Q3

[SecondWind180]

What's the best way to attack this question? Use the brute force of evaluating each answer?

[ohthatpatrick]

Since the question asks about 'author's attitude', start by asking yourself, "When did the author's attitude ever appear in this passage?"

(If you don't already know the answer to that question, then you should be really taking this to heart in terms of how you read LSAT RC passages ... the #1 thing we're reading for is those moments/lines when the author reveals any opinion ... sometimes it can be over the course of a couple paragraphs ... sometimes it only happens with an adverb such as "Morris fortunately adopted different hiring practices" ... most often, the author's opinion comes after a BUT/YET/HOWEVER or at the end of a passage)

So where in this passage did we hear the author's voice?

Initially, I would be thinking, "DID we hear the author's voice?" This seems mainly like an informative retelling of a specific case.

The only real opportunities for author's attitude would have been how he prefaced the Mashpee example or how he summed up its implications (so basically the beginning of the passage or the end).

Also, for these answer choices, keep in mind that the sentence they point us to must ACTUALLY have an attitude word in it. You don't want to pick an answer that states a fact, even if you know that the author has a positive/negative reaction to that fact. You need to pick an answer choice that actually IS the positive/negative reaction.

If we just scan the five answer choices, do any of the phrases sound factual vs. opinionated?

The word that jumps out most to me is "failure", because that is a negatively charged word.

All the other answer choices sound neutral, factual.

So I would start with (E), not only because it has the most opinionated word, but also because it comes from the final sentence.

(B), (C), and (D) come from within the re-telling of the Mashpee story. The Mashpee story was a factual recounting, so I wouldn't expect to find author's attitude in that range.

Does the sentence (E) come from indicate the author's attitude?

Yes, because the final sentence indicates that the author thinks that the court's failure to accommodate alternative modes of testimony/discourse has resulted in unfairness.

== other answers ==
(A) this sentence is factual. We later learn that the author has a negative attitude towards this fact, but this phrase itself is not opinionated.

(B) Completely factual.

(C) Like (A), factual, even though later we learn that the author isn't happy with this situation.

(D) This sentence is the town's point of view, so it can't possibly express the author's attitude.

Hope this helps.

[SecondWind180]

(If you don't already know the answer to that question, then you should be really taking this to heart in terms of how you read LSAT RC passages ... the #1 thing we're reading for is those moments/lines when the author reveals any opinion ... sometimes it can be over the course of a couple paragraphs ... sometimes it only happens with an adverb such as "Morris fortunately adopted different hiring practices" ... most often, the author's opinion comes after a BUT/YET/HOWEVER or at the end of a passage)

The adverb "precisely" in D is actually what caused me to bite on D. However, I didn't absolutely love it when I chose it. Looking closely at the question stem again, the question asks about the author's opinion on the courts decision which is on line 51.

We can rule out A-D with significant confidence based on the fact that A-D are in lines prior to line 51, no? (Obviously, I would read all the answers though)

Also, for these answer choices, keep in mind that the sentence they point us to must ACTUALLY have an attitude word in it. You don't want to pick an answer that states a fact, even if you know that the author has a positive/negative reaction to that fact. You need to pick an answer choice that actually IS the positive/negative reaction.

Awesome tips! Thanks again!