PrepTest 120, Section 4, Question 3
Professor: The best users of a language are(32 more words not shown)
The Professor's statements, if true,(7 more words not shown)
- APeople who want(12 more words not shown)
- BWriters who do(12 more words not shown)
- CThose most talented(17 more words not shown)
- DPeople who use(13 more words not shown)
- EThe standard for(15 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
The best users of language break its rules? That may sound odd if we think being good at a language means following its rules perfectly. But that's the contrast the professor gives us: great authors are the best users, and they are less respectful of proper usage than most people.
“Idiosyncratic” means distinctive or peculiar to the person. These authors use language in their own innovative ways. We might wonder whether great speakers deserve a place among the best users too, but this question asks what the professor's statements support. We need to work with that description, not replace it with our own.
What we’re looking for
Connect the two claims. The people identified as the best at using a language are also described as less likely to stick to its usual rules. That's our prediction. We haven't been told how to become a great writer or how the rules ought to change.
Working the answers
- A
What should aspiring writers do? The professor doesn't tell us. Describing how great authors use language is different from advising other people to avoid copying them. Their unusual style might be worth imitating, or it might not; neither recommendation follows here.
- B
This makes breaking the rules a route to developing an unusual style. The professor describes great authors' innovative and distinctive usage, then says those authors are less respectful of the rules. That doesn't establish what happens to writers generally when they disregard proper usage. A writer could break rules without developing a distinctive style at all.
- CCorrect
The most talented users are the great authors identified in the first sentence. The second sentence says those authors are less respectful of proper usage than most of us. C connects those descriptions: being especially good at using the language doesn't mean being especially likely to follow its rules. Here, the professor says the opposite comparison holds.
- D
We don't know whether anyone criticizes these authors for their style. People might criticize them, praise them, or ignore their rule-breaking. None of those reactions is stated in the passage.
- E
This recommends letting the best users set the rules. The professor only describes how those users behave under the rules that exist. We haven't been given a reason to conclude that the rules should be rewritten to match that behavior.
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