#8 - Must Be True

[Yp8190]

This question asks what can be inferred regarding the authors' relationships to the professions they discuss. I would appreciate any insight on how to approach this question!

I clearly saw that Passage A's author is also an academic historian, evidenced by lines 3-5. The role of the author in Passage B seemed more like s/he is a professor of law rather than a practicing lawyer ("we who teach the law," line 30). However, the correct answer is B, each author is an active member of the profession he or she discusses. Upon second reading, I zoomed in on line 57- "how our future colleagues will write," which suggests the author of Passage B is part of the group s/he discusses. Was that the relevant detail, or was I being overly nit picky with distinguishing between a teacher of law and a lawyer in line 30?

[David Boyle]

This question asks what can be inferred regarding the authors' relationships to the professions they discuss. I would appreciate any insight on how to approach this question!

I clearly saw that Passage A's author is also an academic historian, evidenced by lines 3-5. The role of the author in Passage B seemed more like s/he is a professor of law rather than a practicing lawyer ("we who teach the law," line 30). However, the correct answer is B, each author is an active member of the profession he or she discusses. Upon second reading, I zoomed in on line 57- "how our future colleagues will write," which suggests the author of Passage B is part of the group s/he discusses. Was that the relevant detail, or was I being overly nit picky with distinguishing between a teacher of law and a lawyer in line 30?

Hello Yp8190,

Without calling what you said nitpicky: a person can be an active member of a profession without being out in the field actually practicing it. A plumber can be teaching at a plumbing academy and still be an active member of the plumbing profession, one assumes, even if he or she is not out in the field fixing pipes for money. Similarly, a law professor could be considered an active member of the legal profession even if not out in the field suing people or defending people from parking tickets or what-have-you.
...Then again, technically, a law professor might not have to be an actual lawyer. He or she may not have ever taken the bar exam, etc. So you may be right that line 57 is helpful in answering the question. (Although "colleagues" may have a somewhat loose meaning, e.g., people who went to law school or are discussing the law, as opposed to actual members of the bar.) Still, you have a good eye for the possible significance of line 57!

Hope this helps,
David

[lemonade42]

Hello, I'm having trouble understanding how author A is an active member of her profession. I know the author is a teacher, but I feel like that doesn't mean that the author is a historian too. Because isn't it possible that the author could be any sort of teacher (not necessarily history) and happen to notice that the students are reading non-narrative style writings?

Thank you!

[Dana D]

Hey lemonade,

It is true that we can't be 100% certain that the author of passage A is a historian, however we can conclusively eliminate all other answer choices, leaving us with only (B) as a possibility. Since it is the answer choice MSS by the stimulus, it is correct. Remember, MSS questions require less certainty than a MBT.

Looking through the rest of the answer choices:

Answer (A) - We know the author of Passage B teaches the law and is talking about legal educators, so this cannot be true.

Answer (C) - Maybe the author of A isn't a historian and is just a teacher, but author B is definitely a legal educator, so this cannot be true.

Answer (D) - We have no reason to think that author A is a legal educator, so this is not strongly supported by the text.

Answer (E) - We have no reason to think that author B is both a legal educator and a historian, so this is not strongly supported by the text.