#27 - Concept Reference, Must Be True, Author's Perspective

[Administrator]

Please post below with any questions!

[yudeshen0624]

I can't see where is "explicit noncommitment"
Where is this "explicit"?

[James Finch]

Hi Yudeshen,

This question is attempting to trick test takers into conflating the authors' attitudes about trial and appellate courts. Passage A is concerned with trial courts' use of independent research, and passage B is concerned with appellate courts' use of independent research. Passage A doesn't mention appellate courts at all, but Passage B does mention trial courts very briefly: in the very first clause of the first sentence, the passage states "regardless of what trial courts may do," explicitly stating that the author isn't concerned with whether trial courts independently research issues or not. This is the "explicit noncommitment" that answer choice (D) references.

Hope this clears things up!

[mjb514]

How is passage A, "qualified" approval.

[Robert Carroll]

mjb,

The evidence is line 10 - the author of passage A thinks that the criticisms do not have enough force to reject outright the use of such research. The rest of passage A reveals some advantages of the research, showing the author approves at least somewhat.

Robert Carroll