PrepTest 116, Section 1, Question 13

What we’re looking for

Working the answers

• A
  Correct

  In a year of recordings of the same family at home, departures from English occurred only when situational factors changed significantly. That makes a situational account more plausible for this family's behavior. It doesn't conclusively disprove the interpretation of a different recording period, but the question only asks what casts doubt on it.

• B

  Situations recurring without switching don't show that the switches we did observe lacked a rhetorical purpose. Those situations might favor English only, or the speakers might have no particular reason to add emphasis. B doesn't establish a competing explanation for their Spanish.

• C

  They can express humor or intimacy in English too. The claim isn't that Spanish is the only way to express those attitudes; it's that they sometimes switch to Spanish for emphasis.

• D

  Answering the researchers in English tells us nothing against their explanation of the earlier Spanish.

• E

  They may not have considered the habit until asked. We already know they initially failed to notice the Spanish. Being prompted to describe its purpose doesn't mean it had no purpose beforehand.