#11 - Must Be True, Purpose

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation
(See the complete passage discussion here: lsat/viewtopic.php?t=13780)

The correct answer choice is (C)

The answer to this Purpose question should be broad in scope, and is prephrased in the VIEWSTAMP analysis in the passage discussion.

Answer choice (A): This answer choice can seem attractive, because the author clearly sees the aesthetic value of using old photographic techniques. However, for the most part her tone is descriptive rather than polemic, so it is somewhat misleading to describe the entire passage as “making a case” for anything. Indeed, the author’s own beliefs do not become apparent until the last paragraph. Keep in mind that your job is to determine the primary purpose of the passage as a whole: just because the author seems convinced of something does not mean that the purpose of the passage is to convince us of that same thing.

Answer choice (B): This answer choice is the polar opposite of answer choice (A), and is also incorrect. Details about the modern uses of old photographic techniques are provided in the first three paragraphs only; the fourth and the fifth paragraphs explain why such processes are aesthetically valuable. The primary purpose of the passage is not to delve into specifics.

Answer choice (C): This is the correct answer choice. The phrase “give an account” is general enough to capture both the provision of detail in the first three paragraphs, and the expository content of the last two. The development in photographic arts is clearly recent, and can easily be described as “surprising” given our advanced technological age. Note also that the adjective “surprising” is synonymous to “ironic,” which—not coincidentally—was key in answering question 8.

Answer choice (D): This answer choice can be eliminated relatively quickly, because there is no evidence that the photographers received popular acclaim.

Answer choice (E): The author describes the approaches used by two contemporary photographers, but no explicit comparison is made between them. This answer choice is incorrect.

[ltoulme]

Hi!

Would (A) be incorrect because to "make a case" you probably need to argue against the other side? And in this passage there isn't really an argument?

And for (C) - could it could be considered "surprising" due to lines 17-19 ("On the verge of a filmless...")?

Thanks very much as always!
Laura

[Emily Haney-Caron]

Hi Laura!

You have the right idea with A. To make a case for something means to advocate for that position; the author isn't advocating, more describing what is happening.
And, yep, surprising comes from the lines you identified, and also from the general tone of the passage.

Good analysis on this one!

[chris12]

I picked B instead of C. While I understand why B is incorrect (purpose of the passage is not just to summarize specifics), I didn't choose C because it seemed far too general. It doesn't say what the surprising recent development is (i.e. it doesn't talk about the old methods or their aesthetic value which both seemed to be main points in the passage.)

I guess my question is when should we be wary of an answer choice for Primary Purpose questions that is too general and when should we accept them?

[Ryan Twomey]

Hey Chris,

So global primary purpose questions are slightly different than main point questions. Primary purpose questions are asking why the author wrote the passage, whereas main point questions are asking you to describe the main point. Usually main point answer choices are longer and therefore they are easier because there is less judgement involved.

With primary purpose questions, the correct answer choice is very often vague. What you want to do is, you want to see if you can assign those vague terms in the answer choice to more concrete elements in the passage.

In this case, the surprising recent development is that photography is going back to older methods. You could consider this surprising because as technology progresses, we usually leave stuff behind. Like imagine if flip phones made a comeback, that would be surprising. So there is nothing wrong with this answer choice and therefore we cannot eliminate it. I can assign it to the main concrete idea in the passage, which is that older methods of photography are resurfacing.

I would not pick this answer choice off the bat, but I would leave it and look to eliminate others. This is usually my process in primary purpose questions because the answer choices are so short and vague in comparison with main point questions.

Hope this helps.

Best,
Ryan