#23 - Must Be True, Author's Perspective

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

(See the complete passage discussion here: lsat/viewtopic.php?t=14655)

Author’s Perspective. The correct answer choice is (C)

This question asks for the best description of the author’s attitude toward the proponents of the Modern
Movement. We should look for an answer that reflects the author’s perspective that they prioritized
aesthetics over practicality, which led to the Movement’s decline.

Answer choice (A): “Forbearing” indicates that the author held back. Since the author is actually highly
critical and very direct, this choice is not accurately descriptive of the attitude reflected in the passage.

Answer choice (B): The author neither defends the proponents nor takes a defensive stance towards
them.

Answer choice (C): This is the correct answer choice. The author is definitely unimpressed by the
proponents’ lack of practicality with respect to construction.

Answer choice (D): This is an attractive answer choice, because the author’s discussion might be seen
as reflecting frustration at the Movement’s failure to consider realistic construction costs. However,
“exasperation” suggests an emotional response that goes beyond what is reflected in the stimulus. The
author is not exactly at wit’s end concerning how to deal with the now defunct Modern Movement, so
this is not the appropriate response.

Answer choice (E): If the author were completely indifferent to the Movement, this passage would probably not have been written. This author clearly has an opinion, so this choice is incorrect.

[eober]

Hi,

How do we understand that the author was unimpressed? What indicates to this tone of author?

Thanks!

[Nikki Siclunov]

Hi eober,

The entire passage is devoted to explaining why the Modern Movement failed to achieve its architectural objectives (last sentence). Its proponents adhered to an unrealistic ideology, ignored building methods (line 33), and had chiefly aesthetic concerns (line 35). Further, they had unrealistic expectations (line 53), which gave their projects the well-founded reputation of being prohibitively expensive (lines 56-57).

Clearly, the author is critical of the proponents of the Modern Movement, and "unimpressed" is the only adjective that comes close to capturing her views. "Forbearing" and "exasperated" do not make any sense here, "defensive" is the Opposite answer, and "indifferent" is clearly wrong given the sharp criticism toward the movement.

Hope that helps!

[gmsanch3]

Hello,
I was wondering if in the last sentence of the second paragraph where it says "... attention was drawn to only those features that were "Modern..." if, the "Modern" could be understood as a bit sarcastic on the part of the author?
Or is the author just using it in quotations to state it is belonging to the Modern Movement.

I am reviewing after getting almost all of the questions wrong in this passage. Because the answer choices weren't as obviously stated as I am used to for this type of question and since "unimpressed" didnt seem strong enough to state the authors perspective about the modern movement, this question completely threw off my understanding. I second guessed myself about the her perspective since I kind of read the passage too quickly during timed conditions. All of my answers thereafter were completely off because I operated from a place that maybe the author DIDN'T have a negative perspective toward the Modern Movement.

Anyway, now im going back and trying to find all of the places where I should have known what the author thinks about the topic... I found all of the ones stated in the previous post, but I found this one and wonder if it also tells us something about how the author is "unimpressed" with the movement.??

[KelseyWoods]

Hi gmsanch3!

Yes, I think you could interpret the author's tone at that part of the passage to be negative toward the Modern movement. The author is basically describing how if an architect was identified as an innovator, then the proponents of Modernism would "conveniently ignore" aspects of their work that were not Modern and focus instead only on those aspects that were "Modern." It's basically saying that Modernists didn't have real, objective criteria and instead were relying on reputation and only acknowledging what supported their viewpoint while ignoring aspects that might conflict with their viewpoint.

Hope this helps!

Best,
Kelsey

[ashpine17]

Ok so I picked exasperated because the author flat out called the modernists ignorant. That sounds emotional to me. Is it too emotional for the lsat?

[evelineliu]

Hi Ash,

Yep, you are correct. Exasperation in (D) is extreme. This is a movement that ended half a century ago, so the author would not need to engage in the riled up emotion of exasperation.

Best,
Eveline