Q24

[Nina]

i was a little bit confused by this question, not sure "the reasons advanced...at the time of its passage" refers to the reasons in the second paragraph or the last paragraph.

any help?
Thanks a lot!

[tommywallach]

Hey Nina,

This question is asking about how the author feels about why the government said it restricted alienability (NA rights to sell "their" land). These are listed in the second paragraph.

The author's opinion can be found primarily in the third paragraph, but we can actually use the first sentence of the fourth paragraph to find real clarity: "When stated rationales for government policies prove empty..." This means the author believes the government's stated rationales were empty. This supports answer choice (E): the author is highly skeptical of those rationales.

Hope that helps!

-t

[mornincounselor]

It has been drilled into our heads, from a number of sources (including your recently published 4th edition of Manhattan RC) that when stuck between two choices in an author's attitude question that we choose the least extreme of the choices. I recall a specific example from the book where the author had a very strong and prominent opinion and yet the answer was the more moderate option.

I'm not sure what sets this question apart, lines 37-39 say that when "government policies prove empty" another model can often provide an explanation. This may be a general conclusion but it doesn't specifically say government's stated rational is without merit in the given case. Furthermore, lines 43-44 states that this group of bureaucrats did benefit, but that doesn't have to mean they alone benefited or that the policy was implemented solely for their benefit. In other words it doesn't exclude the possibility that they benefited indirectly or coincidentally.

All that being said I'm unsure why (D) is incorrect.

[ohthatpatrick]

Sure, if you're stuck guessing between two choices, the one more likely to be correct is the milder one.

But to KNOW you're getting an RC question correct, you seek line references to justify one vs. the other.

Nothing in the world of LSAT is so formulaic that you can reduce it to a universal guarantee. We talk about tendencies because they're useful, but the test will always include exceptions to any "rule", because part of LSAT's way of differentiating high scorers is their ability to think flexibly.

I would just look for line references to indicate the author's attitude toward "the reasons advanced".

"The reasons advanced" are detailed in paragraph two.

"Two main reasons were advanced for the restriction on the NA's ability to sell their lands." (16-18)

How does the author feel about the two reasons advanced?

Line 27-31 says that "both of these arguments bear only on ____ neither offers a reason for prohibiting NA's from transferring land among themselves".

Does he sound mildly questioning or highly skeptical there?

To me, that's definitive. The author thinks these reasons advanced are completely insufficient. Neither one offers a reason for why NA's were restricted from selling land to each other.

If the "reasons advanced" for why NA's couldn't sell land to each other don't have ANY bearing on why NA's couldn't sell their land to each other, then the author must believe that the "reasons advanced" are either moronic or not the real story.

Line 37-38 reinforces that by calling these stated rationales (these "reasons advanced") empty.

The author shows no nuance, no hesitation about using strong language to denounce these supposed reasons. He says they provide no explanation for the alienability restriction and that they are proven empty.

So (E) seems like a much more supported choice than (D).

You seem upset that a rule of thumb you've read would lead you astray, so I just want to encourage you that rules of thumb are not absolutes. You should be exercising your own judgment in each unique situation, letting rules of thumb inform your instincts / intuition. But in the world of RC, line references rule. If you're measuring your answer choice against the language in the passage, you'll end up with a lot of tempting but inaccurate answer choices. To KNOW you're getting a correct answer, you should be proving correct answers to yourself by finding the supporting lines.

Hope this helps.

[mornincounselor]

Didn't mean to seem upset, just inquisitive. Thank you for the response. That clears things up.