Many Critical Reading Questions. Help needed.

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
1

<p>Hey guys! I have a lot of questions that I got wrong on a PSAT that has no explanations, so I will really need all your help for this (it also makes good practice). I will provide the passage and hopefully you can explain why the answer is the way it is. Good thing I'm a fast typer, because this would otherwise take a long time.</p>

<p>(indicated lines are italicized with other lines being provided for context)</p>

<ol>
<li>The author's tone in lines 11-15 ("Little ... wonder") is best described as one of </li>
</ol>

<p>a) outrage
b) regret
c) objectivity
d) amusement
e) celebration</p>

<p>I was stuck between B and C and was wondering why the answer is B. Could anyone please explain this in detail?</p>

<p>
[quote]
But the very normalization of the medium's high-art position has been paralleled by a sharp diminishment of photography's magic.* Little remains, certainly in contemporary photography, of the fascinatingly anomalous, square-peg-in-a-round-hole status that once made the photograph-as-art such an unexpected wonder.*

[/quote]
</p>

<ol>
<li><p>This is kind of different. It's question 13 on the 2007 PSAT, Form S. I got the answer to be between A, C, and D, but couldn't figure out how it was D. Can anyone please explain this?</p></li>
<li><p>Sterne mentions "the shadows" (line 18) as an example of a </p></li>
</ol>

<p>a) specialized insight that only a seasoned traveler can bring to bear on a situation
b) pleasurable experience that one can enjoy at home as in a foreign land
c) thoughtless comment that travelers are apt to make to their guides
d) beautiful sight that cannot be communicated accurately to those who do not travel frequently
e) common observation that travelers might enjoy sharing nonetheless</p>

<p>I really don't understand this question at all or what it's asking. If you can explain why D is the answer and why the answers are wrong, that would be splendid.</p>

<p>
[quote]

Instead of an awkward silence, broken by attempts at wit or dull commonplaces, mine is that undisturbed silence of the heart which alone is perfect eloquence.</p>

<p>Others have different opinions. "Let me have a companion of my way," says the novelist Lawrence Sterne, "were it but to remark how the shadows lengthen as the sun declines." it is beautifully said; but in my opinion, involuntary impression of things upon the mind and dilutes the experience. If you have to explain what you feel, it is making a toil of a pleasure. You cannot read the book of nature without being perpetually put to the trouble of translating it for the benefit of others.</p>

<p>

[/quote]
</p>

<ol>
<li>By stating "it has taken on a life of its own" (lines 12-14), the author means that</li>
</ol>

<p>a) the language of astronauts is now a subject of study
b) the vocabulary of space travelers is limited
c) the term "spacefarer pidgin" is not exclusive to spacefarers
d) one word may give rise to several different words
e) what had been an abbreviation is now used as a real word</p>

<p>
[quote]

To listen to speech between space travelers is to be faced with a foreign language. At Mission Control in Houston, one person alone is allowed to talk with the "space people." This person is designated as CAPCOM, a word that formerly was an abbreviation for "capsule communicator," But now, as with many other words in the vocabulary of astronauts, it has taken on a life of its own in "spacefarer pidgin."

[/quote]
</p>

<ol>
<li>The author refers to certain claims in lines 29-33 in order to</li>
</ol>

<p>a) suggest how jargon changes over time
b) show how the relationship between slang and jargon is muddled
c) gives a sense of the difference between various scholarly approaches
d) prove that some linguists are mistaken about Inuit languages
e) suggest a relationship between language and though</p>

<p>
[quote]

So far, no such motive seems to lie behind the special language of spaceflight. Literally far-out gadgets and concepts require bizarre-sounding terminology. But the potential for exclusiveness is there. And whenever the words are different, a difference in thought processes follows. If, as some linguists have claimed, Inuit languages have many words for "snow" and only one for "tree," a simple translation of "snow" or "tree" may be insufficient to discuss even such everyday subjects as the weather or lumberjacking.

[/quote]
</p>

<ol>
<li>In line 36, "boots," "bonnets," and "napkins" are examples of words that</li>
</ol>

<p>a) have different meanings in different cultures
b) mean one thing in standard English and another in spacefarer pidgin
c) refer to common objects and are therefore unlikely to change
d) share technical meanings in both England and the United States
e) suggest a relationship between language and thought</p>

<p>
[quote]

Even more conducive to misunderstandings are situations in which the words remain the same in two cultures, but their meanings have diverged. It's trying for an American to go to England and discuss boots, bonnets, napkins, and other shared terms with distinctly different meanings.* A similar problem is arising with "spacefarer pidgin.," where words like "destruct," "assembly," and "depress" mean something very different from their "English" equivalents.*

[/quote]
</p>

<ol>
<li>This is question 39 on the 2007 Form S PSAT. I was extremely confused by this question and was wondering if anybody could explain why the correct answer is correct and why the other answers are incorrect. Thank you.</li>
</ol>

<p>Thank you guys!</p>

2

<ol>
<li><p>The correct answer is B; Regret because if you look up the definition of regret it is defined by “feel sad, repentant, or disappointed over something that has happened or been done, esp. a loss or missed opportunity.” Your key words in this question is the “Little remains… of the FASCINATINGLY ANOMALOUS…status…such an UNEXPECTED wonder.” In addition, there are a couple of other key words in the passage a couple of lines before says “sharp diminishment of photography’s magic.” In colloquial terms, the author was “into photography” and is sad it’s not there anymore He found photography to be atypical for its time. He writes about photography with such vivid words. For these type of questions it is important to look for adjective in the text.</p></li>
<li><p>(13) Buddy I think you wrote D is the correct answer instead of A. I am pretty sure A is the correct answer. “Its enjoyment is largely a matter of personal inclination” I was able to figure this one out fast because off the bat in the first paragraph of the first passage it states “…the world is going on a journey;but I like to do it by myself” So we know Passage’s 1 POV. Now, onto Passage 2… This one basically explains different POV. For example, the novelist W. Somerset he appreciated a companion because of the “amiability of disposition,” which enabled him to make friends with people and so on. In contrast, Peter Fleming (second paragraph in the apssage) did not appreciate it because he had a “nonstop talker.” which later inspired him to write about the justification of traveling alone. As one can see, it’s pretty much a mixed variety of opinions about whether traveling alone is more satiating or not. None of the answer choices except A make much sense. Practically the other answer choices are about each particular person’s POV in the passage. Hopefully that makes sense.</p></li>
<li><p>Correct Answer is E. Are you deliberately saying a wrong answer is the right one? This one is a little tough. I recommend using the POE (process of elimination) Now you may ask me, Rickdaily how can I do that? [I don’t mean to sound pretentious or anything like that] If you don’t understand what Sterne is trying to say just pay attention to what the author of the passage says. For example, lines from 19-24 just talk about what the author thinks. "If you have to EXPLAIN what you FEEL…toil of a pleasure…You cannot read the book of nature WITHOUT being…put to the TROUBLE OF TRANSLATING IT for the BENEFIT of others. [Toil means “work extremely hard”] Even if you don’t know what Sterne is saying maybe what the author has said through the keywords I just highlighted might help you. What he is saying is in contrast to what Sterne believes [one knows this because the author writes “BUT in my opinion.” Now just look at the adjectives in the answer choices, Choice E is the only one that makes sense in context. “common observations” Since the author believes it is basically trivial to “translate” the experience for the benefit of others what Sterne believes is the exact opposite. So a common observation that travelers might enjoy sharing nonetheless make perfect sense as the answer choice.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>I’ll help you out with the rest later if no one else has chimed in.</p>

3

<p>Lol seriously. Crack open a dictionary first - it works :). </p>

<p>

</p>

4

<p>I don’t understand what’s the point of your post… is that to me?</p>

5

<p>I’ll pick up where Rick left off, if he doesn’t mind.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>The correct answer is E. The “it” being referred to is the term CAPCOM, which started out as an abbreviation. By taking on “a life of its own”, the abbreviation has taken on meanings beyond its component words, and thus becoming a real word.</p></li>
<li><p>The correct answer is E. The linguists’ claims about the Inuit language and its difficult translation is saying that if an Inuit used one word for “snow” that had one meaning, they are thinking of something completely different from another word for “snow”. An English speaker would think of the same thing for both kinds of “snow”. The language that the two people speak influence their thought patterns.</p></li>
<li><p>The correct answer is A. “Boots,” “bonnets,” and “napkins” are described as “shared terms with different meanings.” They are stated as being shared by American and English culture, but with different meanings in each.</p></li>
</ol>

6

<p>Thank you guys for the explanations! </p>

<p>Rickdaily, can you please answer number 7?</p>

7

<p>Hi,</p>

<p>Sure #39 is asking about the best way to deal with sentence…</p>

<p>The sentence is:</p>

<p>After a few rounds, so being when only the finalists were left, the judges then announced the name of the poet with the highest score.</p>

<p>What I would immediately do is treat the sentence as a “Fixing Sentences” question and see if there is any grammatical error. (That being said, if there is any error you don’t have to waste your time with answer choice A, B and/or D. If you want you can check out the answer choices right now) What I immediately notice is the awkward construction of “so being.” Typically if you see the word “being” in the fixing sentences in the SAT it is wrong like 98% of the time. (Not an actual mathematical statistic but nevertheless, i find it to be quite true) Unless there is a rare aberration then it is safe to say that being is wrong in the sentence. </p>

<p>Look at the answer choices as to which one points out something about “so being” and the only one is answer choice C that deletes the awkward phrase “so being when.”</p>

<p>Hopefully that makes sense! Let me know if you have any questions.</p>

8

<p>Wow. Thank you for the explanation…but I was talking about Critical Reading. Sorry, I should have specified!</p>

9

<h1>39 Critical Reading: This one is a tough one as it is essentially asking you to make an inference from the passage. Now, to answer these questions one has to remember that when you are implying you are trying to get a general idea and see it more or less reworded in an objective way. [Remember the SAT isn’t subjective at all. There is one absolute question per each questions]</h1>

<p>After reading the passage the general gist of it is that The language used by astronauts is unique in its own way and now has brought even its own jargon.</p>

<p>By understanding just the main idea of the passage you can definitely eliminate some answer choices. Let’s see… Answer B has nothing to do with what the passage has said and neither is C. There’s no attempt to address communication problems, scientists is too broad anyway. Some people may be tricked into choosing Answer A as in lines 28 the author mentions that there is the POTENTIAL for their to be exclusivitY and abruptly the topic of exclusivity ends so that’s all we have to work with. When he says potential he leaves exclusivity as a theory. He is not implying [ as what the question is asking] so we can immediately discard it. Now one is between D and E. E sounds extreme and a bit condescending. Some people may be tricked into this answer because the last paragraph of the passage is about how changes in spaceflight communication stlyes make it more difficult. But can you directly relate what the author is saying to “unnecessary development?” I don’t think so. We are left with D (hopefully the correct answer) Unprecedented means “never done or known before” and the conditions the author is referring to is about how space flight is distinct to what has been there before. In response to their new conditions just like any other technical profession, pilots, musicians, teenagers (I’m repeating what the passage says in lines around 15-19). </p>

<p>Hopefully that’ll help you out and hopefully we’ve addressed your doubts. If you need me be more specific let me know.</p>