question for the cr geniuses..

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
1

<p>hey guys, i have a cr question from one of the online course tests:</p>

<p>Passage 1 is by Dorothy Sayers; Passage 2 is adapted from a work by Raymond Chandler.
Passage 1</p>

<pre><code> The detective story does not and cannot attain the
loftiest level of literary achievement. Though it deals
with the most desperate effects of rage, jealousy, and
</code></pre>

<p>Line revenge, it rarely touches the heights and depths of
5 human passion. It presents us with an accomplished
fact, and looks upon death with a dispassionate eye. It
does not show us the inner workings of the murderer’s
mind—it must not, for the identity of the criminal is
hidden until the end of the book. The most successful
10 writers are those who contrive to keep the story running
from beginning to end upon the same emotional level,
and it is better to err in the direction of too little feeling
than too much.</p>

<p>Passage 2</p>

<pre><code> I think what was really gnawing at Dorothy Sayers in
</code></pre>

<p>15 her critique of the detective story was the realization that
her kind of detective story was an arid formula unable to
satisfy its own implications. If the story started to be about
real people, they soon had to do unreal things to conform
to the artificial pattern required by the plot. When they did
20 unreal things, they ceased to be real themselves. Sayers’
own stories show that she was annoyed by this triteness.
Yet she would not give her characters their heads and let
them make their own mystery.</p>

<p>Here are the questions</p>

<p>Which of the following characteristics of detective stories presented in Passage 1 would be LEAST likely to be attributed to the “pattern” mentioned in line 19, Passage 2 ?
(A) “cannot attain the loftiest level of literary achievement” (lines 1-2)
(B) “deals with the most desperate effects of rage, jealousy, and revenge” (lines 2-4)
(C) “presents us with an accomplished fact” (lines 5-6)
(D) “looks upon death with a dispassionate eye” (line 6)
(E) “does not show us the inner workings of the murderer’s mind” (lines 7-8)</p>

<p>Passage 1 suggests that Sayers would most likely respond to lines 17-20, Passage 2 (“If the story started . . . themselves”), by pointing out that
(A) great writers seldom explore the range of human emotions
(B) detective stories do not address the consequences of people’s emotions
(C) detective stories are driven by the plot, not by the characters
(D) readers of detective stories prefer unrealistic situations
(E) real people often act in ways that are unexpected</p>

<p>the answers are b and c respectively...but for some reason, i can find no logic at all in for the first one.. Can anyone explain how they got that?? Any help is graciously appreciated :)</p>

2

<p>The answer to the first questions is B because the first passage asserts that detective stories DO deal with some very important emotions, a quality that would be caused least by the presence of an artificial pattern in the story. </p>

<p>The easiest way to answer this is to change the question into a different question: Which of the following aspects of detective stories is not indicative of the presence of an artificial pattern?</p>

<p>Another important strategy is to note that Choice B has a positive connotation while the others have a decidedly negative connotation. When in doubt, that strategy will usually unearth the answer. </p>

<p>As for the second question, the answer is clearly C because Sayers herself asserts in her passage that successful mystery writers "contrive to keep the story running", which affirms the importance of plot rather than character development, etc. A cannot be right because Sayers admits that because mysteries do not explore human emotions in great depth, they can never become great literature. B is improper because Sayers believes that mysteries DO deal with important emotions like rage, jealousy, and revenge. Choice D is incorrect because Sayers never writes anything like that, and Choice E is a conclusion that passage 2 supports rather than Sayers.</p>

<p>Thus, Choice C is the only answer that deals with SAYERS' response to Passage 2's assertion about sacrificing character depth in order to craft an engrossing plot. </p>

<p>Hope that helped, good luck!</p>

<p>(BTW, I got an 800 on SAT CR, so these are perfectly valid arguments!)</p>