USA HISTORY

AMERICAN CIVIL WAR(1861 1865)

GETTYSBURG ADDRESS

[SOURCES]
Read these sentences from the text:"The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here."To whom or what does the word “they” in the second sentence refer?

(A) the world

(B) ** the brave men

(C) the dead

(D) those with poor power

EXPLANATIONS BELOW

Concept note-1: -To consecrate means to declare something holy and hallow is its synonym. Lincoln is saying that the ground cannot be declared holy, because: The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.

Concept note-2: -Why can’t “we” consecrate the cemetery? The world will little note nor long remember what we say here; but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedicated, here, to the unfinished work that they have thus far so nobly carried on.