I just encountered in test 32 section 2 question 15:
"which of the following phrases best conveys the author's attitude to xyz"
a. "failed to address" (line 9)
b "highly diverse" (line 10)
...
Was wondering for these question types, is it only necessary that the general meaning of the phrase (as its used in the text) align with the author's view on xyz, or does the phrase need to literally connote the authors attitude to xyz on the named line. If its the latter I feel the need to go back and check the meaning on the referenced line which im hoping its not.
Would appreciate the input, this is my only question for RC i've come across and dont want to buy a bible just to answer it
"Which of the following phrases" in quotes RC questions Forum
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ray42
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Blueprint LSAT
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Re: "Which of the following phrases" in quotes RC questions
I think you may be misunderstanding the question slightly.
Since the answer choices are actually quoted phrases from the text, you aren't trying to match them up to figure out which one is most like the author's attitude, you are trying to figure out which one of them is the phrase that best indicates to you what the author's attitude is. You are being asked to pick which phrase is the reason you know what the author's attitude to "xyz" is in the first place.
You can likely eliminate some of the answers without referring back to the text. Any answers that you recall did not refer to "xyz" or are clearly not indicators attitude/value judgments/opinion statements can be eliminated. Trickier might be answers that are about "xyz" and are not obviously neutral or that do express an opinion, but that opinion is attributed to someone other than the author. Depending on what you recall from your read-through and your notes you may well need to check two or more of these citations by referring to the line-number given. The good news is it shouldn't take long to weed out the incorrect answers if you know what you are looking for.
The other good news is that if you are given the same prompt, but the answer choices are not quotes from the text, but rather novel phrases you are supposed to match up to the tone of the passage, you won't have five citations to check, you just need to do the analysis you were talking about in your post.
If you come across a question like that, pick the answer that has the most direct support in the passage. The more extrapolating and inferring you are doing, the greater the risk that you are making assumptions from your own general knowledge and biases that aren't actually supported by the text.
If you get a question like that, take a second to frame your understanding of the author's attitude to "XYZ" in your head. If you have a pretty good idea of what it is, eliminate the answers that are obviously wrong because they convey the opposite attitude or are off-topic entirely.
If you have more than one answer left, consider the strength/tone of the passage and the logical force of the author's conclusion. For example: if the author generally favors "xyz" but has caveats/exceptions eliminate answers like "unqualified approval" or other superlatives.
If you still have more than one answer left, go back to the passage and look for anything you might have missed. Ask why the answers you have remaining would be correct? Is it for the same reason? Do they both have the same degree of support? If so, did you mistakenly eliminate any of the others. There will be one clear correct answer and a definite reason why each other answer is wrong.
Since the answer choices are actually quoted phrases from the text, you aren't trying to match them up to figure out which one is most like the author's attitude, you are trying to figure out which one of them is the phrase that best indicates to you what the author's attitude is. You are being asked to pick which phrase is the reason you know what the author's attitude to "xyz" is in the first place.
You can likely eliminate some of the answers without referring back to the text. Any answers that you recall did not refer to "xyz" or are clearly not indicators attitude/value judgments/opinion statements can be eliminated. Trickier might be answers that are about "xyz" and are not obviously neutral or that do express an opinion, but that opinion is attributed to someone other than the author. Depending on what you recall from your read-through and your notes you may well need to check two or more of these citations by referring to the line-number given. The good news is it shouldn't take long to weed out the incorrect answers if you know what you are looking for.
The other good news is that if you are given the same prompt, but the answer choices are not quotes from the text, but rather novel phrases you are supposed to match up to the tone of the passage, you won't have five citations to check, you just need to do the analysis you were talking about in your post.
If you come across a question like that, pick the answer that has the most direct support in the passage. The more extrapolating and inferring you are doing, the greater the risk that you are making assumptions from your own general knowledge and biases that aren't actually supported by the text.
If you get a question like that, take a second to frame your understanding of the author's attitude to "XYZ" in your head. If you have a pretty good idea of what it is, eliminate the answers that are obviously wrong because they convey the opposite attitude or are off-topic entirely.
If you have more than one answer left, consider the strength/tone of the passage and the logical force of the author's conclusion. For example: if the author generally favors "xyz" but has caveats/exceptions eliminate answers like "unqualified approval" or other superlatives.
If you still have more than one answer left, go back to the passage and look for anything you might have missed. Ask why the answers you have remaining would be correct? Is it for the same reason? Do they both have the same degree of support? If so, did you mistakenly eliminate any of the others. There will be one clear correct answer and a definite reason why each other answer is wrong.
