Reading Comprehension

PT123 · S4 · P2 · Q10 The Capacity for Music

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The two passages discuss recent scientific research on music.

Main Point (Passage A)

Music, it would seem, had little adaptive value of its own, and most likely developed on the coattails of language (lines 25–27).

Passage Map (Passage A)

P1 - A question about music and language is posed. P2 - Music and language are compared. P3 - An answer to the question is offered—music developed on the coattails of language.

Main Point (Passage B)

I suggest that the enjoyment of and the capacity to produce musical notes are faculties of indispensable use to mothers and their infants and that it is in the emotional bonds created by the interaction of mother and child that we can discover the evolutionary origins of human music (lines 32–37).

Passage Map (Passage B)

P1 - A hypothesis is offered about the origins of music. P2 - A phenomenon is described. P3 - An explanation of that phenomenon is offered, which supports the hypothesis.

10.

Each of the two passages mentions the relation of music to

  1. bonding between humans

    Half Scope

    This is only discussed in passage B (fourth paragraph).

    9% picked this

  2. Correct

    human emotion

    Why this is right

    This is discussed in the highlighted passage of paragraph 1 and in the highlighted passage of paragraph 4.

    Skill tested: Locate Detail · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.

    46% picked this

  3. neurological research

    Half Scope

    This is only discussed in passage A (paragraph 2).

    40% picked this

  4. the increasing helplessness of hominid

    Half Scope

    This is only discussed in passage B (final paragraph).

    1% picked this

  5. the use of tools to

    Half Scope

    This is only discussed in passage A (first paragraph).

    4% picked this

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