#24 - Must Be True, Author’s Perspective

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation
(See the complete passage discussion here: lsat/viewtopic.php?t=14461)

The correct answer choice is (B)

To properly understand the author’s use of the term “continuum” in line 30, it is important to
examine the context in which it appears. The information needed to answer Specific Reference
questions often resides elsewhere in the passage, in a section that also touches on the issue in the
Specific Reference.

In the second paragraph, the author argues that the domestic novel is based on a conception of fiction
“as part of a continuum that also included writings devoted to piety and domestic instruction, bound
together by a common goal of promoting domestic morality and religious belief” (lines 28-33). In
other words, this conception of fiction blurs the lines between several literary genres in order to
achieve a particular extraliterary objective. This prephrase agrees with answer choice (B), which is
the correct answer choice.

Answer choice (A): Domestic fiction may indeed be part of an ongoing tradition; however, the goal
of the second paragraph is not to examine such fiction from a historical or a temporal perspective.

Answer choice (B): This is the correct answer choice. The domestic novel is indistinguishable
from other categories of writing, such as the child-rearing manual or the tract on Christian duty (lines
33-35). As such, it is based on a conception of fiction that does not treat fiction as clearly distinct
from other categories of writing.

Answer choice (C): You should be able to eliminate this answer choice relatively quickly, since the
passage contains no evidence suggesting that domestic novels were published in serial form.

Answer choice (D): Although the passage as a whole may indicate that conceptions of fiction are
constantly evolving, the term “continuum” refers to a particular conception of fiction, not to its
evolving nature.

Answer choice (E): Domestic fiction may have promoted societal morality and religious belief,
but the cohesiveness and continuity of society are entirely unrelated to the author’s use of the term
“continuum” on line 30. If you found this answer choice attractive, you were probably misled by one
of the dictionary definitions of the term “continuum.” Remember—specific reference questions often
test your contextual understanding of the term, not your knowledge of its dictionary definition(s).

[mahmed19]

Hello!

I am still having some trouble understanding why answer choice E is incorrect and B is the answer. My reasoning was that since these works mentioned included religious instruction and was considered a child rearing manual, it would promote the continuation of these ideas. Is there a component that I am missing? Thank you in advance.

- Maliha

[atierney]

Hi Mahmed,

So the Specific Reference (SR) here is "continuum" and this refers a continuous sequence, whose elements are not perceptively different from each other, but whose extremes are quite noticeably different. Basically, you can think of a continuum of color from black to white with varying shades of grey in between. You can design a color diagram such that each increment of lightening or darkening is so gradual that you can't tell even ten successive increments apart. However, there's obviously a stark contrast at the ends. And that's really the idea this word describes. Here, the point is that the domestic novel, referred to in line 28, is basically part of sequence of writings that share a common goal of promoting domestic morality, and whose classification as either a novel, childrearing manual, or tract of Christian duty was very difficult to distinguish in the same way that the shades of grey would be along the black/white continuum.

Another point here is that continuum is not the same thing as continuation, as in carrying something (like a tradition) over a period of time, as mentioned in answer choice E. I suspect that this is where the confusion may lie.

Let me know if this helps clear things up.