#26 - Reza: Language requires the use of verbal signs for

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Must Be True—SN. The correct answer choice is (A)

This stimulus yields a lengthy chain relationship:

• Lang Verb Signs Feel + Verb Signs Objects Disting Concept Thought.

Thus language depends on four things, and answer choice (A) (language requires conceptual thought) is proven true.

Answer choice (A): This is the correct answer choice. As discussed above, the diagram shows that language requires verbal signs for objects, which require distinguishing objects from other objects, which requires conceptual thought.

Answer choice (B): This is a Mistaken Reversal (Concept Thought Verb Signs Objects).

Answer choice (C): The ideas of conceptual thought and feelings are never related in the stimulus.

Answer choice (D): We are only told that humans can ask for certain objects by name, but to try to interpret this to mean that all humans are capable of language, and then to interpret that to mean that all humans are capable of conceptual thought, would be too strong of an assumption.

Answer choice (E): We do not know anything about the relationship between non-human animals and conceptual thought or language.

[mgardella]

Is the sentence "Many animals can vocally express hunger, but only humans can ask for an egg or an apple by naming it" irrelevant here? Seems like superfluous information to me.
It also seems like that sentence is formal logic. Could you show how to diagram it? I have:
Animals Verbal Signs for Feelings Humans
Just for the sake of completeness and accuracy, is that diagram correct?

[Malila Robinson]

Hi mgardella,
I would suggest using 'some' in your diagram to replace the word 'many'. Other than that it looks great. But yes, it does not add much to the argument and is not needed for the answer.
Hope that helps!
Malila

[JocelynL]

Hello,
I'm having a bit of an issue with the second sentence "but only humans can ask for an egg or an apple by naming it". Can you let me know if my diagram is correct?

ask for egg or apple (which to me would mean ability to distinguish) humans

ability to distinguish conceptual thought

I initially picked answer D but is it wrong because these two statements cannot be linked together and that's what D attempts to do?

I initially skipped over A because I didn't notice the subtle difference of "is required". I read that as "requires" and dismissed it as a mistaken reversal

[Rachael Wilkenfeld]

Hi Jocelyn,

The problem with your conditionals is that you are moving from the same sufficient condition to different necessary conditions.

Ability to distinguish human
ability to distinguish conceptual thought

You can't connect those two necessary conditions. We don't know if all humans are capable of conceptual thoughts based on the passage.

I agree here that answer choice (A) is subtle. It's worth slowing down a bit on these for accuracy. Especially if it's one that you can see quickly after the fact, you should note it as a question that you should have slowed down for.

Hope that helps!

[WasabiPirates]

Complete Question Explanation

Must Be True—SN. The correct answer choice is (A)

This stimulus yields a lengthy chain relationship:

• Lang Verb Signs Feel + Verb Signs Objects Disting Concept Thought.

Thus language depends on four things, and answer choice (A) (language requires conceptual thought) is proven true.

Answer choice (E): We do not know anything about the relationship between non-human animals and conceptual thought or language.

The problem I have with this chain is that it seems to imply that we know that Conceptual Though is also a necessary condition for VerbSignsFeels, which is not established by the stimulus. In fact, its heavily implied that VerbSignsFeels does not rely on Conceptual Thought at all, which is why it says animals can express verbal signs about feelings but not objects.

Lang —>VerbSignObjects—>Disting—>ConceptThought
. \
. VerbSignFeelings—> (something, but not Conceptual Thought because animals don't have that, evidenced by their inability to distinguish objects, evidenced by their inability to VerbSignObjects)

Therefore, the vocal expressions of animals do not require conceptual thought, which is E. If I'm wrong in this logic I really don't understand how. I definitely agree that A correct, but it just seems to me that E is also correct.

[Jeff Wren]

Hi Wasabi,

I agree with you that the diagram should go:

     VSO -> DO -> CT
L -> +
      VSF

Where DO (for the ability to distinguish objects) and CT (for conceptual thoughts) are only given as necessary conditions to VSO (for verbal signs for objects).

Unfortunately, the only thing that we know about VSF (verbal signs for feelings) is that it is also required for language. We do NOT know whether or not it requires conceptual thought and you cannot assume that it does not. You mentioned that it is "heavily implied," but be careful with your assumptions. Answer E is wrong for a similar reason as Answer C, which is that we are not given a direct relationship between feelings or conceptual thought.

This is a Must Be True question, and the correct answer needs to either be directly stated in the stimulus or be a logical inference that you can draw from combining statements in the stimulus, which is what we get in Answer A.

The second sentence in the stimulus is a red herring designed to trip up test takers. It doesn't connect to the other conditional statements and is there to separate the terms that do connect. This is a technique often used by the test makers, especially in questions involving conditional reasoning.