Passage Discussion

[ganbayou]

Does this author supports Schmandt? She thought it was a form of writing, right?
So the author also thinks it's predecessors to the written word too?

[ohthatpatrick]

P1 - Background and set up for Thesis about DSB
framing idea
Puzzling appearance of abstract writing at an early date (line 9-11)
- clay tablets in Uruk (3000 B.C.)
- hand-modeled tokens of clay near Jordan river (4000 B.C)

author's purpose?
DSB wrote a book saying that these tokens are overlooked predecessors to the written word.

[LSAT authors LOVE to discuss something that's been overlooked by other scholars/critics]

P2 - Description of tokens, and DSB's takeaways

- DSB thinks the tokens are ways of counting how much grain and livestock villagers had contributed to a communal pool

P3 - Tokens transition to tablets, and DSB's takeaways

- DSB thinks that this eventually comprised a system of "mature" writing ... you could abstractly represent number, container, substance with one mark each.

- final sentence sounds like the author implicitly accepts DSB's thinking.

==============

One of the hard parts of reading this passage is that the passage begins talking about clay tablets, but then it zooms into discussing DSB's book, which is about clay tokens.

When we start the third paragraph and it goes from tokens to tablets, we're supposed to feel the callback to the beginning of the passage.

Another hard part is that the author is primarily discussing an author's work without directly weighing in on whether he thinks the book is good/bad, or correct/incorrect.

Generally, though, if the author chose to begin a passage with "Scholars have usually overlooked X or thought ____ about X, but THIS scholar is now saying Y ..." then the author is implicitly interested in this new scholar's idea.

[ganbayou]

Hi,

Thank you for your reply!
I notices this is kind of new trend...not straightforward argument but kind of going back and forth...(discussing smt and switch to a different subject and come back to the original idea) Is this a new trend?
Sicne I'm weak at RCI'm thinking to use old PT passages to practice, but do you think it would be helpful or I should just practice with recent PTs?
I do not have a lot of time for preparing for LSAT so want to study efficiently. Would appreciate your insight about how to improve at RC.

Thank you!