Logical ReasoningDifficulty: Easy

PT105 S1 Q1 Explanation

Tennyson's line of poetry

A free, expert breakdown of this official LSAT Logical Reasoning question.

TopicsMain Conclusion

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Stimulus

Tennyson's line of poetry "nature, red in tooth and claw" is misconstrued by many evolutionists as a reference to Darwin's theory of evolution. The poem in which the line appears was published in 1850, but Darwin kept his theory closely held until publishing it in 1859. In addition, in view of the dominant biological theory of the early nineteenth century, which was a creationist theory.

What this question is testing

Main Conclusion

Your task

Break the argument into its conclusion and evidence, then do exactly what the question stem asks with that structure.

Common trap

Answers that sound relevant to the topic but don't connect to the argument's actual reasoning.

Winning move

Predict what a right answer must do, then test each choice against the conclusion-evidence gap.

Reading along? Open the full official question in LawHub — we show a fragment here and keep the reasoning in our own words.

The question
1.

Which one of the following most accurately expresses the main point of

Answer choices

  1. Word Salad7% picked this

    The line of Tennyson's poetry cannot now be construed as an apt description of Darwin's

    This resembles the first sentence, but is a distortion of its meaning. The first sentence is saying that Tennyson's line isn't a reference to Darwin's theory. No one is discussing whether or not that line is an apt description of Darwin's theory. It would obviously take more than one line to accurately describe Darwin's theory.

  2. Last-Claim Bait2% picked this

    The dominant biological theory in the early nineteenth century was a

    This doesn't match the first sentence at all. In fact, it matches the final claim, which is very rarely the conclusion on Main Conclusion questions. This is just part of the support for the conclusion.

  3. Premise5% picked this

    Tennyson's line of poetry was written well before Darwin had published his

    This captures a timeline fact that supports the argument but fails to express the main point regarding the misinterpretation of the line.

  4. Inference-Bait1% picked this

    Darwin's theory of evolution was not the dominant biological theory in the

    This does not come close to matching the first sentence, so our analysis could end there. This is an idea that can be inferred from the premises, so it feels "true" but is unrelated to our task.

  5. Correct85% picked this

    Tennyson's line of poetry was not a reference to Darwin's theory

    Why this is right

    This captures the main point: Tennyson's line of poetry was not a reference to Darwin's theory of evolution, addressing the misconception directly.

    Skill tested: Main Conclusion · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

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