Question

. . . one both anticipates and fears the kind of swooning, almost erotic pleasure that a good passage in a good book gives; as something nameless happens. I don't know what it is that happens: is it the pleasure of mind meeting mind, untramelled by flesh? Of the inchoation of our experience suddenly given shape and form? Why yes, we cry: yes, yes, that is how it is!

Context helps readers guess that "inchoation" in this passage describes experiences that are _____ and _____. Select all that apply.

universal
incoherent
insincere
preliminary

Answer 1

I would say preliminary and incoherent.

Step-by-step explanation:

Since the objective here is to guess the meaning of inchoation from the context, we should take in consideration that the author gives us a poetic tone for the pleasure of good reading, describing this feeling as something nameless, inexplicable, incoherent.

And the preliminary aspect is deducted from the beginning when he/she begins 'one both anticipates and fears...' and later at the very sentence where ' inchoation' appears - the inchoation of our experience that is suddenly given shape and form. Since it suddenly takes shape, this feeling he/she describes is early, initial, preliminary!

Answer 2

Based on the given context above, we can say that the word "inchoation" in this passage can be described as those experiences that are PRELIMINARY and UNIVERSAL. Inchoation literally means beginning or origin. The answers to this would be the first and last options. Hope this helps.