#7 - Must Be True, Author’s Perspective

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation
(See the complete passage discussion here: lsat/viewtopic.php?t=14138)

The correct answer choice is (E)

This Author Perspective question provides no conceptual or textual reference point, which is why the
process of elimination is likely to prove once again key: any answer choice that cannot be proven by
the passage will be incorrect.

Answer choice (A): It is unclear how the dependence of corridos on ready-made lines could have
hindered their makers’ effective use of metaphor. The author never alludes to that fact.

Answer choice (B): This is an attractive, but incorrect, answer choice. Although the corrido does
indeed use language that is familiar mainly to local audiences, the passage draws no comparisons
between corridos and other ballad forms. It is entirely possible that the corrido is not unique in its
use of familiar linguistic conventions, which is why answer choice (B) cannot be proven with the
requisite degree of certainty.

Answer choice (C): Just because corridos originated in Eighteenth-century Spain does not mean that
their imagery can also be identified in Spanish ballads. Corridos draw upon imagery and narrative
themes specific to the Border region (lines 8-9 and 35-37), suggesting that any thematic or linguistic
overlap between them and the Spanish ballads might be purely coincidental.

Answer choice (D): Corridos were not necessarily free from the constraints of rhymed ballad forms.
On the contrary: the second line of the despedida varies “according to exigencies of rhyme” (line
50). In other words, the second line varies because it has to rhyme with the fourth, which carries the
name of the corrido.

Answer choice (E): This is the correct answer choice. The despedida may be the clearest marker
of the corrido’s uniqueness, but it adds little narrative value to the song. Indeed, the despedida simply
confirms that the task of relating an authentic Border tale has been accomplished (lines 52-54). It is
reasonable to infer that even without a surviving despedida, a corrido would still be identifiable as
such given the thematic and linguistic conventions typified by it.

[sarae]

How do we know that the author would agree with answer choice E? Is it because he/she explains what it is but doesn't state that it must be included in a corrido?

[Nikki Siclunov]

Hi Sara,

Thanks for your question. You got it right: the despedida may be the clearest marker of the corrido’s uniqueness, but it adds little narrative value to the song. Indeed, the despedida simply confirms that the task of relating an authentic Border tale has been accomplished (lines 52 – 54). It is reasonable to infer that even without a surviving despedida, a corrido would still be identifiable as such given the thematic and linguistic conventions typified by it.

Hope this helps!

[eober]

Hi,

Isn't despedida a crucial part of a corrido? How can answer choice E be correct?

Thanks for the clarification!

[Nicholas Bruno]

Hi!

I do not know anything about corridos in real life so you may be completely right that in actual practice a despedida is a crucial part. But the passage does not say that it is.

In any case, we can still assume that a despedida is a crucial part. Answer Choice E only says that "A corrido without a *surviving* despedida would probably still be *identifiable* as a corrido." In other words, imagine the despedida did not survive, could we still identify the tune as a corrido?

According to (approximately) lines 35-40: yes. "Such imagery, highly conventional and readily recognizable to corrido listeners, reflects and strengthens the continuity of the corrido tradition." In other words, the imagery is what makes the corrido recognizable. Not necessarily the despedida.

I hope that helps!

[lsatnoobie]

Why is B not supported even though the passage clearly states that the despedida was UNIQUE. Lines 50-51 state “in the despedida, perhaps the clearest marker of both the corrido’s UNIQUENESS...”

[George George]

@lsatnoobie Great Q! Answer (B) is a Shell Game answer. Even though it does say that corridos have "uniqueness" (L52), it doesn't say that this uniqueness is "because it uses language that is familiar mainly to local audiences." Answer (B) is a tempting bait and switch or half-right, half-wrong type answer. The first part of such answers is correct, but the second part is not. It reels you in with something tempting, and then changes the Snapchat filter! These kinds of Shell Game answers can be very hard to dodge, especially when they link together two things that were stated, but distort the relationship between them. That's exactly what happens here. The takeaway here, @lsatnoobie, is to beware answers that start off sounding right, but don't end up that way! On a Must Be True Q, the right answer must pass the Fact Test, and this means all words/phrases/i] in the answer should be provable, not just "buzz words" (e.g. "unique").

[hklsat19]

I found the answer to this question during blind review by referencing the line in paragraph 1 which states that "El Corrido de Kiansis" is the oldest surviving Corrido in complete form. I took this line as implying that there are other surviving Corridos that can be recognized despite being incomplete. I feel like this can be used to support the idea that there could be Corridos that may be recognized as such despite not having a surviving despedida. Was I correct in making this inference??

[Adam Tyson]

I'm not sure how much help that gives us here, hk. If that was all we had, we might wonder whether the despedida was so essential to the form that without one you couldn't recognize that you were looking at a corrido. It's certainly implied, based on that line, that an incomplete corrido can still be recognized as one, but that doesn't tell us how or why we would recognize it in its incomplete form. We might only know that an incomplete corrido is a corrido because it has the despedida, the clearest marker of the form. It's only from what we learn later in the passage, about other common elements, that we can infer that we might know what we are looking at even without those final lines.