PrepTest 108, Section 1, Question 26
What it means to "explain" something in science(447 more words not shown)
Based on the passage, linguists(40 more words not shown)
- Aspeakers of English(15 more words not shown)
- Bspeakers of English(14 more words not shown)
- C"The ball is(13 more words not shown)
- D"ball" and "red"(9 more words not shown)
- E"ball" and "red"(15 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
For these linguists, the connection depends on agreement. So what makes “The ball is red” an accepted description is that English speakers have agreed to use it that way. We need that explanation, not the rival claim that the connection is built into the world itself.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
Speakers have accepted that the sentence applies to the physical relationship being described. That shared acceptance is the convention we're looking for. It doesn't require us to say that agreement changes the ball's physical color.
- B
Nothing says these linguists reject synonyms because they are less elegant. The issue is shared meaning, not a preference for one phrasing over another.
- C
This is the essential-correspondence view—the other side of the debate.
- D
A ball is a thing, and redness is a property. But assigning those labels doesn't explain why these linguists would accept the statement as true. It leaves out the agreed convention.
- E
“Ball” and “red” aren't presented as mathematical concepts. Treating mathematics as a language doesn't turn every ordinary word into mathematics.
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