PrepTest 154, Section 3, Question 9
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(20 more words not shown)
- AThe position that(12 more words not shown)
- BThough it is(17 more words not shown)
- CThere is a(9 more words not shown)
- DThe best writers(14 more words not shown)
- EThere is a(10 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
We need a claim B makes that A doesn't. Agreement about the usefulness of invention won't distinguish them. One difference we noticed is B's discomfort: the writer defends falsehood as practically necessary while still calling that position illogical and unethical.
What we’re looking for
Those two reactions can coexist. Saying “I need to do this to write the work” doesn't necessarily mean “I have no ethical objection to doing it.”
Working the answers
- ACorrect
At the start of B's final paragraph, the writer describes the position practical experience has produced as “patently illogical and unethical.” That is a judgment about the position being defended, not merely about lying in newspaper articles. A never makes the corresponding ethical claim.
- B
A says some lies are too obvious and alienate readers. That cannot be a claim made by B but absent from A.
- C
The distinction between intentional lies and accidental mistakes comes explicitly from A's second paragraph. It fails the required direction.
- D
Neither writer compares the skill of autobiographers who also write fiction with the skill of those who don't. Defending invention in autobiography doesn't establish which writers produce the best autobiographies.
- E
A directly contrasts successful, subtle inventions with obvious ones that alienate readers. Whether B might accept that distinction isn't enough: A plainly makes it, so it cannot distinguish B from A.
More Detail questions
Learn the LSAT our way
Our platform drills Detail questions at your level and adjusts as you improve.