#7 - Must Be True

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation
(See the complete passage discussion here: lsat/viewtopic.php?t=10821)

The correct answer choice is (D)

This is another question whose answer can be difficult to prephrase, but the correct answer choice will pass the Fact Test, able to be confirmed by the information provided in the passage.

Answer choice (A): The author does say that the book deals with an area of previously insufficient scholarship, but that does not mean that the book has little in common with previous assessments.

Answer choice (B): The author never claims to have performed with Tucker, so this choice can be confidently eliminated from contention.

Answer choice (C): The author does not discuss personal expectations about mainstream acceptance.

Answer choice (D): This is the correct answer choice. The author studied the ten remaining films—exactly half of the 20 films Tucker appeared in—in analyzing the actor’s technique (not quite a preponderance).

Answer choice (E): Although the author specifies that the book under discussion deals with an area of African American entertainment history, he does not claim to present a novel or unique rhetorical structure, so this choice is not supported by the passage and cannot be the right answer.

[moshei24]

Doesn't he mention that he analyzed Tucker's acting technique? How is (D) right then?

I chose (E), because it seemed as if his style was different than others; though, maybe it wasn't his rhetorical structure that was different. Can you clear this one up for me, please?

Thanks!

[Steve Stein]

Well, since he acted in 20 films and only ten were still available, they could not have closely examined a preponderance of the films in which Tucker performed.

As for choice E, the author doesn't really discuss the text's rhetorical structure, nor its comparability to the structure of previous biographies.

I hope that's helpful! Let me know--thanks!

~Steve

[moshei24]

Why can't half be a preponderance?

[Dave Killoran]

Let's look at the definition of the word: "superiority in weight, power, numbers, etc."

Thus, "half" wouldn't work for preponderance. It would have to be a majority.

Thanks!

[moshei24]

So literally any majority would count as a preponderance? 11 would've worked?

[Nikki Siclunov]

Yes. "Preponderance" usually refers to superiority in numbers or amount. E.g. "preponderance of the evidence" establishes a standard of proof that can be satisfied if there is greater than 50 percent chance that the proposition is true.

[moshei24]

Okay, thanks!

[mikewazowski]

Hi,

I thought (C) was correct because lines 58-60 includes ".. other relevant historical evidence that is available. This, study, therefore will weave together.." Probably too great a stretch, but I took this as sufficient to mean the author didn't want his work to be a "mainstream participant" since he was just a 'weaver' and recommended actual historical evidence. Is my thinking wrong?

Thanks!

[KelseyWoods]

Hi Mike!

Yeah, that's too much of a stretch. The last paragraph of the passage is really just describing the type of evidence that the author is using in their biography of Lorenzo Tucker. It tells us nothing about whether the author expects "to be recognized as a mainstream participant in scholarship concerning U.S. film and theater history."

Participating in scholarship concerning history necessitates using historical evidence--it's what historians do! So a description of the types of historical evidence that the author is going to weave together does not tell us whether or not the author expects their scholarship to be recognized by historians conducting more "mainstream" research. But in fact our author makes an argument in the first paragraph that his work will "help shed new light on a part of U.S. entertainment history about which, so far, there has been insufficient scholarship." This suggests that the author might actually expect to be recognized as a mainstream participant since they are pointing out that scholarship in this area is currently insufficient. So, if anything, I would lean toward answer choice (C) as being something that is opposite of what is suggested by the passage.

Hope this helps!

Best,
Kelsey