Reading Comprehension

PT123 · S4 · P2 · Q14 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.

14.

Which one of the following most accurately characterizes a relationship between the two passages?

  1. Correct

    Passage A and passage B

    Why this is right

    Passage A points to the primacy of language over music to support the view that music has little adaptive value (third paragraph), while passage B points to mother-infant interactions to support the view that music confers considerable evolutionary advantage (sixth paragraph).

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

    73% picked this

  2. Passage A poses the question

    Unsupported Relationship

    Passage A poses a question about the evolutionary origins of music and language, while passage B does not discuss the evolutionary origins of language.

    5% picked this

  3. Passage A proposes a hypothesis

    Contradiction

    The author of passage B would disagree with the hypothesis of the author of passage A about whether music provides adaptive value.

    9% picked this

  4. Passage A expresses a stronger

    Contradiction

    Passage B expresses a stronger commitment to its hypothesis than does passage A (paragraph 3 and 6).

    3% picked this

  5. Passage A and passage B

    Contradiction

    Passage A reaches a different conclusion than does passage B (paragraph three and six).

    11% picked this

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