Reading Comprehension

PT123 · S4 · P2 · Q9 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.

9.

Both passages were written primarily in order to answer which one of the following questions?

  1. What evolutionary advantage did larger

    Wrong Emphasis

    Brain size is part of the support in both passages, but not part of the question initially posed in passage A (first paragraph of passage A) or the mystery to be explained in passage B (first paragraph of passage B).

    8% picked this

  2. Why do human mothers and

    Wrong Emphasis

    This is only addressed in passage B (last paragraph) and is not the main point of passage B.

    1% picked this

  3. Correct

    What are the evolutionary origins

    Why this is right

    This is supported in the highlighted passage in the last paragraph of passage A and the highlighted passage in the first paragraph of passage B.

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

    76% picked this

  4. Do the human abilities to

    Wrong Emphasis

    This is only addressed in passage A (first paragraph) and is not the main point of passage A.

    13% picked this

  5. Why are most people more

    Wrong Emphasis / Unsupported Relationship

    This topic is only addressed in passage A (third paragraph) and no answer to this particular question is stated.

    2% picked this

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