PrepTest 134, Section 4, Question 12

Working the answers

• A

  Teaching table manners may simply be intended to improve table manners. The author doesn't make maintaining ethnic ties the primary purpose of every such use.

• B

  This initially sounds like the heritage function we read about. But “any community” extends it to every community that frequently uses proverbs. The account establishes this function in Mexican American communities, not that universal rule.

• C

  Sharing sayings with Spanish speakers elsewhere doesn't establish typical usage worldwide. We aren't given a comparison of how those other communities use the proverbs.

• D
  Correct

  Put the opening definition together with the beginning of paragraph two. A proverb is a self-contained saying understandable without a particular verbal context. Yet what a speaker means by using it in a particular situation depends on the social context. A saying can have an intelligible lesson on its own while its use as advice, teasing, or a warning depends on the interaction.

• E

  Peer relationships are a frequent focus here, but we aren't told that teaching children about them distinguishes Mexican American communities from other U.S. communities. Others might address the same topic through different methods.