Instructions

Analyse the following passage and provide an appropriate answer for the questions that follow.

Fashion is different from custom, or rather is a particular species of it. That is not the fashion which everybody wears, but which those wear who are of a high rank, or character. The graceful, the easy, and the commanding manners of the great, joined to the usual richness and magnificence of their dress, give a grace to the very form which they happen to bestow upon it. As long as they continue to use this form, it is connected in our imaginations with the idea of something that is genteel and magnificent, and though in itself it should be indifferent, it seems, on account of this relation, to have something about it that is genteel and magnificent too. As soon as they drop it, it loses all the grace, which it had appeared to possess before, and being now used only by the inferior ranks of people, seems to have something of their meanness and awkwardness.

Question 8

Which is nearest to the central idea in the passage?

Solution

The author mentions "that is not the fashion which everybody wears, but which those wear who are of a high rank, or character." and "As soon as they drop it, it loses all the grace, which it had appeared to possess before, and being now used only by the inferior ranks of people, seems to have something of their meanness and awkwardness." Therefore, the central idea is that a person's status or character is shown by grace.
Hence, option E is the correct answer.


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