Context meaning of a passage?

Question

> Whether the languages of the ancient American peoples were used for> expressing abstract universal concepts can be clearly answered in the> case of Nahuatl. Nahuatl, like Greek and German, is a language that> allows the formation of extensive compounds. By the combination of> radicals or semantic elements, single compound words can express> complex conceptual relations, often of an abstract universal> character.> The tlamatinime ("those who know") were able to use this rich stock of abstract terms to express the nuances of their thought. They> also availed themselves of other forms of expression with metaphorical> meaning, some probably original, some derived from Toltec coinages. Of> these forms the most characteristic in Nahuatl is the juxtaposition of> two words that, because they are synonyms, associated terms, or even> contraries, complement each other to evoke one single idea. Used as> metaphor, the juxtaposed terms connote specific or essential traits of> the being they refer to, introducing a mode of poetry as an almost> habitual form of expression.I have answer the question from the passage: A main purpose of the passage is to 1. delineate the function of the tlamatinime in Nahuatl society 2. explain the abstract philosophy of the Nahuatl thinkers 3. describe some conceptual and aesthetic resources of the Nahuatl language 4. argue against a theory of poetic expression by citing evidence about the Nahuatl 5. explore the rich metaphorical heritage the Nahuatl received from the ToltecsI couldn't paraphrase the passage so Sound perplexing to get the answer. Can someone explain please. The answer is given (3) but my guess was (2). Is there any easy trick to get the answer easily?

Answer 1

So, the word context means the environment surrounding an event. The question asks you to identify the purpose of the passage. It is not asking your for the environment surrounding the event. Instead, it is asking you to identify why the author wrote the passage in the first place.

A purpose of a passage can be to explain, to persuade, to dissuade, to entertain, etc.

In the case of this passage, the author talks about the language use of Ancient American people, as you can see in the first sentence, and uses the Nahuatl language as an example. The passage then goes on to describe how the Nahuatl used their language to express their abstract thoughts. Those uses include metaphors and juxtapositions.

The answer is 3 because, as mentioned above, the author is describing how the language was used. The author also states that "he tlamatinime ("those who know") were able to use this rich stock of abstract terms to express the nuances of their thought. " Stock means the same thing as resources. If someone has stock in a business, that means that someone has invested some money, time, emotions, etc. into that business. 

The answer 2 is wrong because the passage mentions nothing about the abstract philosophy of the Nahuatl thinkers.

There is no trick really to answering these questions, other than knowing exactly what certain words mean.

Hope this helped!