Prephrasing Drill Passage #2 Question #3

[sdb606]

I picked E because it sets up the entire reason for the third paragraph to exist. This seems like a more compelling purpose for the second paragraph than a factual exploration of the scope of a legal doctrine.

Rephrasing question 3, I could say, "Why did the author include the second paragraph at all?" The reason is to present an argument to shoot down so it can make its main point in the third paragraph which is to justify advocating for restricting the activities of campaign committees (and candidates) to protect public confidence.

[Jeremy Press]

Hi sdb,

The problem with answer choice E is that there are two parts to paragraph two, only one of which is captured by answer choice E. True, the "rationale for allowing [the] exception" is presented in lines 21-26. But there's another very important part of paragraph 2 that addresses a different issue: lines 14-21 discuss which persons and what specific behavior the solicitation ban directly targets. This portion of the paragraph is important to the author because it sets the terms of the debate that follows. It lets the reader feel "comfortable" with part of the solicitation ban law, so that the author and reader can then focus attention on the problematic part of the law (in paragraph 3).

In a question asking holistically about the purpose of a paragraph, it's important not to choose an answer that ignores a very important part of the paragraph, as answer choice E ignores lines 14-21. Answer choice B is thus a better answer, because its description ("evaluate the scope") is broad enough to capture both halves of paragraph 2.

I hope this helps!