PrepTest 132, Section 3, Question 1
The work of South African writer Ezekiel Mphahlele(453 more words not shown)
Based on the passage, with(13 more words not shown)
- AAll works of(8 more words not shown)
- BIt is not(11 more words not shown)
- CLiterary categories are(10 more words not shown)
- DMost works of(10 more words not shown)
- EThe most useful(14 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
Our main-point prediction helps here even though this isn't a main-point question. Mphahlele cares about the message his writing conveys, not whether it fits a critic's preferred category.
What we’re looking for
I'd look for a claim putting that purpose ahead of strict classification, while still checking the particular wording against what he says.
Working the answers
- A
His own writing expresses a vision of the future. That doesn't establish a requirement that every literary work must do so. His broader demand concerns social criticism.
- BCorrect
The final paragraph says he has “little interest in establishing guidelines” separating autobiography from fiction and puts the transmission of ideas ahead of classification. A writer needn't fit a predetermined category to serve that purpose.
- C
He does respond to criticism, but he never says unjustified dismissal is the only situation in which categories are worth discussing.
- D
Drawing details from life doesn't make most novels classifiable as autobiographies. His point is that fact and fiction mix, not that we should move most books from one category into the other.
- E
He mentions prose, poetry, and drama as forms that can convey social criticism. He doesn't rank the categories separating them as the most useful ones.
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