Question

Read the passage from Elizabethan Ettiquette.

Sometimes guests brought their own knives and spoons, and sometimes they were furnished by the host. If not eating something soft or soupy that required a spoon, people ate with their fingers, using their knives only to take food from the main serving platter and to cut it when necessary. The knife was placed on the right side of the trencher, and the bread was on the left. Cups were not placed on the table. If a guest wanted a drink, he or she would ask a servant, who would bring them a cup that was kept on a side table or sometimes in a cool bath of water. When the guest finished drinking, they would return the cup to the servant, who would rinse it out, making it ready for the next guest.

Based on the explicit and implicit information from the passage, the reader can infer that

tableware was rarer in Elizabethan times than it is today.
Elizabethan dinners were less common than modern dinners.
the Elizabethans liked sharing more than modern people do.
guests were happier in Elizabethan times than they are now.

Answer 1

Correct inference: tableware was rarer in Elizabethan times than it is today.

Why: the passage says guests sometimes brought their own knives/spoons, hosts didn’t always provide them, cups weren’t set on the table and were reused/rinsed between guests — all implying fewer pieces of tableware were available.

Why the others are not supported:
- Nothing in the passage addresses how often dinners were held.
- The passage describes practical sharing/reuse, but gives no basis for claiming Elizabethans preferred sharing more than modern people.
- There is no information about guests’ happiness.