Q19

[msslater]

It was hard to determine both the Main Point and Primary purpose of this passage due to the last sentence in P1 starting with the Author's "BUT."


Can somebody explain why the Answer is D to this question and how you were able to cross out the other AC's. (Especially A)

Thx

[ohthatpatrick]

First of all, it sounds like you might be confused about the correct answer, which is (C).

In terms of how to get there, I try to read RC passages for a Most Valuable Sentence. Sometimes you need to pick two important sentences, but often (if not typically) you can really pinpoint one sentence that acts as the most purpose-driven sentence. And you'll find that the correct answer to Main point and Primary Purpose frequently paraphrases this sentence.

The two most common patterns associated with the MVS are that it frequently comes after the first important but/yet/however of the passage ... and that it frequently comes toward the end of the first paragraph.

So the sentence you identified, lines 10-16, is definitely what I would have chosen as the MVS.

The "But" at the beginning of these sentences is normally an indication that the author is through giving us background information, historical context, or other people's ideas and is ready to shift into his primary focus.

This sentence also has the "while ____, ____" structure.

Whenever we see
despite ____, ____
although ____, ____
while ____, ____

we want to think:
the 1st half is either a counterpoint that the author is conceding to his opponent or it's just a relatively unimportant part of the sentence.
the 2nd half is the what the author is really trying to convey/stress.

So the 2nd half of this sentence is saying that Toni Morrison, in Jazz, was the first African American writer to use a musical genre as a structuring principle.

The topic sentence of the 2nd paragraph reinforces this idea, and the wrap-up 4th paragraph as well comes back to the way the musical genre of jazz relates to the form of Morrison's novel.

So for Q19, the correct answer (C) matches up well with the overall topic of how Morrison used jazz as a structuring principle in he novel Jazz.

== other answers ==
(A) This is just too vague and broad, not attuned enough to the framing idea that "Morrison structured her novel the way jazz music from the 20's was structured". Although several things about how Morrison wrote Jazz are discussed, they are all enfolded under the idea of making the genre of jazz a structuring principle to her novel. So that kinda only counts as ONE contribution. (I agree, though, this is TOUGH to get rid of ... there's nothing really inaccurate about what it says ... the author at the end even says that Morrison helped to redefine the possibilities for narrative point of view ... but that's still because of the overall idea of mimicking jazz as a genre).

If you were down to (A) and (C) on this question, you might wanna ask yourself this:
"Which is more likely to be a trap answer?"
I think (A) is more likely to be the trap because it sounds generic and applicable to any passage that discusses a writer who did something innovative. (C) is more focused on the specific emphasis the author was trying to convey. LSAT rewards us for understanding that more specific thrust to the conversation.

(B) too narrow. Although this happens in lines 10-16, the passage is not about discussing other writers' works.

(D) The author is NOT trying to ultimately reconcile music and literature, just discussing a writer who used music as a way of structuring one of her novels.

(E) "Thematic concerns" is not a good match for "structural principle". This answer choice is similar to (A) on Q15, main point, that made it seem like the novel was noteworthy because it discussed jazz (as opposed to being organized the way a jazz ensemble performs a piece of music).

Hope this helps.

[ShehryarB30]

But the passage is talking about Duke Ellington as well so it is actually describing work aspects of two authors no?