Fiction · Level 3 · 147 words

The Time Traveller Explains

H. G. Wells, The Time Machine (1895). Public domain.

The Time Traveller (for so it will be convenient to speak of him) was expounding a recondite matter to us. His pale grey eyes shone and twinkled, and his usually pale face was flushed and animated.

"You must follow me carefully. I shall have to controvert one or two ideas that are almost universally accepted. The geometry, for instance, they taught you at school is founded on a misconception." "Is not that rather a large thing to expect us to begin upon?" said Filby, an argumentative person with red hair.

"I do not mean to ask you to accept anything without reasonable ground for it. You will soon admit as much as I need from you. You know of course that a mathematical line, a line of thickness nil, has no real existence. They taught you that? Neither has a mathematical plane. These things are mere abstractions."

Comprehension questions

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4 questions
1. How does the Time Traveller expect his listeners to react to his ideas at first?

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B. With skepticism, which he plans to overcome with reasoning
He says he will "controvert" widely accepted ideas but won't ask them to accept anything "without reasonable ground," anticipating doubt he intends to argue past.

2. What example does the Time Traveller give of an abstraction with "no real existence"?

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B. A mathematical line of zero thickness
He cites "a mathematical line, a line of thickness nil" and a "mathematical plane" as mere abstractions.

3. "Recondite" as used here most nearly means:

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B. obscure or hard to understand
A recondite matter is a deep or obscure one. That fits, since he must explain it carefully.

4. What is mainly happening in this passage?

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B. The Time Traveller begins overturning accepted ideas, starting with school geometry
He announces he must "controvert one or two ideas that are almost universally accepted," names school geometry as the first, and promises reasonable ground for each step, the opposite of admitting he has none.

Source: H. G. Wells, The Time Machine (1895). H. G. Wells, The Time Machine (1895). Public domain.