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- Joined: Apr 18, 2016
- Thu Feb 06, 2020 6:59 pm
#73727
Complete Question Explanation
The correct answer choice is (A).
This question asks for the relationship between the two passages. Since that is something you should always consider when analyzing comparative passages, by the time you get to this question, you should be able to prephrase a relationship fairly quickly. For example, my prephrase is: "Passage A concludes that music developed as a by-product of language, after the author is unable to come up with any adaptive value of musical ability for early humans. Passage B provides one way that music could have had adaptive value." Now, I'll compare it with the answer choices, which are worded much more abstractly.
Answer choice (A): This is the correct answer choice. I need to check two aspects of this answer choice to determine if it is the right answer: 1) Do the passages use different evidence? and 2) Do the passages draw different conclusions? The passages do use different evidence, since Passage A uses neurological evidence, while Passage B uses observations of mother-infant behavior. The passages draw different conclusions, as described in my prephrase, since Passage A concludes that music was a by-product with no adaptive value, while Passage B concludes that music would have had adaptive value for infants. Both parts of this answer choice apply, so this is the right answer.
Answer choice (B): Try to come up with a question that Passage A would be asking. Since Passage A draws conclusions, describing it overall as posing a question doesn't really work.
Answer choice (C): Passage B undermines, rather than attempts to substantiate, Passage A's claim that music was a by-product of the neurological processes that gave rise to language.
Answer choice (D): Neither passage has a stronger tone than the other. Although this answer choice may be tempting if you dislike the other choices, you should be skeptical of answers that are nowhere near your prephrase.
Answer choice (E): The passages draw very different conclusions (as explained above)! This is the opposite of the correct answer.
The correct answer choice is (A).
This question asks for the relationship between the two passages. Since that is something you should always consider when analyzing comparative passages, by the time you get to this question, you should be able to prephrase a relationship fairly quickly. For example, my prephrase is: "Passage A concludes that music developed as a by-product of language, after the author is unable to come up with any adaptive value of musical ability for early humans. Passage B provides one way that music could have had adaptive value." Now, I'll compare it with the answer choices, which are worded much more abstractly.
Answer choice (A): This is the correct answer choice. I need to check two aspects of this answer choice to determine if it is the right answer: 1) Do the passages use different evidence? and 2) Do the passages draw different conclusions? The passages do use different evidence, since Passage A uses neurological evidence, while Passage B uses observations of mother-infant behavior. The passages draw different conclusions, as described in my prephrase, since Passage A concludes that music was a by-product with no adaptive value, while Passage B concludes that music would have had adaptive value for infants. Both parts of this answer choice apply, so this is the right answer.
Answer choice (B): Try to come up with a question that Passage A would be asking. Since Passage A draws conclusions, describing it overall as posing a question doesn't really work.
Answer choice (C): Passage B undermines, rather than attempts to substantiate, Passage A's claim that music was a by-product of the neurological processes that gave rise to language.
Answer choice (D): Neither passage has a stronger tone than the other. Although this answer choice may be tempting if you dislike the other choices, you should be skeptical of answers that are nowhere near your prephrase.
Answer choice (E): The passages draw very different conclusions (as explained above)! This is the opposite of the correct answer.