#6 - Must Be True

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation
(See the complete passage discussion here: lsat/viewtopic.php?t=14138)

The correct answer choice is (C)

The general nature of the question makes it difficult to arrive at a more precise prephrase. Instead, try
the process of elimination: any answer choice that cannot be proven by the passage will be incorrect.

Answer choice (A): The author makes no mention of the frequency with which “El Corrido de
Gregorio Cortez” was sung at Border social gatherings.

Answer choice (B): This answer choice contains an exaggeration. Even though the “El Corrido
de Kiansis” is referred to as the oldest corrido surviving in complete form (lines 10-11), implying
that not all surviving corridos are as complete as “Kiansis,” there is no reason to suspect that most
surviving corridos are incomplete.

Answer choice (C): This is the correct answer choice. All complete corridos contain certain readymade
lines (line 40), which is most evident in the corrido’s formal closing verse, the despedida. In it,
the first and third lines are a set convention (lines 46-47), suggesting that all complete corridos have
some lines in common.

Answer choice (D): While it is possible that most corrido variants share the same despedida, this
cannot be proven with the requisite degree of certainty. Recall that two of the lines in the despedida
are variable. Even if all corrido variants bear the same name (fourth line), it is possible that the
second line differs from one variant to another “according to exigencies of rhyme” (line 50).

Answer choice (E): The passage provides no information as to the origins of the composer who
wrote “El Corrido de Kiansis.”

[bli2016]

Hi, for #6, I had a lot of difficulty distinguishing between C and D in terms of getting the right answer. I finally chose D because of what the passage says in lines 39-50 (especially in the example of the despedida from the variant of Gregorio Cortez), and I still do not understand why C is the correct answer.

[Luke Haqq]

Hi bli2016!

Happy to offer some reasons why (C) is preferable to (D) on this one. First, the question stem reveals this is a must-be-true category of question.

Answer choice (D) states that "most corrido variants have the same despedida." You're definitely right to be looking for the answer around lines 39-50. Those lines make clear that the despedida is one way in which corridos are similar to each other. However, those lines also make explicit that the "second and fourth lines are variable," only the first and third lines of the despedida remains the same from corrido to corrido. Given this, we can't conclude (D) that most corrido variants have the same despedida--because the text in fact states suggests their despedidas are not the same but vary in their second and fourth lines.

Answer choice (C), by contrast, states that "All complete corridos have some lines in common." We know this to be true--the passage states that "the first and third lines are a set convention," which the second and fourth lines of the despedida are the variable part.

Hope that helps!

[Albertlyu]

Hi bli2016!

Happy to offer some reasons why (C) is preferable to (D) on this one. First, the question stem reveals this is a must-be-true category of question.

Answer choice (D) states that "most corrido variants have the same despedida." You're definitely right to be looking for the answer around lines 39-50. Those lines make clear that the despedida is one way in which corridos are similar to each other. However, those lines also make explicit that the "second and fourth lines are variable," only the first and third lines of the despedida remains the same from corrido to corrido. Given this, we can't conclude (D) that most corrido variants have the same despedida--because the text in fact states suggests their despedidas are not the same but vary in their second and fourth lines.

Answer choice (C), by contrast, states that "All complete corridos have some lines in common." We know this to be true--the passage states that "the first and third lines are a set convention," which the second and fourth lines of the despedida are the variable part.

Hope that helps!

thanks, Luke, what really confused me is the phrase "complete corridos", since the text did not say that, I assumed there might be a difference between complete and none complete corridos. could you please share some insights on how to avoid mistakes like this in the future? thanks

[Adam Tyson]

An incomplete corrido would have something missing, Albert. Maybe the despedida has been lost from all written copies of one corrido, or only fragments were copied down. Perhaps a corrido was never written down, and the version passed on through an oral tradition has been corrupted over time with verses or phrases from the original being omitted in later variations. Think of an incomplete corrido as a book with pages torn out, and that will help you make sense of it.

A complete corrido, then, would be one in which nothing is missing. All the verses, all the lines, are intact in some form, probably written down somewhere. And given the discussion about the conventions of the corrido in the last paragraph, it is safe to say that all the complete ones will have some parts in common.

[Albertlyu]

Got it. thanks Adam!

[lemonade42]

Hello!

I have a question about (C). I didn't choose it because I thought the term "set convention" just meant that lines 1 and 3 are conventional and just are generally or usually like this because isn't that what conventional is defined as? So I thought "all" complete corridos would have been too strong of a statement.

[Luke Haqq]

Hi lemonade42!

To get a good understanding of what "set convention" means, it could be useful to place it in context: "The first and third lines are a set convention. The second and fourth lines are variable" (lines 46-48). So "set convention" here is being contrasted with being "variable." That is to say, that context suggests that it means something like invariable or unchanging.

It's good that you noticed that "all" makes answer choice (C) a somewhat strong statement. In the end, though, it's not too strong but rather is supported by the passage. As noted in the final paragraph, the first and third lines of the despedida are unvarying across corridos, so all corridos have those lines in common.