PrepTest 145, Section 3, Question 14
Passage A One function of language is to(496 more words not shown)
Passage A(233 more words not shown)
Passage B(271 more words not shown)
Both passages are primarily concerned(8 more words not shown)
- AAre animals capable(9 more words not shown)
- BAre the communications(6 more words not shown)
- CWhat kinds of(8 more words not shown)
- DAre the communication(12 more words not shown)
- EIs there a(12 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
Are animals deliberately communicating, or are their signals merely reactions that happen to affect others? That's the common question. A emphasizes the absence of purposeful attention to listeners' minds; B challenges the assumptions used to deny animals conscious intention. We need the issue both address, even though their answers differ.
Working the answers
- A
Prevaricating means lying. B discusses lying because it requires an intention to deceive, but A doesn't investigate animal deception. This is one route into B's broader issue, not the shared primary concern.
- BCorrect
A asks whether calls that influence others are actually intended to do so. B questions the claim that animals lack conscious intention. Both focus on what lies behind communication, not merely whether signals produce a response.
- C
A mentions food and predators as triggers. But the issue isn't which stimuli most often cause calls. It's whether animals adjust their communication with an understanding of another animal's mental state.
- D
Both discuss primates, but neither organizes the inquiry around comparing their systems with those of all other animals. The main comparison is animal communication and human language.
- E
The disagreement isn't principally about counting how many scientists hold each view. B asks whether a distinction is justified, and A offers reasons for it. Scientific agreement and the merits of the underlying claim are different questions.
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