PrepTest 135, Section 4, Question 12
The best jazz singers use their voices much(55 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(27 more words not shown)
- AIt is the(17 more words not shown)
- BIt is the(17 more words not shown)
- CIt is a(21 more words not shown)
- DIt is a(18 more words not shown)
- EIt is a(17 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
A singer can shape a voice as a musician shapes the sound of an instrument. The Billie Holiday example makes that idea concrete: she treated her voice as a horn and reshaped melody and words for greater impact.
Then the author points in the other direction. Jazz horn players imitate the expressive movements of a voice. Put the two observations together, and we get the final claim that jazz consists largely of voicelike horns and hornlike voices.
We might ask whether these observations justify 'largely' across jazz as a whole. But the role question doesn't require us to settle that. It asks what the first claim is doing in this argument.
What we’re looking for
Trace both connections. The Billie Holiday example gives support to the claim about the best jazz singers. That claim then helps support the final description of jazz. So the first claim both receives support and passes support onward. Calling it a premise is a good start, but it has a supporting example of its own.
Working the answers
- A
The first statement isn't the main conclusion. The author ultimately draws a broader conclusion about both singers and horn players. A correctly imagines a chain of support but puts the targeted statement at the wrong end of that chain.
- B
There is another conclusion: jazz consists largely of voicelike horns and hornlike voices. The first statement is therefore not the only conclusion. Nor are all the other statements being used to establish it; the statement about horn players supplies the other half of the final claim.
- CCorrect
Evidence is provided for the first statement through the Billie Holiday example. The first statement then supports the main conclusion's 'hornlike voices' component. This is an intermediate conclusion: it is supported by something else and also acts as a reason for the overall conclusion.
- D
This gets the supporting role partly right but denies that evidence is provided for the statement. The Billie Holiday example is that evidence. An example can support a general claim even if it doesn't conclusively establish it.
- E
This describes the Billie Holiday statement's position in the chain: it supports the claim about singers, which then supports the main conclusion. But we're asked about the claim about singers itself. That claim is the middle step, not the evidence feeding into the middle step.
More Role/Main Point questions
Learn the LSAT our way
Our platform drills Role/Main Point questions at your level and adjusts as you improve.