Practice question · Select all that apply
What can happen to information as a manuscript is copied by hand across centuries?
Hints
- Copying introduces omission, correction and expansion.
- Several of these errors come from scribes trying to help.
Show the answer
- A. Scribes correct what looks wrong to them
- C. Scribes skip lines, especially between similar words
- D. Scribes improve or expand passages that seem inadequate
Why
Skipping, correcting, improving, three kinds of helpfulness that destroy evidence. The scribes were not careless; several were trying hard, which is precisely the problem.
Practise Primary vs Secondary Sources
The app has 3 more questions on this lesson, and keeps your place in the course. History I is free to start.
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