Question

a recent editorial suggested the candidates ignored the issues of greatest interest to the citizens. this caused a majority of voters to purposely neglect voting. the low voter turnout at the polls yesterday supports the idea that the voters are jaded.

dictionary
jaded (jā did)

1. adj. overworked, exhausted, weary
2. adj. bored, tired, or uninterested from having too much of something
3. adj. hardened due to negative experience or living to excess; indifferent

when paul first read this paragraph in the newspaper, he thought the word jaded meant \busy.\ he looked it up in a dictionary to see if he was correct.

in the context of this paragraph, is pauls understanding of the meaning of jaded correct?

1. no, because people were simply uninterested in the election.
2. no, because people had a negative experience with the candidates.
3. yes, because people were overworked and therefore too tired to vote.
4. yes, because people had rejected voting as a result of numerous elections.

Explanation:

1. Analyze Paul's understanding: Paul thought "jaded" meant "busy".
2. Analyze the context: The editorial said candidates ignored citizens' interests, so voters purposely neglected voting (low turnout).
3. Analyze dictionary definitions: "Jaded" means uninterested, exhausted, or indifferent (not "busy").
4. Evaluate options:

• Option 1: Says people were uninterested in the election. This matches the context (candidates ignored issues → voters uninterested → low turnout) and "jaded" meaning (uninterested).
• Option 2: Talks about negative experience with candidates, but the context is about ignoring issues (not negative experience like mistreatment), so less relevant.
• Options 3 and 4: Claim "yes" (Paul was correct), but "jaded" doesn't mean "busy", so these are wrong.

Answer:

1. No, because people were simply uninterested in the election.