Q10

[Acing LSAT]

If You are down to (A) an (B), (B) is braoder and serves a purpose in the passage, so it seems like the better choice.

[ohthatpatrick]

Well put.

WHENEVER you do RC questions that ask
"the author discusses ___ in order to"
"the author's reference to ____ serves to"
"the author uses the phrase ____ primarily to"

be VERY suspicious of any answer choice that is literally (narrowly) describing what the ____ was about.

The question is asking WHY a certain detail was mentioned, meaning "How does the _____ relate to the surrounding ideas?"

The correct answer is usually a paraphrase of a broader claim that came in the sentence immediately before the blank.

In this example, we're not so lucky, but we still want to connect the 'primary substances' line to the surrounding context.

Since the paragraph is ultimately about how SECONDARY substances are what give a plant smell, aroma, etc., (B) is doing a better job at reinforcing the context. (A) is only dealing with the sentence about 'primary substances'.

[jgmartin82]

Here's my take on it in reference to the posted passage discussion.

10. (B)

Question Type: Inference (5-8)

We should remember that the primary substance discussion occurred in the first paragraph. However, it’s not essential that we remember the details because we can just go back and check them out right now! Lines 5-8 contain the relevant information.

Before we go to the answers, let’s talk about the question stem. It says the author discusses primary substances in order to. That’s important; it means we’re not looking to see what the author said about primary substances; instead we’re trying to figure out why the author said it. Why might the author mention primary substances? Are they important for us to know about in their own right? No, secondary substances cause smells and tastes and they are what the passage focuses on. Try removing the discussion on primary substances, what happens? The passage just jumps into a discussion on secondary substances. The discussion of primary substances provides context for what the passage really wants to discuss. Answer time.

(A) is what the author says about primary substances. It’s tempting if we’re not asking the question "˜why.’ Indeed, the discussion of primary substances does provide this information, but is that why the author included it? No, the author wants to discuss secondary substances. Eliminate.

(B) is correct. The primary substances help us zero in on what secondary substances are by letting us know what they aren’t. This is why the author included the discussion on primary substances.

(C) is unsupported. Primary substances aren’t mentioned at all in the discussion on evolution. Eliminate.

(D) is unsupported. We know the primary substances are found in all plants and are required for proper functioning, but there’s nothing about them that would indicate a great diversity of chemicals. Eliminate.

(E) is a unsupported. Much like (C), primary substances aren’t mentioned in any discussion of adaptation. Eliminate.