Question

Shumaker is delighted with Azy's mistake. "Azy's mistakes are more interesting than his right answers," he says. "When he saw the bags, he didn't pick a symbol that meant food, such as 'apple.' He didn't pick a verb, such as 'open.' He picked the one other symbol that meant an object, a container. I think his mistakes show that he's putting these words into categories in his mind. Maybe this can teach us a little bit about how he thinks."

Which statement best explains how the passage supports the author's purpose?
1 .The purpose is to inform; the author is bringing readers' attention to Azy's humanlike behavior.
2 .The purpose is to instruct; the author wants readers to know they themselves can train orangutans to understand language.
3 .The purpose is to persuade; the author is proving that Azy is the smartest orangutan in captivity.
4 .The purpose is to criticize; the author believes that the orangutan experiment has no credibility.

Answer 1

The passage supports the purpose of informing the reader about Azy's humanlike behavior, especially in how Azy categorizes words, suggesting the cognitive process of classification and the use of analogy.

Step-by-step explanation:

The best explanation of how the passage supports the author's purpose is that the author's purpose is to inform. Shumaker's comments about Azy's mistake in selecting symbols demonstrates a keen observation on how Azy categorizes words, which suggests that the orangutan is exhibiting humanlike behavior through language use. The author does not seem to be instructing readers on how to train orangutans or claiming Azy to be the smartest orangutan, nor does the author criticize the credibility of the orangutan experiment. Instead, Shumaker's intrigue over Azy's mistakes supports the purpose of informing readers about the cognitive processes at play, such as classification and potentially the use of analogy to group objects and actions into categories.