#12 - Concept Reference, Parallel

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

The correct answer choice is (B).

Answer choice (A):

Answer choice (B): This is the correct answer choice.

Answer choice (C):

Answer choice (D):

Answer choice (E):

This explanation is still in progress. Please post any questions below!

[TREYMORRIS3]

I guessed and got B which was the right answer. I would just like an explanation of why this is right and why the others are wrong. This as well as an explanation of how to attack this question in terms of the specific passage and this question type as a whole in RC.

[Luke Haqq]

Hi TREYMORRIS3!

I think language around lines 12-13 is key for seeing why answer choice (B) is correct. We're told there that "the democratic principle of political equality is incapable of full realization." So pluralist democracies/polyarchies might come close to achieving this ideal but fall short.

This is analogous to what is in answer choice (B), "a performance of a musical score whose range of tonality cannot be completely captured by any actual instruments." This musical score, like the democratic principle of political equality, is "incapable of full realization" because its range of tonality can't be captured by any actual instruments.

Finally, to speak to how to attack this type of question here and in general, look for anchors in the text. Material from the first paragraph provided direct support for this answer choice. Even though this question stem is stated generally in that it doesn't cite to specific line references, it's still possible that certain lines of the passage will be useful in answering the question.