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RC Question Types
The questions that follow RC passages will fall into six main categories:
- Implied Information
- Detail
- Detail Purpose
- Primary Purpose
- Organization
- Tone, Style, or Attitude
We’ll work through each type of question using the sample passage on the
following page. Following Step 1 of our method, you should take a couple of
minutes to skim and outline.
| Common to most interpretations of the role of art is the | |
| notion that art correlates directly with the environmental | |
| characteristics of its period of origin. If we understand | |
| Line | technology not only as a practical set of techniques and machines |
| (5) | but also as an evolving dominant ideology of the modern age, it |
| follows that we should witness an infiltration of technology into | |
| art, not just in terms of the tools and processes at artists’ | |
| disposal but also in terms of technology’s influence on art’s | |
| place within society. The latter supposition is explored by | |
| (10) | American writer and critic Lewis Mumford during various stages of |
| his prolific career. | |
| Mumford posited an integrative role of medieval art | |
| corresponding to the unity of life characteristic of this | |
| pre-technological period. Medieval citizens, he argued, did not | |
| (15) | attend the theater, concert hall, and museum as activities unto |
| themselves as we do, but rather witnessed a fusion of music, | |
| painting, sculpture, architecture, and drama in unified religious | |
| ceremonies that incorporated people into the shared social and | |
| spiritual life of the community. Integral to this phenomenon was | |
| (20) | the non-repeatability of the experience —live musicians, |
| specially commissioned scores, unique paintings and sculptures, | |
| and inimitable speakers filling incomparable cathedrals with | |
| exhortation and prayer. Everything in the artist’s repertoire was | |
| brought to bear to ensure maximum receptivity to the political, | |
| (25) | social, and religious teachings at the heart of this medieval |
| spectacle. | |
| Mumford further speculated that the mass production of text | |
| and images from the sixteenth century forward ultimately | |
| disrupted the unity exemplified by the medieval experience, and | |
| (30) | with it, the role of art as a testament to and reinforcement of |
| that unity. He believed that modern communication technologies | |
| encourage the fragmentation of time, the dissociation of event | |
| and space, and the degradation of the symbolic environment via an | |
| endless repetition of cultural elements. The result is the | |
| (35) | oft-commented-upon “alienating” experience of modern life. |
| A new aesthetic orientation emerged to express this new | |
| reality. Art turned inward to focus on man’s struggle against a | |
| bureaucratized, impersonal, technological civilization. Mumford | |
| readily admits that the dissociation of the artist from communal | |
| (40) | obligations greatly expanded the realm of artistic possibilities; |
| freed from its integrative purpose, art was set loose to traverse | |
| previously inappropriate realms of psychology and individualism | |
| in startling new ways. However, the magnificent innovation born | |
| of this freedom has been somewhat hindered by art’s | |
| (45) | apprenticeship to the dominant force of the technological milieu: |
| the market. Out of necessity, money has replaced muse as | |
| motivation for many artists, resulting in the art world of today: | |
| a collection of “industries,” each concerned with nothing loftier | |
| than its own perpetuation. Mumford testified admirably to a unity | |
| (50) | of art greater than the sum of its parts. Despite modern art’s |
| potential, it is reasonable to infer the converse: that the | |
| individual arts of our technological landscape are diminished in | |
| isolation. |
1. Implied Information
By definition, information that a passage implies, or that you infer,
is not stated anywhere in the passage. To answer these questions, look for a
statement that, although not stated directly, must almost certainly be true,
given the information in the passage.
Remember that RC questions are open book, meaning that the answers are
right in front of you. As you answer these questions, refer back to the
passage to see which answer is definitely supported. Be careful to
use only information from the passage. Don’t make large
leaps in logic or use outside information to draw inferences.
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There are no helpful trigger words, so we have no clue as to where the
answer will be found. Moreover, in a general Implied Information question,
it is impossible to predict the answer. Here we’ll simply have to attack the
choices one by one.
A: Modern religious ceremonies are
irrelevant—we’re told nothing about those, so we can’t determine where the
music for those ceremonies comes from.
B is also irrelevant. We don’t know whether modern
artists are even aware of the paradigm shift that Mumford outlines, or if
they are, that they care.
C centers around the idea of necessity. While the passage
does suggest that inward-turning art is effective at expressing
dissatisfaction with one’s environment, nothing suggests that it is
necessary for this purpose; that is, that it’s the only way to express this
angst.
D is inferable. The author contrasts the unity and
communal spirit of medieval life (both aided and expressed by the arts) with
the impersonal alienation of modern times. It is thus inferable that
medieval life was not generally alienating and impersonal, even if the
author never quite states that directly.
E: We know what Mumford did investigate;
as for what he didn’t, there’s no way to tell.
2. Detail
These questions require you to find specific details in the passage.
You’ll be using the trigger words you discover in Step 2 to help you go back
to the passage to search for specific words or phrases to answer these
questions.
Let’s look at an example:
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“The author indicates” tells us the answer is in the passage. It’s not
implied. Therefore, we’re dealing with a Detail question: The answer is
stated right in the passage itself. Mumford’s view on modern communication
technologies appears in paragraph 3. The author tells us that Mumford
believed that modern communication technologies fragment time, dissociate
events and space, and degrade the symbolic environment, resulting in the
alienating experience of modern life. A captures this notion
best.
B goes against the grain of the passage. Mumford thought
that modern communication technologies have diminished the kind of societal
unity exhibited in the Middle Ages.
C goes too far. While Mumford believes that these
technologies degrade the symbolic environment, nothing suggests that he
thinks they’re the only things to do so.
D reverses cause and effect, at least as far as the
author sees things. The author states that a new aesthetic orientation
emerged to express the new reality created by the disintegrating effects of
modern communication technologies. D gets it backward.
E: Just because Mumford believed that modern
communication technologies have this fragmentation effect doesn’t mean he
necessarily thinks this is the first time in history a society has
experienced this.
3. Detail Purpose
Some RC questions ask for the purpose of some specific detail in the
passage; not what the detail says (which would make it a
Detail question proper), but why the author chose to include it. You’ll be
given a specific issue to focus on, so you’ll enact Step 2 of the RC method
to find the relevant passage material. When you’ve located the detail in
question, analyze it in terms of its function. Think in terms of
context—that is, how the detail relates to everything
around it. That means going beyond the simple question of what is said to
the more complicated issue of why it’s said. Let’s look at
an example.
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“Non-repeatable” is the way Mumford characterized the artistic
elements of the medieval religious experience. The terms
live, specially commissioned, unique,
and inimitable all reinforce the idea that the
music, paintings, sculpture, architecture, and drama of religious ceremonies
were all one-of-a-kind experiences not to be exactly repeated in the future.
But why does the author make this point? To present a contrast to modern
civilization, which, we’re told in paragraph 3, is characterized by the
exact opposite: “an endless repetition of cultural elements.” The
“non-repeatability” claim therefore serves to present a kind of art—unique,
nonstandardized, nonrepetitive—that Mumford goes on to argue is compromised
by modern communication technologies. E is correct.
A and B have it backward. Mumford argues
that the medieval arts were not isolated but integrated into the life of the
community, and that medieval life was characterized by unity, as opposed to
the alienation of modern times discussed later in the passage. So these two
choices go beyond distorting the author’s intention—they assert the exact
opposite of it.
C: The fragmentation and dissociation discussed apply to
the modern era. For all we know, medieval citizens couldn’t even
conceptualize such things, living hundreds of years before even the
invention of the telegraph.
D: The assertion that the artistic elements of medieval
ceremonies were what the author calls “non-repeatable” speaks to the way
that medieval audiences experienced the arts as a unique totality, not one
by one in isolation. Nothing about this demonstrates Mumford’s claim
regarding the way artists’ works were specifically used to support the
societal framework and ideologies of the Middle Ages.
4. Primary Purpose
Some questions ask you about the passage as a whole. For example, you
may be asked for the passage’s main idea, or for an appropriate title, which
is essentially the main idea in sound-bite form. A very common question
dealing with the passage in a global sense is the Primary Purpose question,
which asks for the main reason why the author wrote the passage. Since the
correct answer must reflect the author’s overall intention in the entire
passage, beware of choices that deal with only part of the story. The
correct choice will not be too broad or too narrow; it must be just right.
Let’s look at a typical Primary Purpose question:
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A presents a perfect match. Technology is the feature of
modern society under consideration, and its influence on art, the main focus
of the passage, is the “effect” to which the choice refers. So A
is correct. As for the others:
B: The author laments what she perceives to be the
degradation of modern art but proposes no solutions to this or any other
cultural problem.
C: “Here’s what Mumford says, and here’s evidence to show
that he’s correct” would have to be the main thing we get in this passage in
order for C to be correct. “Here’s what Mumford says, and
here’s how it supports my take on art and technology” is more like it.
D: The difference between the historical periods
described by the author is intended to support a larger point about
technology’s influence on art. The author did not write this passage
primarily to compare the medieval world to the modern,
despite the fact that that comparison does play a part in the passage.
E: The author spends most of her time describing things
and only in the end ventures the opinion that modern art has suffered
somewhat from changes in technology. Nowhere does she come close to
advocating anything, let alone a change in
communication techniques.
5. Organization
Like Primary Purpose questions, Organization questions deal with the
passage as a whole, specifically how the passage unfolds. In addition to
capturing the passage as a whole, the correct answers to these questions
will always provide an accurate summary of the order in
which the author presented ideas.
Here’s an example of an Organization question:
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The wording of the question itself identifies this as an Organization
question. The best way to handle an Organization question is to meticulously
compare the parts of each choice against your understanding of the passage.
As soon as you find a single part of a choice that doesn’t work, eliminate
that choice. Note that here you are working backward from the choices as it
is much easier than making your own prediction. Remember, be flexible. The
answers are right on the page. Let’s practice on the five choices of this
question.
A: Is a theory put forward? Sure—the author’s notion that
“we should witness an infiltration of technology into art” in numerous ways.
But the author never veers off into any kind of discussion of how to test
the theory or, even further afield, obstacles to such a test.
B: Is a particular definition presented? Yes; the author
defines technology as both a practical set of techniques and an evolving
dominant ideology. Is a consequence of accepting this definition proposed?
Yes again: The author says that if we view technology in this particular
light, something should follow; namely a particular relationship between
technology and art. Is that proposed consequence affirmed? Yup; the next few
paragraphs describe, with Mumford’s help, this very issue of technology’s
influence over art. We’ve come this far—it would be a damn shame for it to
fall to pieces now, and it doesn’t. A judgment (art has been diminished
through this process) is rendered in the end.
C: The words supposition and
speculation aren’t so egregious to raise red flags
right off the bat, as there certainly is a lot of supposing and speculating
going on in the beginning. We’ll even let “further speculations are
detailed” slide, since Mumford does offer speculations in bulk. But we can’t
be as forgiving of the phrase “counter the original
supposition,” since no big turnaround occurs. The original supposition that
technology should influence art in a particular way is affirmed, not
countered.
D: No opposition to an interpretation appears in the
passage. The closest we get to “expert testimony” are Mumford’s theories,
which serve to support the author’s overall point.
E: It’s fair to deem the initial inquiry a “question,” as
the author basically sets up the question of whether technology’s
infiltration into art pans out as she supposes it should based on her
conception of technology. Moreover, evidence from both the medieval and
modern periods is provided in the course of the passage in
the hopes of investigating this issue. This one breaks down over the phrase
“deeming the question unanswerable.” The question is answered (technology
does indeed affect art), and a value judgment based on this answer (art is
diminished) is asserted.
6. Tone, Style, or Attitude
Questions about a passage’s tone, style, or attitude refer to
how the passage is presented as opposed to
what is presented in the passage.
Here’s a sample Attitude question:
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In your initial skim of the passage, you should have noted that no
authorial attitude emerges in this passage until the fourth paragraph, where
hindered and diminished in isolation
were our first hints as to the author’s feelings about modern art. That
rules out “totally positive” as the author’s attitude, which kills
D, and shows that she’s more than “neutral” too, which allows
us to toss B as well. Having discarded these choices quickly
for failing to even get in the ballpark, we can now turn our attention to
the negatively tinged choices.
E fails on account of puzzlement. The
author’s stance is too assured to qualify as puzzled, considering that she’s
just spent an entire passage explaining to us the mechanism that has led to
modern art’s diminishment.
That leaves A and C, which differ mainly in
the author’s degree of negativity. You might ask yourself: What does
“unqualified derision” sound like? Well, kind of like this: “THIS SUCKS! IT
REALLY, REALLY, SUCKS!! No two ways about it . . . IT SUCKS!!” In fact, our
mild-mannered author actually has some positive things to
say about the change that has taken place, despite its overall negative
impact: It “greatly expanded the realm of artistic possibilities,” “art was
set loose” to cover new ground in “startling new ways,” and even the thing
that has been “somewhat hindered” (notice the qualifier
somewhat, which by itself works against A’s
“unqualified derision”) is referred to as “magnificent innovation.” So
putting it all together, she thinks modern art is worse off, despite great
promise. “Reserved disappointment” best matches this attitude toward modern
art, so C is the answer we seek.
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