PrepTest 104, Section 1, Question 20
A poem is any work of art that(72 more words not shown)
The statements above, if true,(8 more words not shown)
- AIf a creation(18 more words not shown)
- BAn example of(12 more words not shown)
- CIf a novel(20 more words not shown)
- DLimericks constitute a(4 more words not shown)
- EIf a symphony(16 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
A novel can also be a poem. Those labels don't have to be separate boxes.
The first sentence gives us the test: a work of art that uses some musical characteristics of language qualifies as a poem. It doesn't have to use every feature listed. Meter could be enough; rhyme could be enough. We still need the work-of-art part, too.
Now apply that definition to the other categories. A novel usually doesn't use those musical features, but “usually doesn't” leaves room for one that does. If that novel is a work of art and meets the definition of a poem, it can belong to both groups. Similarly, a symphony rarely involves language, but a symphony that did use language in the required way could overlap with poems. Neither category is automatically excluded.
The limerick has a different problem. Whatever musical features it uses, the passage says it isn't art. Under this definition, it is missing a requirement for being a poem. Our usual ideas about limericks don't override the definition we've been given.
What we’re looking for
The question asks what these statements support. We have definitions to apply, rather than an argument to fix. I'll check each choice against the requirements and leave room for the overlaps the passage allows.
Working the answers
- A
These are not presented as the only possible forms of art. A painting or sculpture could be art without belonging to any of the three listed categories; nothing in the passage excludes that possibility. Defining a poem and discussing novels and symphonies does not give us a complete list of everything that counts as art.
- B
Rhyme is one example of a musical characteristic, not a requirement every poem must meet. Blank verse might use meter or another musical feature. If it is also a work of art, the absence of rhyme would not prevent it from satisfying the definition.
- CCorrect
This novel meets both parts of the definition: it is a work of art, and it uses musical characteristics of language. Meter and rhyme are explicitly listed examples. That makes it a poem. We also know it is a novel because C tells us so; becoming a poem doesn't cancel that description.
The statement that novels usually lack those features allows this exception. We don't need the information about symphonies or limericks to establish C.
- D
Calling a limerick poetry because that's how we ordinarily classify it would import a definition the passage isn't using. Here, a poem must be a work of art, and limericks are expressly excluded from art. The musical features alone don't get them into the category. We cannot use D to create a nonartistic exception to the stated definition.
- E
We have not been given a rule that musical features are necessary for something to be art. The passage discusses a feature a symphony may exploit; it does not establish that this is its only possible basis for being a work of art. E adds that requirement.
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