PT150.S1.P3.Q16

PrepTest 150 - Section 1 - Passage 3 - Question 16

Hide analysis

Passage A.

P1

██ █ ████ ███████ ██████ ████ █████████ ███████ █████ ████ ██████ ████████ █████ ████ █████████ █████ ███ ███████ █ ███████ ████ ██ ████████ ███ █████ ███ ███ ███████ ███ █████████ ██████ ██ ████████████ ███████ ███ ██████ ██ █████████ █████████ ███ ███████ ████ ████████ ████ ██ ███████ █████████ ██████████ ████ ████ ████████████ ███ ███████████ ████ ██ ██ ███ █████ ████ ███ █████████ ██ █ █████████ ██████ ██████████ ████████ ██ ████ ██████████ ██████ ██ ███████ ████████ █ ████ ████ ██ ███ ███ ████████ ███ ███ ███████ ████ █████ ███ █████████ ██ ██ ███████ ████ ███ ███████ ██████ ██ ███████████

Borges' observation about literature · Readers of detective novels might every narrative like a detective story
They read with suspicion. The author believes Borges has tapped into a general insight about literature.
P2

███████████ █████████ ██ ███████ ██ ███ █████████ ██████ ████ █████████ ███ ███████████ ██ ██████ ███ ██████ ███ ████ ███ █████████ █████ ███████████ ██ █████████ ██ ███ ███ ██ █████ ███ ██████ █████ ███ ██████████ ██ ███████████ ███ ████ ██████████ ███████ ██████ ████████ ████ ███ █████████████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ █████████ ██ ███ ████████ █████ █████ ████ ██████ █████ █████████ ██ ███ ████ █████ ██ ███ ███ █████ █████ ███ █████ ██████ █████ ████ █ ███ ██ ██████ ████████ █████ ██████ ███ ██████

Borges' perspective · Participation of reader is essential to literature
Genres are united by how people read those texts. (Detective novels are detective novels because people read them with certain conventions, such as reading with suspicion, looking for clues, etc.)

███████ █

P3

███ ████ ██ ███ ██████ ██████ ██████ ██ ███████ ██ ████ ██ █████ ███████ ███████ ████████ █████████████ ███ ███ █████████ ████████████ ██ ████ ██ ████████ ███ ██████████ ███ ███████ ██ ███████████ ███████████████████ ██ ███████ ████████████████ ██ █████ ████ ███ ██████████ █████ ██ █████████ ██████ █████████ ███

Problem with one definition of genre · "Borderline cases" show that genre can't be defined by similar themes in the books
Science fiction in particular has a lot of borderline cases (books that don't fit the thematic similarities of sci-fi well).
█ ████ ████████ ███ ██ ████████████ ███ ███████████ ███████ ██████ ██ ██ ████ ██ ██ █ ███████████ ███████ ███████ ██████████ ███████ ████ ██ ████████ ██████████ ██ ██████████ ███ ██████ ███████ █████████ ███ ███████ █████ ████ ██████ ██ ███ ████ ██ ████ ███ ████ ██ ███ ███████ ████████ ██ █████ ███ ███ █████ ████ ███████ ██ █ █████ ███ █████ █████ ████ ████ ███████ ███████ ██ ███████ █ ██████████ ████████████████ ████ █████ █ ████████████ ████ ███████ ██████████ ████ ████ █████████ ██ ███ ████████ ██████ ████ ████████

Better definition of genre · Based on different reading protocols (ways of reading)
Texts most central to a genre are those written for the purpose of using a particular reading protocol. (So, a detective novel is a detective novel because it was written to take advantage of the norms of reading detective novels.)
P4

███ █████ ████████ ██████ ████ █████████ ██ ██ ███████████ ██ ███ ████████ ████████ ██ ████ ██ ███ ██████████ ██████████ ██████████████ ████ ████████ ████████ ██ ████ ██████ █ ████████ ███████ █████████ ███

Author's recommendation · We should explore the different components of different reading protocols
█████████ ████ ██ ███████ ███████ ██ ████████████ █ ███████ ███████████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ███████ █████████ ██████████ ████ ███████ ████ ███████ ██ ████ ██ ███ ████ █████████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ███ █████ ████ ██ ██ ████ ██████ █████████ ██ ████ ███ ██████████ ███████ ████ ████████ █████ █████ ███████ ███ ██████ ███████ ██ ███ █████ ██████ ██ ███ █████ ███
Example · Poetry vs. prose
We pay more attention to sounds of words in poetry.
████ ███████ ████████ ████ ██ ███ ████████████ ██ ███ █████ ████ ████████ ██████ ██ ███ ███████████ ████████ ██ ███ █████ ██ █████ ███ ██████████ █████████ █████████ ██ ████ ███ ██████████ █████████ ██ ███ ██████████ ███████ ██ █████ ███████████ ███████ ███ █████ ███ ███ █████ ██ ███ █████ ███ ██████████

Example · Science fiction
We pay more attention to how the text suggests differences between our world and the alternate fictional world.
Passage Style
Show answer
16.

Which one of the following ██ ████ █████ ███ █████████████ ██████████ ██ ███ ███ █████████

a

Passage A moves ████ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ████████ ███████ ███████ █ █████ ████ ███ ███████ ██ ███ █████████

This is the best answer. Passage A starts with a specific example — Borges’ lecture. Then it moves to the more general concept of how works are read and genre. Passage B begins more general with how one defines genres based on reading protocols. Then it moves to the specific example of poetry

78%
b

Passage A begins ████ █ ██████████ ██ █ █████████ █████ ███████ ███████ █ ██████ ██ ██ ████ █ ███████████

Passage A doesn’t start with any competing views. There’s no view that’s opposed to Borges’s or the author’s.

3%
c

Both passages respond ██ █ ██████ ██ ███████████████ ██ █████ ████ ███████

Passage A doesn’t respond to any counterexamples to the view that how one reads a text defines its genre.

1%
d

Both passages open ████ █ ███████████ ██ ██ ████████ █████████████ ████ ████ ████ ███████ ██ ████████

Passage A doesn’t begin with any contradiction. We don’t get two things that seem to oppose each other or are otherwise inconsistent.

5%
e

Both passages explore ███ ████████████ ██ █ ███████ ██████████ █████████ ██ ███ ███████

Passage A doesn’t begin with a thought experiment. It merely describes Borges’s view that the detective novel created a certain way of reading. Passage B also doesn’t begin with a thought experiment. It begins instead with criticism of one way to define genres of fiction.

12%

Answer five questions and we'll estimate your score.

It takes about five minutes.

Take the free diagnostic
More free LSAT prep: Sample LSAT questions Full-length diagnostic & practice test All free LSAT resources

Confirm action

Are you sure?