#24 - Concept Reference, Parallel, Subject Perspective

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

The correct answer choice is (E).

Answer choice (A):

Answer choice (B):

Answer choice (C):

Answer choice (D):

Answer choice (E): This is the correct answer choice.

This explanation is still in progress. Please post any questions below!

[MBG13]

Can you explain why E is the right answer. None of these answers seemed right to me.

[Stephanie Oswalt]

Hi MBG,

Thanks for your question. Generally speaking, we need a bit more input from you before we delve into a discussion of a particular LR question. Ultimately, it won't be us who are taking the test; it's you! Our goal is to help you cultivate the analytical ability to approach these questions on your own, which is why you need to help us help you first.

Here's what I'd like you to do:

• 1. Describe your approach to the stimulus. Did you understand the argument, if any, from a structural standpoint? What is the conclusion, and what evidence is the author using in support of that conclusion?
  
  2. Did you prephrase an answer to the question in the stem? If so, what was your prephrase?

Thanks,

[mshaikh]

Hi Powerscore,

I struggled a little with this question because the parallel reasoning concept is still new to me. Despite this, I rephrased this question and I think that helped a lot. So this was my prephrase, "X is no longer changing, thus has been abandoned." This general pre-phrase most closely matched E so I ended up getting the correct answer. Would there have been a better way to analyze this? Just want to make sure I am getting the right idea here! Thanks in advance.

[AthenaDalton]

Hi mshaikh,

I think your pre-phrased answer was great!

Lowe's argument was that once Mayans stopped building new monuments at a site, they had abandoned the site. In other words, a lack of new activity is equated with abandonment. This is paralleled in answer choice (E) -- when the friend stopped purchasing new stamps, it's assumed that the friend had abandoned stamp collecting.

Your approach was spot-on, and led you to the correct answer. Keep it up!

[mshaikh]

Thanks so much AthenaDalton!

[ser219]

I was between A and E on this one and had a hard time deciding. I picked A but now I am starting to see why E is correct. Lowe assumes that since the Mayans stopped constructing monuments, their civilization collapsed. I can see how this is similar to the stamp answer (E) because it has the action that is stopped (buying stamps) and the assumption that something has ended/collapsed (friend sold the stamp collection).

I am having a hard time understanding what it is in particular that makes A wrong. I can see that E is better. Is it because there is no complete stopping of something (there is a shortage of fruit but not a complete absence of i)? Is the assumption in A too different from the assumption that the Mayan civilization collapsed?

[Adam Tyson]

I would adjust that analysis just slightly, ser219 - Lowe's theory is that when construction at a given location stops it means the site at which the construction stopped had been abandoned. That doesn't mean a stoppage indicates a collapse of the civilization, but just that a particular location was left behind. The collapse of the civilization took place over the next hundred years or so. So, what we are looking for is "evidence that a certain thing stopped happening is used to show that something related to it also stopped happening" (construction stopped, so use of the site stopped.)

Answer A deals with a shortage, rather than a complete stoppage - what does a current shortage of food on shelves tell us about the weather that may have led to that shortage? What we want, though, is an answer that shows one thing completely stopping, and using that as evidence to show that something else also completely stopped. Maybe "stores stopped stocking fresh produce, so farmers must have stopped growing it" (when the change at stores might be explained another way, like farmers started selling at farm stands or farmers markets or through direct co-ops instead of in stores.) That's why E is the better answer - someone stopped buying stamps, so she must have gotten rid of her collection/stopped being a stamp collector (when they might just be holding on to their existing collection, or trading stamps rather than buying them, etc.)

Also, answer A is more directly causal than is the situation in the stimulus. Cause and effect is implied in Lowe's theory - abandoning a site is assumed to be the cause of stopping new construction - but never explicitly stated. That's one more reason to dislike answer A - it's more directly, explicitly causal than is what Lowe claimed, while E is more like the implied causal relationship Lowe posited.

So, two good reasons to select E over A here, and one of them is the one you pegged (shortage isn't stoppage, reduced production due to weather isn't the same as no longer trying.) Good work!