#25 - Global Reference, Must Be True, Organization

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

The correct answer choice is (D).

Answer choice (A):

Answer choice (B):

Answer choice (C):

Answer choice (D): This is the correct answer choice.

Answer choice (E):


This explanation is still in progress. Please post any questions below!

[biskam]

(7-110 #25)

I'm struggling with how D is the correct answer choice because I can't identify to which claim in the first paragraph the choice refers. Nor do I understand how the remaining paragraphs (meaning Herbert and the author) accept that claim. In my opinion, Herbert seems to categorically disagree with the claim of focusing on style while the author is kind of in between Rewald and Herbert on that point.

I wasn't happy with C either but I chose that instead.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[James Finch]

Hi Biksam,

The method questions in the Reading Comprehension sections can be difficult because the correct answer often times relies upon very careful reading of each individual paragraph of a passage, with crucial elements of the overall argument hidden in short, seemingly unimportant sentences that many test takers disregard because of their brevity. Logical reasoning stimuli also often contain conclusions that are similarly disguised.

Here we have an example of the central claim of the entire passage being "hidden in plain sight;" the very last sentence of the first paragraph, immediately following two very long and dense setup sentences, gives us the argument that the rest of the passage will set out to prove, that "[Herbert's] arguments are not, finally, persuasive." The following two paragraphs then set out to provide evidence for that claim.

Answer choice (D) sets up a structure where there is a claim made in one paragraph followed by two supporting evidentiary paragraphs, while answer choice (C) flips that structure on its head and says that the main point/argument ("an alternative thesis") was located in the third paragraph, with the preceding paragraphs providing evidence for it. But the third paragraph doesn't contain the overall conclusion of the passage.

I hope this helps!

[biskam]

It does! Thank you!!

[Marina7]

Hello,

I have a follow-up question to this. Why is the sentence in lines 21-22 considered a claim? I understood it as a thesis.

Thanks!

[James Finch]

Hi Marina,

"Claim" and "Thesis" can be synonymous, especially when a passage or stimulus attempts to prove that claim with evidence. All "claim" means is a statement asserted by a speaker or author to be true--that claim can be backed up by evidence, and serve as a conclusion/thesis, or it may remain unsupported and be used instead as a premise for another claim. It's a commonly used word on the LSAT, so you always have to look at the specific context in which it is used in order to determine the specific meaning.

Hope this helps!

[Nicholas Noyes]

Hi Biksam,

The method questions in the Reading Comprehension sections can be difficult because the correct answer often times relies upon very careful reading of each individual paragraph of a passage, with crucial elements of the overall argument hidden in short, seemingly unimportant sentences that many test takers disregard because of their brevity. Logical reasoning stimuli also often contain conclusions that are similarly disguised.

Here we have an example of the central claim of the entire passage being "hidden in plain sight;" the very last sentence of the first paragraph, immediately following two very long and dense setup sentences, gives us the argument that the rest of the passage will set out to prove, that "[Herbert's] arguments are not, finally, persuasive." The following two paragraphs then set out to provide evidence for that claim.

Answer choice (D) sets up a structure where there is a claim made in one paragraph followed by two supporting evidentiary paragraphs, while answer choice (C) flips that structure on its head and says that the main point/argument ("an alternative thesis") was located in the third paragraph, with the preceding paragraphs providing evidence for it. But the third paragraph doesn't contain the overall conclusion of the passage.

I hope this helps!

Thank you...It is amazing how just one small part of the passage can make it all "fit together"