#6 - Must Be True

[Administrator]

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

The correct answer choice is (C)

The general nature of the question makes it difficult to arrive at a more precise prephrase. Instead, try
the process of elimination: any answer choice that cannot be proven by the passage will be incorrect.

Answer choice (A): The author makes no mention of the frequency with which “El Corrido de
Gregorio Cortez” was sung at Border social gatherings.

Answer choice (B): This answer choice contains an exaggeration. Even though the “El Corrido
de Kiansis” is referred to as the oldest corrido surviving in complete form (lines 10-11), implying
that not all surviving corridos are as complete as “Kiansis,” there is no reason to suspect that most
surviving corridos are incomplete.

Answer choice (C): This is the correct answer choice. All complete corridos contain certain readymade
lines (line 40), which is most evident in the corrido’s formal closing verse, the despedida. In it,
the first and third lines are a set convention (lines 46-47), suggesting that all complete corridos have
some lines in common.

Answer choice (D): While it is possible that most corrido variants share the same despedida, this
cannot be proven with the requisite degree of certainty. Recall that two of the lines in the despedida
are variable. Even if all corrido variants bear the same name (fourth line), it is possible that the
second line differs from one variant to another “according to exigencies of rhyme” (line 50).

Answer choice (E): The passage provides no information as to the origins of the composer who
wrote “El Corrido de Kiansis.”

[bli2016]

Hi, for #6, I had a lot of difficulty distinguishing between C and D in terms of getting the right answer. I finally chose D because of what the passage says in lines 39-50 (especially in the example of the despedida from the variant of Gregorio Cortez), and I still do not understand why C is the correct answer.

[Luke Haqq]

Hi bli2016!

Happy to offer some reasons why (C) is preferable to (D) on this one. First, the question stem reveals this is a must-be-true category of question.

Answer choice (D) states that "most corrido variants have the same despedida." You're definitely right to be looking for the answer around lines 39-50. Those lines make clear that the despedida is one way in which corridos are similar to each other. However, those lines also make explicit that the "second and fourth lines are variable," only the first and third lines of the despedida remains the same from corrido to corrido. Given this, we can't conclude (D) that most corrido variants have the same despedida--because the text in fact states suggests their despedidas are not the same but vary in their second and fourth lines.

Answer choice (C), by contrast, states that "All complete corridos have some lines in common." We know this to be true--the passage states that "the first and third lines are a set convention," which the second and fourth lines of the despedida are the variable part.

Hope that helps!

[Albertlyu]

Hi bli2016!

Happy to offer some reasons why (C) is preferable to (D) on this one. First, the question stem reveals this is a must-be-true category of question.

Answer choice (D) states that "most corrido variants have the same despedida." You're definitely right to be looking for the answer around lines 39-50. Those lines make clear that the despedida is one way in which corridos are similar to each other. However, those lines also make explicit that the "second and fourth lines are variable," only the first and third lines of the despedida remains the same from corrido to corrido. Given this, we can't conclude (D) that most corrido variants have the same despedida--because the text in fact states suggests their despedidas are not the same but vary in their second and fourth lines.

Answer choice (C), by contrast, states that "All complete corridos have some lines in common." We know this to be true--the passage states that "the first and third lines are a set convention," which the second and fourth lines of the despedida are the variable part.

Hope that helps!

thanks, Luke, what really confused me is the phrase "complete corridos", since the text did not say that, I assumed there might be a difference between complete and none complete corridos. could you please share some insights on how to avoid mistakes like this in the future? thanks

[Adam Tyson]

An incomplete corrido would have something missing, Albert. Maybe the despedida has been lost from all written copies of one corrido, or only fragments were copied down. Perhaps a corrido was never written down, and the version passed on through an oral tradition has been corrupted over time with verses or phrases from the original being omitted in later variations. Think of an incomplete corrido as a book with pages torn out, and that will help you make sense of it.

A complete corrido, then, would be one in which nothing is missing. All the verses, all the lines, are intact in some form, probably written down somewhere. And given the discussion about the conventions of the corrido in the last paragraph, it is safe to say that all the complete ones will have some parts in common.

[Albertlyu]

Got it. thanks Adam!

[lemonade42]

Hello!

I have a question about (C). I didn't choose it because I thought the term "set convention" just meant that lines 1 and 3 are conventional and just are generally or usually like this because isn't that what conventional is defined as? So I thought "all" complete corridos would have been too strong of a statement.

[Luke Haqq]

Hi lemonade42!

To get a good understanding of what "set convention" means, it could be useful to place it in context: "The first and third lines are a set convention. The second and fourth lines are variable" (lines 46-48). So "set convention" here is being contrasted with being "variable." That is to say, that context suggests that it means something like invariable or unchanging.

It's good that you noticed that "all" makes answer choice (C) a somewhat strong statement. In the end, though, it's not too strong but rather is supported by the passage. As noted in the final paragraph, the first and third lines of the despedida are unvarying across corridos, so all corridos have those lines in common.

[DaveFromSpace]

I really had a tough time with this question. Even after reviewing this, I feel like I would still get this question wrong because I can't work out the logic or reason that (C) is better supported than (B).

I just feel like (C) was worded in a way that's a bit too extreme to be properly supported.

(C) states that "All complete corridos have some lines in common."

This sounds like there is at least one line that's the same among all complete corridos.

An analogy would be "all pizzas have some ingredients in common."

I assume this statement is telling me that all pizza share a common ingredient like flour, cheese, or even water. I wouldn't assume it's saying that each pizza shares at least one ingredient in common with at least one other pizza.

So, if there's a pizza that uses pudding as an ingredient, it would be inappropriate include it in this statement even if there's at least one other pizza that uses pudding as an ingredient. Because pudding is not a common ingredient to ALL pizza.

Lines 39-41 states:

The corrido is composed not only of familiar images but also of certain ready-made lines that travel easily from one ballad to another.

I want to focus on the "travel easily" part of this sentence. I didn't read this as implying there were ready-made lines that "traveled" to ALL corridos. There may be a number of read-made lines and some grouping of corridos share one or the other, but they don't all necessarily share the exact same lines.

Lines 46-47 stating "The first and third lines are a set convention" also feels insufficient to support the statement that ALL corridos share at least one common line. The dictionary definition of convention is:

1. a way in which something is usually done, especially within a particular area or activity.

"Usually" is too loose to sufficiently support ALL.

Because of how I interpreted choice (C), and because of the insufficient support given for (C), I had to eliminate this answer in favor of answer choice (B).

The reason I picked (B) is because lines 4-5 tells us corridos prominence lasted for about 100 years from 1836-1930s. Sure, this folk song tradition may extend its history a bit outside of this time frame, but it's reasonable that the overwhelming majority of songs came from this 100 year period.

The earliest COMPLETE corrido we have is from 1870 (line 10). This means for the first 1/3 of this 100 year period, there were no surviving complete corrido.

Corridos probably didn't suddenly all start getting fully written/recorded so it seems very plausible that another 16% of the corridos were incomplete. This adds up to 50%+ which can plausibly support (B) Most surviving corridos do not exist in complete forms.

I understand that if we assume a standard distribution of work during this period, then the corridos from the first 34 years would still account for only a tiny portion of the total work produced. But, this may be drawing on outside statistical knowledge beyond what we can reasonably infer from the passage itself.

Basically, (C)'s language is so strong that it feels like we need far stronger support than (B).

I'd love to have my thinking picked apart so I won't make the same mistake again.

[Jeff Wren]

Hi Dave,

First, if you haven't already done so, I'd recommend reading the prior posts in this thread, especially Luke's post immediately above your question, as he discusses Answer C and the idea of "set convention."

The lines that you cited (lines 46-47) regarding "a set convention" provide the support for Answer C. You provided the definition of "convention," but neglected to provide the definition for "set," which is really the key word in the sentence. The word "set" has several definitions, but two that are most relevant in the context of the sentence/passage are "fixed or established" and "rigid or inflexible." The word "set" modifies "convention" and limits the type of convention being discussed.

In other words, there may be "loose" conventions that are just typical/recommended, but can be broken or modified, but these conventions are not that kind. These conventions aren't merely suggestions; they are defining features of the corrido. One could argue that if you don't have a despedida with the standard 1st and 3rd lines, then it isn't really a corrido, or at least not a complete corrido. The following sentence in the passage provides additional context for clarity. It states that the 2nd and 4th lines are "variable" (line 48). This is meant to contrast the 2nd and 4th lines with the 1st and 3rd lines, which are not variable (i.e. they are standard/fixed). If all four lines of the despedida could be variable, as you've suggested, this sentence doesn't really make sense.

As for Answer B, unfortunately you are making several unwarranted assumptions in your analysis. First, you seem to be assuming that the number of corridos produced was evenly spread over the 1836-late 1930 time frame, so that 1/3 of the time period roughly equates to 1/3 of the total corridos created, which we don't know. For example, it is quite possible that the corridos reached their peak output sometime after 1870. Second, and perhaps more problematically, you seem to be equating the fact that there were no complete surviving corridos prior to 1870 to meaning that 1/3 of the surviving corridos are incomplete. This is unfounded. Based on the passage, we have absolutely no idea how many incomplete corridos prior to 1870 survived. It is possible that almost all of the corridos prior to 1870 didn't survive at all, which would mean that none of those would be included in determining what percentage of the surviving corridos are complete. Finally, it is completely possible that at some point after 1870, most (even nearly all) of the corridos were recorded in their complete form as demand/recognition of their historical/cultural importance developed.