LSAT 144 | Section 1 | Reading Comprehension: Q6

RC Question 6 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: It can be inferred from the passage that the…

DISCUSSION: All the answers are very similar, and confusing. Before looking at the answers, you should know what you’re looking for.

Lines 30-40 give you all the information you need. You should reread them before looking at the answers, and prephrase your answer. Those lines show that each of Schoenberg’s styles developed naturally from the previous style.

Further, lines 33-38 show that Schoenberg himself believed his progression was a naturally evolution, and the author doesn’t contradict him.

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1. CORRECT. This is pretty well supported. Lines 32-33 say that Schoenberg “pushed those unstable harmonies”, meaning the harmonies of the previous Romantic style. So Schoenberg’s nontonal music developed out of the Romantic style.
   Then, in line 39-41, Schoenberg developed a 12 tone system to stabilize his previous nontonal system.
    
   So each step of Schoenberg’s work was a progression from an earlier technique.
2. The author likes Schoenberg. An “inexplicable departure” is a criticism, and a strong one. The author didn’t say this.
3. Lines 39-41 say that Schoenberg’s final step, the 12 tone system, was to organize his earlier non-tonal work.
4. Lines 32-33 show that Schoenberg’s non-tonal work emerged from the unstable harmonies of Romantic music. “….those unstable harmonies”.
5. This is exactly like D, except worse, because it also says that the third style came from the first, which is false. The third style came from the second, see lines 39-40.