#14 - Must Be True, Purpose

[jgabalski]

Can someone please explain why answer D is better than answer choice E? Does is have to do with answer choice E being too specific by only mentioning the "European American" parodies of the cakewalk? I narrowed it down to those too choices but ended up spending a significant amount of time debating between the two. Thank you for the help.

[Jonathan Evans]

Hi, JGabalski,

Good question. To begin, explain the question to yourself so that you follow the task. At PowerScore, we would classify this question as a "Local-Purpose," and this classification is useful for understanding what you are required to do. First, this question is local, in that it asks about the function of a particular part of the passage. Second, however, this question addresses the purpose or function of this citation. Purpose may be strictly local, as in the purpose of a citation may be directly related to some adjacent point in the passage without reference to anything else. However, purpose is more commonly indirectly related to the main point or author's viewpoint. Note how the question asks "The author describes...primarily in order to." Here, to form your prephrase, you should consult not only the specific citation but also your understanding of the author's viewpoint or the larger point of the passage.

You might ask yourself: "Why does the author bring up the socioeconomic flux in turn-of-the-century America?"

Go back to the passage and read carefully above and below the citation. Now with reference to what you have read, try to formulate an explanation of the significance of the socioeconomic flux in turn-of-the-century America with reference to what the author is trying to accomplish here.

Note between lines 34-38, the author discusses how the complex layering of "parody upon parody" is what enabled the "cakewalk" to attract its wide audience. Note after the citation about "socioeconomic flux," the author continues to discuss how an art had to be "many things to many people to attract a wide audience."

You now have two sources of evidence that point to the fact that the "socioeconomic flux" was a condition that allowed the cakewalk to have broad appeal and success. So why does the author bring up the "socioeconomic flux? Prephrase: To show a condition that helped the cakewalk have broad appeal.

Compare this prephrase to Answer Choice (E). While this answer choice does discuss how European American parodies of the cakewalk had success, this answer choice is too narrow. We are not concerned here with the parodies but with the cakewalk itself, which as the passage suggests is itself a layering of "parody upon parody."

Now compare to Answer Choice (D). This is a pretty excellent match for our prephrase and a good match for the scope as well.

I hope this helps!

[edacyu]

Hi,

On this question, I felt that C was an accurate representation of what the author was trying to do, as they may have introduced the context of the turn-of-the-century United States in order to show that "an art form had to be capable of being many things to many people in order to appeal to a large audience" — and that that was the reason why there were so many overlapping parodic layers that characterized the cakewalk and its formation.

Is there an explanation for why this particular interpretation is incorrect?

Thanks!

[James Finch]

Hi Edacyu,

Answer choice (C) has a major issue in its first three words; is the reference to socioeconomic flux "identifying the target" of the cakewalk? Or does it rather explain the condition in which the cakewalk could flourish, as (D) describes? The author answers this at the end of the third paragraph when they state that "an art form had to be capable of being many things to many people in order to appeal to a large audience." Nowhere is the target of the cakewalk's parody mentioned.

Hope this clears things up!

[MannyH]

From reading the explanation I can see why choice D was the best and correct answer. However, I chose answer choice B when doing this practice test. Can you all give some clarity as to why choice B is in fact incorrect. I seemed to have missed the flaw.

[PianolessPianist]

Hi there

I had a really hard time with this one, and still am.

I find D to be a very tenuous choice because, in the context of the paragraph, all the factors mentioned are used to explain why cakewalk was *able* to become popular, not that any of those factors were favorable towards its popularity.

If it were just that though, I'd see why D is correct.

However, the same paragraph states: "an art had to be capable of being many things to many people in order to appeal to a large audience," which indicated to me that the author was saying that *despite* the fact that the cakewalk had all these different cultural preferences to appeal to, it was able to do so due to its multi-parodic nature.

Can anyone help clarify please?

[PianolessPianist]

Hi there

My exam is in one week so if any kind soul out there has an answer to my question, it would be greatly appreciated

Thanks so much

[Zach Marino]

However, the same paragraph states: "an art had to be capable of being many things to many people in order to appeal to a large audience," which indicated to me that the author was saying that *despite* the fact that the cakewalk had all these different cultural preferences to appeal to, it was able to do so due to its multi-parodic nature.

Hi Pianoless Pianist!

Because of what you quote above, we know that during this time of socioeconomic flux, an art had to be able to appeal to a broad audience. Here the author isn't making a statement about the cakewalk, rather the conditions of the time period. Therefore, this statement tells us that because the cakewalk did indeed appeal to a large audience during this time of socioeconomic flux, it was capable of being many things.

I think it's important to understand that in the context the author sets up here, any successful art would have to appeal to a broad range of people. Since the cakewalk was able to do this, that makes it exactly the type of art that can succeed in this environment. Because of the cakewalk's flexibility and the demands of the time period, it's fitting to say that the "environment was especially favorable for the success of the cakewalk" given that the characteristics of the dance are a match for the requirements for a dance to be successful during this era. It's easy to overthink the word favorable here– the fact that the dance's characteristics match the demands of the time should be enough to call the conditions favorable.

I hope this helps!
Zach

[jwheeler]

I just need to stop changing my answers... my initial guess is usually right on questions where I end up changing.

For this one, I changed to A. I took the last sentence of paragraph 3 to say:
if appeal to wide audience --> art form had to be capable of being many things to many people

Then I took it to say that the socioeconomic flux enabled the art to be many things to many people. So I ended up with the reasoning that the sufficient condition was fulfilled (cakewalk was indeed popular) so the necessary condition also had to be true.

I thought favorable wasn't strong enough to choose D over A. Can anyone elaborate on the difference between these two and how D is better supported by the passage?

[Robert Carroll]

j,

That "favorable" is not strong doesn't sound like evidence against answer choice (D), but possibly evidence for it. I'm not sure what you meant by "favorable wasn't strong enough." If you meant is wasn't as strong a word as that established by the passage, then surely, given that this is a Must Be True question, the answer can't be wrong because it doesn't make the strongest possible claim. The evidence in the passage needs to be at least as strong as the answer choice, not vice versa.

Looking at your evaluation of answer choice (A), your conditional is correct, but there is no indication that the socioeconomic flux enabled the art to be many things to many people. Possibly a statement like "the flux required art forms to be many things to many people" would be true, but that's not the same as a causal relationship.

Answer choice (D) is then correct because the socioeconomic flux made an artform with wide appeal especially likely to flourish.

Robert Carroll