<p>Hi, I just had a question on the following passage.
An explanation would be nice, thank you.</p>
<p>Text
Animal communication studies have generally set out
to catalog every sound an animal makes, simultaneously
noting what the animal was doing at the time. Then labels
are attached to the various soundsfood calls, mating
calls, and so on. That very approach, of course, takes as
a given that the purpose of animal signals is communica-
tion, that animals have in place a system that evolved with
no other purpose than to permit the transfer of messages,
a sort of universal telegraph that can carry information
without any special regard to its content, and that our
main challenge is to decode the semantic meaning of
those messages in each species.</p>
<pre><code>One problem that has consistently dogged these efforts
</code></pre>
<p>is that the same "word" is used under highly varying
circumstances. By the same token, different signals,
even different regional "dialects," are often employed
in identical situations that ought to be assigned identical
"meanings" under this methodology.</p>
<pre><code>Perhaps the most universal characteristic of animal
</code></pre>
<p>signals is their adherence to a basic rule of pitch. High-
pitched tones (a dog's whine) convey appeasement,
fear, and an overall nonthreatening state. </p>
<p>The question is:</p>
<p>The use of quotation marks in the second paragraph (lines 13-18) serves to
A) indicate the definitive nature of a theory
B) identify the words of a representative animal behaviorist
C) restate key concepts mentioned earlier in the passage
D) emphasize the importance of a form of communication
E) convey skepticism about the aptness of certain terms</p>
<p>He’s clearly conveying skepticism. Whenever you see those quote questions, you can lean on the side of it being for tone (i.e. skepticism). There not literally words. And, the author goes on in the third paragraph to question their aptness, since they would be thought of in a more general sense rather than thinking of them as just words.</p>
<p>I’ve seen this passage. I also know that he goes on to support it even more. What did you choose?</p>
<p>I chose E at first but switched it to A. Do these quote problems have answers that are similar in every test? Like, quotes questions deal with an author’s skepticism, italicize questions deal with emphasis?</p>
<p>I didn’t really pick up the author’s skepticism, but I see it now. Thanks again.</p>
<p>for some reason, when i see these quote questions, i always notice they convey a sense of skepticism. i usually don’t notice it right away, but if you search the paragraph’s around it and the one it’s in, it gives you the idea. it seems to be the same a lot. they almost always have a sense of tone.</p>
<p>Whether or not the passage makes it clear there is also a pure English grammar explanation for choice E.</p>
<p>Quotation marks that are not meant to indicate a direct quotation serve to suggest that the quoted word (or phrase) is possibly inappropriate or misleading. They are known as “scare quotes”. Such quotes are used to express skepticism, disapproval or derision, as for example: He’s a “clever” boy.</p>
<p>For example refer to the grammar girl web page:</p>