ShmoopTube

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This question has come down with an acute case of Shmoopitis.

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It's baaa-aaack...

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If you aren't completely sick of this thing by now...

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Hit pause anyway and read it.

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In line 45, "prolific" most nearly means... what?

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And here are the potential answers...

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Context? We have lots of it. In the sentence

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before "prolific" appears, we learn that Muir was writing for newspapers and becoming popular.

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You know like a cheerleader...or something like that in those days.

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Then the passage describes Muir as a "prolific writer" who started focusing on preservation

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efforts.

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Armed with this context we're now ready to embark on our quest to discover the meaning

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of the word "prolific."

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The prefix "intro" means "inward," which reminds us that the word "introvert"

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refers to someone who's turned inward, or is kind of shy.

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Knowing this, we ask ourselves: would it make sense to describe Muir as being shy while

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he's skyrocketing in popularity?

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Well, it wouldn't be the first time that an introverted writer got mega-famous...we're

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looking at you J.D. Salinger...

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But the word just doesn't fit here. The context surrounding the word "prolific"

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is positive, so it would seem kind of weird to drop the idea that Muir was a forgetful dude.

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Therefore we can cross out (B).

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One thing's for sure: this guy was not underappreciated...

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If the context of this passage is to be believed--which it kind of has to be--then this guy was the

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toast of the town. Sure, being witty usually helps a guy become

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popular, but there's nothing in the context that tells us that Muir was a comedian.

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Get off the stage, choice (E)! We've now whittled our choices down to (D).

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This definition of "prolific" makes a lot of sense given the context. Being a "highly

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productive" writer can certainly be a big help in skyrocketing you to fame.

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Of course, sometimes it's enough to write one super popular novel, a few short stories

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and novellas, and then hide out in the woods for the rest of your life.

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