- Mon Jul 08, 2019 5:30 pm
#66301
Check my explanation earlier in this thread, pinsyuanwu - the critics mentioned in line 17 want James to quit doing that highbrow literary style stuff and get back to the time-honored conventions of the genre, the stuff they accuse her of "abandoning." Put another way, they are saying "quit being fancy! Keep it simple, the way it's always been done!" That's a pretty good match for answer D - stop trying to do something new and different and "highbrow", and just do it the same old way that we like and expect. That sounds pretty unambitious to me - don't change to something fancier, just do what has always been done.
Another way to approach this question, and many others across all sections of the test, is to eliminate wrong answers. You don't have to love the right answer, you just have to hate it less than the other four!
A and B are awful - critics don't hold views about critics, they hold views about authors.
C is awful - she isn't writing about characters from the English landed gentry, and nobody is criticizing her choice of characters but only the way she chooses to write about them
D is - sort of okay, maybe? Not awful, so keep it as a contender.
E is awful - there's nothing in the passage about violence one way or the other, so that cannot be what the inverted snobbery of the critics is about.
Four awful answers and one that's maybe okay? Pick the one that's maybe okay, with confidence and joy, and move on to whatever is next! Never get caught up in worrying about whether an answer is perfect, or even if it's good. Focus only on finding the answer that is the best of the bunch, no matter how much you might dislike it, and pick it without hesitation. That's the way you win the LSAT!
Adam M. Tyson
PowerScore LSAT, GRE, ACT and SAT Instructor
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