PrepTest 104, Section 4, Question 22
Words like "employee," "payee," and "detainee" support the(102 more words not shown)
The reasoning in the argument(26 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Who is doing the action, and who is receiving it?
That is the useful distinction behind the discussion of -ee words. An employer employs an employee; someone pays a payee or detains a detainee. The person named by the -ee word receives someone else's action.
“Absentee” can work differently. The person can simply stay away. We don't need a second person who performs the act of absenting them. That's why the original broad rule needed its added condition about two parties.
What we’re looking for
This question asks for another word that works like “absentee.” So I'll test each word by putting it into a plain sentence. Does someone else do the named action to this person, or does the person do it? Matching the spelling alone won't help; every choice ends in -ee.
Working the answers
- A
An honoree receives an honor from someone. For example, an organization honors a person for their work. That gives us the two roles in the original pattern: the one doing the honoring and the person honored. It doesn't match the absentee's role.
- B
Someone appoints an appointee to a position. The word identifies the person receiving that appointment. Like “employee,” it fits an action directed at one person by another.
- C
Someone nominates a nominee. Again, the word identifies the person nominated, rather than a person performing the action independently. This fits the ordinary pattern we're trying to contrast with “absentee.”
- D
I can see why this might give us pause: someone might ask to transfer. But a transferee can be the person transferred by someone else, as when an employer moves an employee from one department to another. The word readily fits the two-party pattern. Compare that with E's much clearer match.
- ECorrect
An escapee escapes. The person performs the action rather than receiving the action of someone who “escapes” them. Think of a person escaping from prison: other people might help, but the escapee is still the one who escapes.
That matches the absentee, who can be the one absenting themselves. In both cases, the -ee word can name the actor instead of the recipient of somebody else's action.
More Parallel Reasoning questions
Learn the LSAT our way
Our platform drills Parallel Reasoning questions at your level and adjusts as you improve.