a goodday we meant to speak of it as excellently adapted tosomething outside itself.A usage more curious still occurs in the nursery.There when the question is asked, “Has the baby(65) been good?” one discovers by degrees that the anx-ious mother wishes to know if it has been crying orquiet. This elementary life has as yet not acquiredpositive standards of measurement. It must be reckonedin negative terms, a failure to disturb.(70) This signification of goodness is lucidly put in theremark of Shakespeare’s Portia, “Nothing I see is goodwithout respect.” We must have some respect or end inmind in reference to which the goodness is compared.Good always means good “for.” That little preposition(75) cannot be absent from our minds, though it need notaudibly be uttered. The knife is good for cutting and theday for business. Omit the “for,” and goodness ceases.To be bad or good implies external reference. To begood means to be an efficient means; and the end to(80) be furthered must be already in mind before the wordgood is spoken.In short, whenever we inspect the usage of theword good, we always find behind it an implication ofsome end to be reached. Good is a relative term. The(85) good is the useful, and it must be useful for something.Silent or spoken, it is the mental reference to some-thing else which puts all meaning into it. So Hamletsays, “There’s nothing either good or bad, but thinkingmakes it so.” No new quality is added to an object or(90) act when it becomes good.Q.The author of the passage asserts that the weather and a knife are similar because:a)both are defined as good if and only if they can be helpful to many people for a variety of reasons.b)neither can be defined as good unless they remain consistent and unchanged in the wake of fluctuating circumstances.c)both are defined as good when their characteristics serve appropriate external circumstances.d)neither one can be good unless a universal definition of the concept is accepted.Correct answer is option 'C'. Can you explain this answer? tests, examples and also practice ACT tests.