PrepTest 158, Section 2, Question 11
The chorus in a play, like a narrator(80 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(8 more words not shown)
- AThe narrator in(5 more words not shown)
- BThe voice of(11 more words not shown)
- CInformation necessary for(14 more words not shown)
- DInformation introduced by(18 more words not shown)
- EAuthors sometimes use(11 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Can't a narrator introduce inconsistent information too?
At first, the comparison makes sense. A chorus in a play and a narrator in a novel can both tell us things without speaking from one character's point of view. Imagine being told that Bob went to the store and met someone there. That information needn't come from Bob saying it or from the other person explaining it. The author has a way to supply context and comment on the action from outside those characters' perspectives.
Then the argument tries to separate the two devices: the chorus sometimes gives information inconsistent with the rest of the play, so it isn't equivalent to the narrator. But we've only been told about the chorus. If a narrator can also contradict other information in a novel, how does this feature distinguish them?
What we’re looking for
That's the missing assumption I'd look for. The author is treating inconsistency as something a chorus can introduce but a narrator cannot. For that reason to establish a difference, we need the narrator side of the comparison: a narrator never introduces information inconsistent with the rest of the novel.
Working the answers
- A
Deception isn't the same as inconsistency. Information can conflict without anyone deliberately trying to deceive, and a deceptive account can remain internally consistent. The argument's stated distinction concerns conflicting information, so a rule about a narrator's honesty doesn't supply the assumption we need.
- B
Whether a play with a chorus sometimes also needs a narrator doesn't settle the comparison. We need to know whether a narrator in a novel can introduce inconsistent information. B says nothing about that.
- C
A chorus might supply information the audience needs to understand the play. That explains a useful function, but it doesn't show how a chorus differs from a narrator. In fact, the opening already describes the two as sharing a role in giving context. We need the missing difference, not another possible use of the chorus.
- DCorrect
This gives the narrator the restriction the author needs: its information can never conflict with the rest of the novel. A chorus can introduce that kind of inconsistency; a narrator cannot. That turns the observed feature of the chorus into a difference between the two.
- E
This tells us why an author might use a chorus to mislead the audience. The reason for doing so doesn't establish whether a narrator could do the same thing. Even deliberate misdirection by a chorus wouldn't distinguish the devices without information about the narrator.
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