#19 - Specific Reference, Must Be True, Author's Perspective

[Administrator]

Please post below with any questions!

[mokkyukkyu]

Why is A wrong?
C and A are very similar I thought...

[Nikki Siclunov]

Hi mokkyukkyu,

To help you figure out where you went wrong here, please provide a detailed breakdown of how you understood the question you’re asking about. Since you’re asking about a Reading Comprehension question, we expect to see evidence that you were able to do the following:

• Correctly identify the type of question in the stem.
• If the stem refers to a specific concept in the passage, identify where in the passage this concept was discussed.
• If the stem allows for a paraphrasable answer, tell us what it was. (Don't be afraid if your prephrase was off).
• Assuming this is a Must Be True question, as most RC questions are, what textual evidence do you have supporting your choice of (incorrect) answer.
• Why do you believe the correct answer choice is not supported by the passage?.

The more you tell us about your method of approach, the better we can help you figure it out.

Thanks!

[z.em]

Hello,

I also chose A instead of C. Both seem quite similar, and thought "inscriptions is obscure" is the same as "do not resemble what they designate." I went with A instead because SB wrote a book to say scholars overlooked predecessors to previous writings, and sort of thought "hard for linguists to decipher" closely resemble's SB's critique. I am thinking A is wrong now because the passage doesn't specifically say linguists were unable to decipher the inscriptions? Please let me know if my thought process is correct or if I am missing something, thank you so much !

[Claire Horan]

Hi Z.em,

The phrase "abstract symbols" is explained by the author in the next sentence with the example of the sheep symbol, which does not look like a sheep. Whether or not the author also argues that the inscriptions are obscure and difficult to decipher is irrelevant to the question of what the author meant by "abstract" in line 10. Although LSAT questions sometimes require test-takers to interpret words in the context of the entire passage, it is a good rule of thumb to look first to how the word is used in its sentence and next to the sentences around the particular word. You will often be able to use contrasts and examples to determine the specific meaning an author is giving to a word.