Answer the questions at the end based on the text.

Textual criticism is a branch of textual scholarship, philology, and literary criticism that is concerned with the identification of textual variants in either manuscripts or printed books. Ancient scribes made alterations when copying manuscripts by hand. Given a manuscript copy, several or many copies, but not the original document, the textual critic might seek to reconstruct the original text (the archetype or autograph) as closely as possible. The same processes can be used to attempt to reconstruct intermediate versions, or recensions, of a document's transcription history. The ultimate objective of the textual critic's work is the production of a "critical edition" containing a scholarly curated text.

Many ancient works, such as the Bible and the Greek tragedies,[citation needed] survive in hundreds of copies, and the relationship of each copy to the original may be unclear. Textual scholars have debated for centuries which sources are most closely derived from the original, hence which readings in those sources are correct.[citation needed] Although biblical books that are letters, like Greek plays, presumably had one original, the question of whether some biblical books, like the Gospels, ever had just one original has been discussed. Interest in applying textual criticism to the Qur'an has also developed after the discovery of the Sana'a manuscripts in 1972, which possibly date back to the 78th centuries.

1. Is the Bible ancient?
2. What other works are considered ancient?
3. How many copies do they survive in?
4. is the relationship of copies to the original always clear?
5. What type of scholars debate about the sources?
6. How long have they debated about them?
7. What are they debating about the readings?
8. What presumably had one original souce?
9. Did Greek plays also have one original?
10. Is there a question about how many originals the Gospels had?
11. What type of criticism is there interest in applying to the Qur'an?
12. When did this interest develop?
13. Whose manuscript had been discovered?
14. How far back might it date?
15. Is that earlier or later than when we put a man on the moon?
16. Does Textual criticism concern itself with any books?
17. Who made alterations when they copied manuscripts?
18. How did they make copies?
19. What does the critic want to do to the original text?
20. Can the same process be used for intermediate versions?
1. Yes
2. the Greek tragedies
3. hundreds
4. No
5. Textual scholars
6. for centuries
7. which sources are most closely derived from the original
8. biblical books that are letters
9. Yes
10. Yes
11. textual
12. after 1972
13. Sana'a
14. to the 78th centuries.
15. earlier
16. yes
17. Ancient scribes
18. by hand
19. reconstruct it
20. Yes