PrepTest 154, Section 3, Question 11
Passage A The path a historical novelist has(486 more words not shown)
Passage A(209 more words not shown)
Passage B(285 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(32 more words not shown)
- AA mistake, as(8 more words not shown)
- BThe creation of(8 more words not shown)
- CKnowingly presenting false(4 more words not shown)
- DLying successfully requires(8 more words not shown)
- ESkillful distortion can(9 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
This question asks for a limit to the authors' agreement. We need a principle A applies to historical fiction that B would resist applying to autobiography. Something B simply doesn't discuss won't establish that resistance.
What we’re looking for
A draws a sharp line between deliberate lies and accidental mistakes. B gives inaccurate memories a valuable role: even when a memory doesn't match reality, its emotional power can be part of the person's experience. Keep that difference in mind as we check the principles.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
A calls an accidental mistake “often unforgivable” and says mistakes detract from a story. B argues that false memories can convey subjective truth and that omitting them can be more misleading than including them. That gives B a reason to resist treating mistaken recollections as unforgivable in autobiography.
- B
Both defend this. A says a good narrative requires lies, and B calls lying nearly unavoidable in an artistically coherent autobiography.
- C
B raises this ethical objection; A doesn't state it as a principle. It fails the requirement that the principle come from A.
- D
B gives us no reason to think successful autobiographical invention may be unconvincing or clumsy. It even emphasizes a “convincingly told tale.” Not repeating A's exact formula about subtlety doesn't amount to rejecting it.
- E
A praises meaningful, memorable drama; B values the emotional experience a story conveys. B's argument gives us no basis for rejecting the idea that skillful distortion can serve those purposes.
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