LSAT 120 – Section 4 – Question 03

LSAT 120 - Section 4 - Question 03

October 2005

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT120 S4 Q03
+LR
+Exp
Most strongly supported +MSS
Conditional Reasoning +CondR
A
2%
157
B
6%
156
C
87%
162
D
4%
154
E
1%
155
129
140
151
 +Easier 146.628 +SubsectionMedium

Professor: The best users of a language are its great authors. However, these authors often use language in ways that are innovative and idiosyncratic, and are therefore less respectful of the strictures of proper usage than most of us are.

Summary

Great authors are the best users of a language. These authors use language in new and unique ways, and so use language in ways that conform less to proper usage rules than others.

Strongly Supported Conclusions

Conforming to rules of proper language usage is not necessary to be a great author.

Innovative and unique uses of language are inconsistent with complete adherence to the rules of proper language usage.

A
People who want to become great writers should not imitate great authors’ use of language.

Unsupported. The way great authors use language might contribute to the quality of their writing. So, there’s no support for a recommendation not to copy great authors’ use of writing.

B
Writers who do not observe proper language usage risk developing a peculiar or idiosyncratic style.

Unsupported. The vast majority of failures to observe proper language usage may involve standard, common errors. Although great writers often have a unique style, this doesn’t mean such style results from failure to observe proper language usage.

C
Those most talented at using a language are not as likely as most other people to observe proper language usage.

Strongly supported. The stimulus tells us that the best users of a language are great authors, who often use language in new and unique ways, which means they do not respect proper language usage as much as most other people.

D
People who use an innovative or idiosyncratic writing style often incur criticism of their language usage.

Unsupported. The stimulus doesn’t tell us whether new and unique writing styles incur criticism. The mere fact that such styles involve failure to observe proper language usage doesn’t imply that anyone criticizes the styles for the way they use language.

E
The standard for what constitutes proper language usage should be set by the best users of a language.

Unsupported. The stimulus doesn’t support any prescriptive claim about how standards “should” (or should not) be set.

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LSAT PrepTest 120 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Reading Comprehension

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

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