LSAT PrepTest 157 - Section 1 - Passage 2 - Question 8

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Grammarians of the prescriptive school take it as part of their task to distinguish correct from incorrect usage in language and thereby to encourage the former. ████ ███████ ████ ██ ██ █████ ████ ████ ██ █████████ ████ ██ ██████████ █ ██████████ ████████ ████████ ████ ███████ ████ █████████ ███

Prescriptivists · Distinguish correct from incorrect language use

Prescriptivists want to encourage correct use.

Descriptivists · Describe actual usage

Descriptivists just want to describe how language is used. They think prescriptivists will fail to stop “incorrect” use.

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Example · Supporting Descriptivists

“Data” is used as a singular noun rather than plural. That's one example of usage judged by prescriptivists to be incorrect, but over time has come to be accepted.

Descriptivists' Objection 1 · Scientific objection (language transformation inevitable)

Descriptivists object that language change is governed by laws similar to scientific laws. Prescriptivists can’t change them.

Descriptivists' Objection 2 · Egalitarian objection (imposing elite standards on language)

Descriptivists object that prescriptivists are immorally trying to impose their own language practices, which are those of the educated and rich elite.

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Prescriptivists' Counter to 1 · Language laws not like science

Prescriptivists counter that laws governing language aren’t like scientific laws. We can influence language usage.

Prescriptivists' Counter to 2 · Inclusive aims of prescriptivists

Prescriptivists say that having a “correct” usage is important for free exchange of ideas. The goal of prescriptivists is to include, not exclude.

Passage Style

Critique or debate

The passage most strongly suggests ████ ███ ██████ █████ █████ ████ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ███████████

Question Type

Author’s perspective

Implied

The author expressed a strong opinion in the last paragraph. What was that opinion? The author defends prescriptivists from criticism that laws of language transformation are like science. The author believes that we can change how people use language by persuasion.

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The author never suggests a need for a new approach that synthesizes the two language camps. In fact, the author might slightly favor the prescriptivist approach, based on her defense of that position.

Although the prescriptivist ████ ███ █ ████ ████████ ██ █████ ██████ ██ ██████████ ███ ███████████ ██ █████ ██████ ███ █████████ ███████ ██████

The author never states an opinion about etymologies of words (origins of words) and whether they should or should not influence usage.

Moral considerations should ██████████ ████ ██ ███████ ██ ███████████████ █████████ ███████ ████████ ██████

We don’t get the author’s opinion about whether moral considerations should or should not influence usage. Although the egalitarian objection described in the second paragraph views the prescriptivists’ approach to language as immoral, the author never expresses any agreement or disagreement with that view. The author simply tells us what the egalitarian objection is.

Scientific methods can ██████████ ███████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ███████ ███████ ████████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ███████ ████ ████ █████ ██ ████████

The author never expresses an opinion about the value of scientific methods to studying grammar. Although the author does believe that language usage is not like scientific laws, that doesn’t mean the author believes scientific methods can’t help study language. Maybe we can use science to study how language is actually used among different peoples, or to study the difficulty of following different language rules.

20%

The successful attempts ██ ███████████████ ██ ████████ ████████ ███ ████████ ████ ███████████ ████ █████████ ████ ██████████ ███████ ██ ████████ ██ ███████████

(E) is supported by the author’s opinion in the last paragraph. The author thinks the descriptivists’ scientific objection fails because there are attempts to regulate language that have succeeded.

66%

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PrepTest 157 - Section 1 - Passage 2 - Question 8

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