PrepTest 126, Section 3, Question 14
Archaeologist: An ancient stone building at our excavation(55 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(8 more words not shown)
- AMost of the(17 more words not shown)
- BMost of the(26 more words not shown)
- CMost of the(20 more words not shown)
- DMost of the(8 more words not shown)
- ENo quartz has(14 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
What if this was a rich person's house?
The quartz and granite make the building unusual, since only limestone occurs naturally nearby and most buildings used limestone as their only stone. But unusual materials don't automatically mean an unusual purpose. Someone might have had the money or access to build a home with stones that other residents didn't use.
We aren't even told the proportions. Perhaps the building was mostly limestone with a little quartz and granite. Either way, the missing connection is the same: how does the choice of stone tell us whether people lived there?
What we’re looking for
To strengthen the archaeologist's argument, I'd want a link between materials and purpose. For example, evidence that imported stones tended to be used for temples rather than homes would help. We don't need the exact temple example, but we do need a reason the nonlocal materials point toward something other than a dwelling.
Working the answers
- A
Be careful with “at least in part.” Our building also contains limestone, so it fits that description. Learning that most dwellings contained some limestone doesn't distinguish this building from a dwelling. The unusual evidence is the additional quartz and granite, and A doesn't tell us what those materials suggest about a building's use.
- BCorrect
Most buildings that weren't dwellings contained some nonlocal stone. That connects the unusual feature of this building with the kind of use the archaeologist proposes. Its quartz and granite now fit a pattern found among buildings used for other purposes.
This doesn't prove that every building with nonlocal stone was a nondwelling. A wealthy person's home remains possible. But the question asks for support, and B gives the material choice relevance to the proposed classification instead of merely repeating that the building is unusual.
- C
Using both quartz and granite may be unusual even among buildings with nonlocal stone. That still doesn't tell us what any of those buildings were used for. An unusual combination could appear in a dwelling or a temple. We need the connection to purpose.
- D
We already know most buildings at the site were dwellings. Repeating that doesn't help explain why this particular building should be treated as an exception. We need information about the feature that supposedly sets it apart.
- E
Being the only known building with quartz would make it special, but special how? It could still be the wealthy resident's house. The absence of quartz elsewhere doesn't establish a distinction between homes and buildings used for something else.
More Strengthen questions
Learn the LSAT our way
Our platform drills Strengthen questions at your level and adjusts as you improve.