PrepTest 132, Section 4, Question 4
Paleontologists recently excavated two corresponding sets of dinosaur(77 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(26 more words not shown)
- AIt helps establish(17 more words not shown)
- BIt is a(15 more words not shown)
- CIt provides the(12 more words not shown)
- DIt is presented(10 more words not shown)
- EIt is the(5 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Two dinosaurs took the same turns. Does that mean one was hunting the other? Maybe they were just using the same route.
We don't even know that they left the tracks at the same time. The grazing dinosaur might have passed through first, with the predator following the route days later. Those possibilities make me cautious about the story we're being told.
The author nevertheless draws a first inference from the tracks: the predator was following the grazer and matching its stride. Then the author brings in lions. Modern predators often match their prey's stride just before attacking, so perhaps this dinosaur attacked too. That comparison needs dinosaur behavior to be relevantly like lion behavior. Matching tracks alone doesn't settle that.
What we’re looking for
The question asks about the first inference, not whether the whole story is convincing. What work does “following and matching its stride” do? It gives us the dinosaur behavior to compare with the lions' behavior. That resemblance is then used to support the final claim that an attack followed. The statement is supported by the tracks and also supports the argument's next step.
Working the answers
- A
Nothing here tells us why the conclusion would be scientifically important. The statement is offered as part of the evidence for what happened, not as an explanation of why that discovery matters. A also denies its supporting role, which is precisely the role we need to recognize.
- B
The author accepts this claim and builds on it. The final claim adds that an attack followed; it doesn't replace or reject the idea that the predator was following the grazer. The two claims belong to the same proposed account of what happened.
- CCorrect
The matched stride provides the similarity behind the comparison. The dinosaur supposedly matched the grazer's stride, and lions do that before striking prey. The author uses that shared behavior to infer that the dinosaur also attacked. That's an analogy supporting the final conclusion.
- D
We raised possible objections while reading, but the author doesn't present this statement as a reply to an objection. The statement advances the explanation of the tracks and supplies the behavior used in the comparison.
- E
The overall conclusion goes further: the predator was chasing the grazer and attacked immediately afterward. The statement in the question helps the author reach that conclusion. It is an intermediate step, not where the argument ends.
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