Question

(1) Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories told by pilgrims who are journeying to the shrine of St. Thomas Becket at Canterbury. (2) Such pilgrimages were common in the Middle Ages. (3) They often served to bring people from different backgrounds together. (4) Chaucer's pilgrims, who form such a heterogeneous group, include representative medieval social classes, but they are also presented as real people with real biographies. (5) Chaucer's pilgrims are introduced to the reader in "The Prologue" of The Canterbury Tales. (6) By describing people from all walks of life, the narrator of "The Prologue" paints a picture of fourteenth-century England. (7) The Canterbury Tales displays the entire range of medieval society: the nobility, clergy, learned professions, skilled workers, tradesmen, and laborers. (8) Each pilgrim represents a group. (9) Perhaps that is why the narrator does not refer to them by their names. (10) He instead identifies the pilgrims by their class, like the Knight; or by their occupation, like the Merchant; or by their situation in life, like the Wife of Bath. (11) The first pilgrim the narrator introduces is the Knight. (12) The treatment of this nobleman is a good example of how the narrator combines the general and the particular. (13) He starts by describing the Knight as a "worthy" man. (14) This quality might seem ordinary to a modern reader. (15) One modern translation renders this term as "excellent" and another as "most distinguished." (16) Some of the other qualities the narrator attributes to the Knight, such as chivalry, are also indefinite to a modern reader.(17) But the narrator doesn't stop with these rather generic qualities; he also presents the Knight as an individual. (18) This nobleman becomes much more than a mere fact of social history. (19) The narrator describes the Knight's military career in very specific detail. (20) He mentions all the foreign places where the Knight has fought, both near and far, such as Spain, Egypt, Turkey, and Russia. (21) The narrator also depicts him fighting fiercely in tournaments, which were a knight's dangerous recreation, and in which the Knight "always killed his foe." (22) However, despite all his soldiering, this tough, deadly fighter has remained as "meek as a maiden." (23) In this way, the Knight becomes more than a mere role model for chivalrous behavior. (24) He starts to exist as a real person with a full biography.

Question
Which is the best way to clarify the meaning of sentences 14 and 15 with a subordinating conjunction?
Select one:
a. This quality might seem ordinary to a modern reader, because one modern translation renders this term as "excellent" and another as "most distinguished."
b. This quality might seem ordinary to a modern reader, if one modern translation renders this term as "excellent" and another as "most distinguished."
c. This quality might seem ordinary to a modern reader, although one modern translation renders this term as "excellent" and another as "most distinguished."
d. This quality might seem ordinary to a modern reader, while one modern translation renders this term as "excellent" and another as "most distinguished."

Answer 1

Option (c) is the best choice, as it uses the subordinating conjunction 'although' to clarify the contrast between what may seem ordinary and what is considered excellent or distinguished in modern translations.

Step-by-step explanation:

The best way to clarify the meaning of sentences 14 and 15 in the context provided would be to use a subordinating conjunction that indicates a contrast between what might seem ordinary and what is actually regarded as exceptional. Option (c) is the best choice, as it uses the subordinating conjunction 'although' to clarify the contrast between what may seem ordinary and what is considered excellent or distinguished in modern translations.

Therefore, option (c) "This quality might seem ordinary to a modern reader, although one modern translation renders this term as 'excellent' and another as 'most distinguished'." is the most appropriate choice as it shows the contrast by indicating that despite seeming ordinary, modern translations convey a sense of distinction.