Q17

[daijob]

Why would Valdez would agree with D? I think the lines are basically from 55-60, and maybe 24-29 and 31-32, but especially the last one is the author's opinion, not Valdez. I originally chose C....

[ohthatpatrick]

Question stems that use "inferred" / "implies" / "suggests" / "most likely to agree" will give us correct answers that DO have specific lines as support, but the language will sound somewhat paraphrased.

Meanwhile, the incorrect answers will almost always exhibit one or more of these qualities:
- too strong
- comparison (that was never made)
- out of scope (new topic)
- opposite

On a first pass through these choices, I mainly look for which ones have obvious "red flag" wording vs. which ones make weaker, safer claims.

(A) "ill-suited" is a little harsh.

(B) CC should have done more is a bit of a harsh accusation. There's no whining present.

(C) "Avant-garde" is never mentioned, and "largely irrelevant" is pretty strong.

(D) "does NOT require" is incredibly weak and safe.

(E) "should be evaluated INDEPENDENTLY" is pretty strong. (this is somewhat contradicted by Valdez's idea that the "acto should suggest a solution to the problems".

(A) and (C) are both forcing an inference that because actos was DISTINCT from Carpas / Europe, Valdez had some NEGATIVE opinion toward Carpas / Europe.

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I don't immediately pick (D) based on its safer wording, but I do START by analyzing (D).

If someone said, "actors REQUIRE formal training in order to be good", that would sound really extreme. NO ONE has EVER been good without formal training? Jeez.

Saying that actors DON'T REQUIRE formal training to be good is super weak. It just means that "at least one actor was good without formal training".

All we would need to support this from the passage is ONE example of a good performance from an untrained actor.

It's actually pretty tough to find such a thing. It never mentions whether the farm workers were formally trained or not (it does say in lines 47-49 that they were familiar with and influenced by carpas, which is an informal genre, performed in tents, to working class audiences.

But it largely seems like LSAT wants us to use a little outside knowledge / common sense. Valdez called farm workers up onto a "stage", on the flatbed of a truck. And from this, an artistic movement sprung.

So (D) is safe within the notion that Valdez was clearly not a theater snob.

[JosephV]

(C) "largely irrelevant" is pretty strong.

Can we not throw out (C) simply because the passage never talks about "avant-garde" theatre? Thanks.

[ohthatpatrick]

Yes, I should edit my original post. Thanks.