Unplugged Practice Test: Logical Reasoning Set 1, Question 14 (Role of the Statement)
Taking the test? Finish it first. This page shows the answer.
- Role questions ask what job a single claim does in the argument.
- Find the main conclusion first. Then ask whether the claim is that conclusion, supports it, or is a point the argument pushes back on.
- Every question on this test is original, written to the same logical skeletons as real questions, and Steve checked every one himself before release.
The question
Devan: The evidence that borrowed words are crowding out native vocabulary keeps piling up, so the conclusion that speakers must return to an uncorrupted form of the language is impossible to resist. Nadia: Taking in words from neighboring languages is an ordinary part of how languages work, and speakers have done it for as long as languages have been in contact. Your objection is therefore misplaced.
14. Nadia's claim that taking in words from neighboring languages is an ordinary part of how languages work functions in her reply to Devan in which one of the following ways?
- (A)It signals that Devan has not supported his claim that borrowed words are crowding out native vocabulary.
- (B)It signals that speakers have gained a great deal from the words their language has taken in.
- (C)It signals that changes in a language's vocabulary should not be judged as right or wrong.
- (D)It signals that the process Devan blames for the change cannot properly be called a corruption of the language.
- (E)It signals that the convenience of borrowed words makes a return to earlier usage impractical.
DWhy (D) is correct
Nadia's claim that borrowing words is an ordinary part of how languages work denies that the change Devan blames counts as corruption. Since speakers have taken in outside vocabulary for as long as languages have touched each other, the process is normal, not a falling-away from a purer form, which knocks out the premise behind Devan's call to return to an uncorrupted state.
Why the other answers are wrong
AWhy (A) is wrong
(A) misreads the claim: Nadia never questions whether borrowed words are in fact crowding out native vocabulary, she grants that and attacks the conclusion drawn from it.
BWhy (B) is wrong
(B) treats the claim as a defense of what speakers have gained, but Nadia never weighs benefit, only normalcy.
CWhy (C) is wrong
(C) makes it a general moral disclaimer about vocabulary change, when Nadia's point is about what counts as natural, not about right and wrong.
EWhy (E) is wrong
(E) reads it as a point about convenience, but Nadia says nothing about how practical a return to earlier usage would be.
Common questions
What type of question is this?
Role of the Statement. Role questions ask what job a single claim does in the argument.
How do I get better at Role of the Statement questions?
Find the main conclusion first. Then ask whether the claim is that conclusion, supports it, or is a point the argument pushes back on. The free LSAT cheat sheet lists the wrong-answer patterns to watch for on every type.
