PrepTest 111, Section 4, Question 3
In speech, when words or sentences are ambiguous,(41 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(9 more words not shown)
- AThe primary function(16 more words not shown)
- BThe intended meaning(17 more words not shown)
- CIt is easier(21 more words not shown)
- DA writer's intention(8 more words not shown)
- EThe writer's arrangement(14 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
The same words can come across differently depending on how someone says them. A gesture or a change in voice can help a listener decide which meaning was intended.
A reader doesn't have the writer standing there to supply those signals. The writer has to do the work on the page, through the choice and arrangement of words and sentences. That's what this passage is calling style. The comparison makes sense; I don't need to invent a disagreement with it.
What we’re looking for
We're asked what is most strongly supported. A fairly direct restatement could be enough here, such as the point that writers cannot communicate their intention through the speaker's gestures and vocal tone. I'll look for an answer that stays with the stated relationship between the available signals and the way meaning is communicated.
Working the answers
- A
The passage describes one function of style: helping communicate what the writer means. It doesn't establish that this is style's primary function. There might be other functions, and we haven't been given a ranking of their importance. A adds that ranking to a claim about one use.
- BCorrect
The final sentence says the reader detects the writer's intention from the arrangement of words and sentences. B restates that relationship: the arrangement helps indicate the intended meaning. 'In part' is appropriately limited; we don't need to say the arrangement is the only thing that matters.
- C
We aren't told which task is easier. A listener has gesture and vocal tone available, while a reader has style. Having different kinds of information doesn't by itself establish that one person has an easier time interpreting the intended meaning. We would need a comparison of difficulty that the passage doesn't give.
- D
Different readers might sometimes disagree, but the passage doesn't say they always interpret a writer differently. Readers could detect the same intention from the same arrangement of words. D makes a sweeping claim about variation among readers when the passage is explaining how a reader detects meaning.
- E
Communicating meaning and having aesthetic value are different matters. Writing could make its meaning clear without being especially beautiful. The passage doesn't discuss what makes writing aesthetically valuable, much less establish that word and sentence arrangement completely determines that value.
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