The best answer to the question that is being stated above would be the third sentence. The meaning of 'take up' in the excerpt would be best described with the definition of 'to occupy time, space, or the attention of someone'. The mayor is asking to pay attention to grammar -which led him to be cautious of it.
Answer:
The student could compare invaluable to the related word value and infer that invaluable relates to worth or usefulness.
The student could use the context to determine that invaluable means "relative worth or degree of excellence" because Algernon finds his "Bunbury" strategy quite useful.
Explanation:
Oscar Wilde's comedy play "The Importance of Being Earnest" revolves round the theme of Victorian society's approach to status, wealth and upbringing as factors to determine an individual's worth. The characters' farcical attempts to escape the societal obligations by pretending to be someone else shows how the society deems importance to its useless and at times outrageous practices.
The given excerpt is from the first act in the conversation between Algernon and Jack over their <em>"invented"</em> identities of Ernest and Bunbury to escape the societal obligations that they are required to be a part of. In his use of the word "<em>invaluable</em>", Algernon suggests that his "<em>Bunbury</em>" identity is a necessity which is useful to him. So, a student can determine the meaning of the word "<em>invaluable</em>" and considering the context of the text, he/ she can determine that it meant "<em>Bunbury</em>" is a worthy and excellent strategy which is extremely useful for him.
