Question

1. Analyze: Which of the following statements best summarizes the central idea of this paragraph? Choose one, then support your answer with reasoning and evidence from the text below.

Put any company of people together with freedom for conversation, and a rapid self-distribution takes place, into sets and pairs. The best are accused of exclusiveness. It would be more true to say, they separate as oil from water, as children from old people, without love or hatred in the matter, each seeking his like; and any interference with the affinities would produce constraint and suffocation. All conversation is a magnetic experiment. I know that my friend can talk eloquently; you know that he cannot articulate a sentence: we have seen him in different company. Assort your party, or invite none. Put Stubbs and Coleridge, Quintilian and Aunt Miriam, into pairs, and you make them all wretched. 'Tis an extempore Sing-Sing built in a parlor. Leave them to seek their own mates, and they will be as merry as sparrows.
1. Only the most articulate people should be invited to parties, even though it risks being exclusive.
2. People should be left alone to find like-minded others in a crowd and arrange themselves into pairs and groups.
3. The best parties are those that include both young and old people, even though they shouldn't intermingle.
4. It's fun to experiment with people at parties by matching them up into strange and random pairings.

Answer 1

The central idea of this paragraph can be summarized as follows: People should be left alone to find like-minded others in a crowd and arrange themselves into pairs and groups.
The paragraph describes how when people are given the freedom to converse, they naturally gravitate towards others who are similar to them. This separation is compared to oil separating from water or children separating from old people. The paragraph argues that this separation happens without any love or hatred, but rather out of the desire to be with people who are like-minded.
The author suggests that any interference with these natural affinities would result in constraint and suffocation. They believe that all conversation is a magnetic experiment, where individuals seek out their own mates and find happiness in doing so. The paragraph concludes by saying that leaving people to seek their own mates will result in them being as merry as sparrows.
Based on this information, the best statement that summarizes the central idea of the paragraph is: "People should be left alone to find like-minded others in a crowd and arrange themselves into pairs and groups."