LR Question 25 Explanation
QUESTION TEXT: Alissa: If, as the mayor says, the city can no longer…
QUESTION TYPE: Point At Issue
ARGUMENTS: Alissa says we should keep funding the museum because it’s interactive.
Greta says we should keep funding children’s TV, because it reaches a wider audience.
ANALYSIS: Alissa and Greta are debating what to do if the mayor is correct.
Alissa says we should stop funding TV. Greta says we should stop funding the museum. That’s all.
Some questions are actually pretty simple. You might have avoided the right answer here because it seemed too straightforward. That’s never a reason to avoid an answer choice.
___________
- This is the mayor’s claim, we don’t know what they think about this. They’re arguing about what we should do if the mayor is correct.
- Neither of them debate the truth of the mayor’s claim.
- CORRECT. Alissa says we should stop funding television. Greta says we should instead stop funding the museum.
- Greta agrees. Alissa doesn’t say whether she thinks TV reaches more children.
- Greta might agree that the museum provides a better experience. She just said that TV reaches more children.
More Resources for Point at Issue Questions
- Intro Course lesson: This intro course lesson covers Point at Issue questions.
- Mastery Seminar lesson: This LR Mastery seminar lesson covers point at issue questions.
I’ve read over A and C a few times and I’m having trouble understanding the difference between the two choices, they both seem like they are saying the same thing to me?
The crucial difference is that (A), unlike (C), uses the word “need”: whether the city will need to stop funding one to fund the other. (C) is a normative statement, using the word “should”.
One good exercise is to imagine how Alissa and Greta would respond to both answer choices. Looking at (A), neither of them clearly states an opinion on whether the need to shut down funding for one program for the sake of the other is there. Alissa’s statement begins with “if, as the major says“, and we also cannot derive a clear opinion re: need from Greta.
Contrast that with (C), where they both have a clear opinion on the subject. Alissa says funding for television programming should be stopped, and Greta says funding for the museum should be stopped.