#9 - Concept Reference, Must Be True, Author's Perspective

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation
(See the complete passage discussion here: lsat/viewtopic.php?t=13362)

The correct answer choice is (C)

This question requires you to compare the attitudes of the two passages’ authors toward virtual commerce. While the second author explores the issue of virtual asset taxation from a more academic perspective, the first author seems genuinely fascinated by the subject, as reflected in the author’s choice of wording and punctuation: “The economist…noticed something curious….Things got even more interesting.…It was a form of currency trading!”

Answer choice (A): The first author appears interested and entertained, not critical or apprehensive, so this choice can be safely eliminated.

Answer choice (B): The first author might be considered somewhat academic but is certainly not dismissive; rather, the author seems fascinated by the fact that Castronova had noted a form of currency trading. As such, this choice does not provide an accurate description of the first author’s attitude relative to the second author, and this cannot be the right answer choice.

Answer choice (C): This is the correct answer choice. The first author appears more intrigued and excited by the prospect of virtual assets’ creating a form of currency trading, while the second author simply poses questions about the tax ramifications of online acquisitions.

Answer choice (D): “Curious” might be an appropriate description of the first author, but that author does not seem to be “undecided” with regard to the discussion, so this choice should be ruled out of contention.

Answer choice (E): Like some of the other incorrect answer choices provided in response to this question, this answer has one word that would be an accurate description of the first author, and one word that would not: The author of Passage A does seem enthusiastic, but there is no apparent skepticism in the passage. Since this choice does not provide two words that both describe the first author, it can be eliminated from contention.

[BMM2021]

Hi,

Any tips for better approaching these types of questions?

I chose D because I took "undecided" to mean the author had not expressed an opinion on the phenomenon, which I still consider to be accurate since the passage is primarily about the economist Castronova's perception of the phenomenon. And "curious" seems to fit the overall tone of passage A, as I think your explanation implies as well. Additionally, I took passage B to be quite decided on the appropriate tax policy regarding virtual game commerce and less curious than passage A about the economics mechanisms of the game world itself. In turn, I felt that passage A was more curious and less decided (on any grounds) than passage B.

Moreover, I had it in my mind, perhaps incorrectly, that since RC answers declaring the author's attitude to be uninterested in their subject are inherently inaccurate, answers declaring that one author is more intrigued in the topic at hand than the other author would also be inappropriate to conclude. Each author is choosing to write about some component of the same topic, thus they must each have some level of intrigue in it - deciding that one is more interested in the topic than the other seems difficult to do from the passages alone, as well. Finally, since passage A is relaying Castronova's experience, I didn't feel comfortable concluding that the author him/herself was actually excited; perhaps things that shocked Castronova would be expected by the author. In turn, I thought answer C was a trap a quickly discarded it.

How can I better approach these questions?

Thanks

[BMM2021]

Sorry, I had actually just skimmed the question stem, which narrows the attitude question to just commerce in virtual items, not the attitude of the passages as a whole. But let me know if my reasoning is wrong for any other reason as well!

[Rachael Wilkenfeld]

Hi BBM,

One of the things I noticed about Passage A right away was the use of the exclamation point. I noted that as a key indicator of tone/attitude, and as soon as I saw this question, I wanted to make sure that my answer reflected that level of excitment. It's unusual to see an exclamation point in an RC passage. Out of the 10 words used in the answer choices, the only ones that matched the tone of Passage A were intrigued, enthusiastic, curious, and excited. The answer choice that reflects only those words is answer choice (C).

I think tone is the sort of question you really should have a strong prephrase for. If you find that you frequently miss these questions, try to identify the tone as part of your initial read of the passage. Track tone as you see those tone cues in the passage. Even if you don't get a question directly addressing attitude/tone, you'll likely see tone as something that helps you eliminate incorrect answers in other questions.

Hope that helps!