Reading comp PrepTest 127 · Section 4 · Question 5

Passage

Questions 1-7  .        With his first published works in the 1950s, Amos  . Tutuola became the first Nigerian writer Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary

Topic: Humanities


Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • Critics' debate on Tutuola (fresh approach to novels vs. inaccurate retelling of local tales) and the author's rebuttal (he doesn't write novels)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Some literary critics' view:
      • Praise Tutuola for writing fresh/inventive novels (second sentence)
    • Other literary critics' view:
      • Criticize Tutuola for retelling local tales with unwelcome liberties (third sentence)
    • Author's view:
      • Critics assume incorrectly that he's a novelist, but they need to get his genre right to analyze him (last sentence)
    • Author's attitude: "estimate properly Tutola's rightful position" (last sentence); "essential to be clear" (last sentence); "assumed too facilely" (last sentence)

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • Author contrasts Tutuola's folktales genre with the novel (novel is realistic and original; folkltales are drawn from tradition)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Author's view:
      • Tutuola's genre is folktales, and the best approach to evaluate his works should consider that he works within the African oral tradition (first and last sentences)
    • Comparison, according to the author:
      • Novels are expected to be real and original, while folktales use traditional stories and frameworks (third sentence)
    • Author's attitude: "not designed to satisfy" (first sentence); "right" (third sentence); "important" (third sentence); "most useful approach" (fourth sentence)

Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • Expectations of the teller of folktales within the African oral tradition (inventive changes, improvisation, strong delivery of a familiar story)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Comparison, according to the author:
      • Audiences anticipate inventiveness and improvisation — not accuracy — from the teller of folktales within the African oral tradition (second sentence)
    • Author's attitude: "depends on" (second sentence); "the most brilliant tellers" (last sentence)

Paragraph 4

  • Paragraph note
    • Author on how Tutuola's works within the tradition (repeats, embellishes, modern settings, blends English/Yoruba, uses traditional accents and techniques like a summary)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • List of the characteristics from folktales and the African oral tradition present in Tutuola's works, according to the author:
      • Repetition for emphasis (first sentence)
      • Embellishes to personalize (first sentence)
      • Blends English with local words and Yoruba grammar (second sentence)
      • Uses traditional accents and techniques that a traditional teller would use (last sentence)
    • Example of one of the traditional accents and techniques in Tutuola's works, according to the author:
      • Omniscient narrator summaries at the end of work (last sentence)
    • Author's attitude: "clear" (first sentence); "singular ways" (second sentence); "perhaps most revealingly" (last sentence); "clearly discernible" (last sentence)

Main Point: Critics misinterpret Tutuola's works because they incorrectly assume he wrote novels, but the best way to analyze his work is by seeing him as a teller of folktales within the African oral tradition.

Meta-Structure?

Correcting the Record: This passage best fits the Correcting the Record Meta-Structure.* In a Correcting the Record passage, the author will describe at least one common misconception or false belief. The author will then explain why the beliefs are false and occasionally offer an alternative belief. That description fits this passage perfectly. The author brings up two different critical appraisals of Tutuola in the first paragraph — one that says that Tutuola offers a fresh spin on the novel and another that says he's just rehashing Nigerian stories. The author spends the rest of the passage correcting those misconceptions in the fourth paragraph, saying that both sets of critics get it wrong because they all assume he writes novels. Instead, the author argues, his works should be viewed as folktales within the African oral tradition.

In a Correcting the Record passage, the main point is often the author's explanation of why the misconception is false (or just an assertion that the misconceptions are false). Alternatively, if the author provides an alternative belief or approach, the main point is the author's opinion about that belief or approach. The latter description applies to this passage because the author argues that Tutuola's work should be viewed as folktales. The author summarizes their opinion on this alternative approach at the end of the second paragraph, so we use that to help us understand and articulate the passage's main point. We can also frame that sentiment as a response to critics, which we did in our summary of the main point.

*As is the case with many passages that fall under the Critical Meta-Structure umbrella, we could use a few different Meta-Structures from that family to describe this passage. We could certainly call this a Rebutting Critics or Criticizing a Viewpoint passage and come away with a solid understanding of the passage's organization and main point. And if we thought of the two sets of literary critics in the first paragraph as two sides of a debate on Tutuola's merits, the Resolving a Debate Meta-Structure would work just fine for this passage as well.

Last Thoughts?

From our research, Tutuola from Law & Order: SVU is named in honor of Amos Tutuola. The more you know!

Question prompt

The author attributes each Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: E

The notes below walk through why it fits the stem and how to eliminate the rest.

Question Type

Humanities

Strategy Overview

Remind ourselves of the main point of the passage, then head to the answers, focusing on those that line up with the main point and then using our notes/the passage to eliminate the incorrect answer choices

Answer Anticipation

These Bizarro Must Be True questions can be rough, as, most of the time, the only way to get to the right answer is to eliminate the four wrong ones. After all, to prove that something isn't in the passage, you'd need to reread the entire thing and see that it's missing, which no one has time for! The exception is when the correct answer contradicts something in the passage, which is less common but welcome when it happens!As such, we'll need to rely on our big-picture understanding of the passage to answer this question. We should start by reminding ourselves of the main point (either by reviewing what we said after reading the passage or by rereading our answer to the main point question). From there, we can head to the answer choices. If something seems familiar, consistent with the main point, or reflected in our notes, it's probably supported by the passage. We can eliminate it without checking the passage. If something seems inconsistent with the main point, it's probably the correct answer. We can use our notes/highlights/underlines to find the part of the passage that proves the answer choice must be false. If we can find that confirmation, we'll select that answer choice and move on. If something in an answer choice doesn't seem familiar and isn't reflected in our notes on each paragraph, we should mark that answer choice as the possible correct answer. Once we've eliminated the remaining answer choices, we can select it.

Answer choices

  1. A
    repetition of elements in Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    (A) Is this consistent with the main point or reflected in our notes?

    Yes! Our fourth paragraph note tells us that paragraph is about the characteristics that place Tutuola's works within the African oral tradition. One of the characteristics listed is that Tutuola "repeats" himself in his work. Therefore, we can be confident that this answer choice is supported and eliminate it without reviewing the passage.

    But if we had to check the passage to confirm that (A) is supported, we'd find that repetition for emphasis is the first element on the list of characteristics of folktales shared by Tutuola's works (P4, S1).

  2. B
    relocation of traditional stories Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    (B) Is this consistent with the main point or reflected in our notes?

    Yes! Our fourth paragraph note tells us that paragraph is about the characteristics that place Tutuola's works within the African oral tradition. One of the characteristics listed is that Tutuola uses "modern settings." We also know from the main point that Tutuola retells traditional folktales. Therefore, we can be confident that this answer choice is supported and eliminate it without reviewing the passage. (This detail was also relevant in getting the second question correct, so we should be familiar enough with this answer to eliminate it quickly!)

    But if we had to check the passage to confirm that (B) is supported, we'd find that transferring tales to modern settings is the third item on the list of characteristics of folktales shared by Tutuola's works (P4, S1).

  3. C
    attainment of international recognition
    Why choice C is not credited

    (C) Is this consistent with the main point or reflected in our notes?

    This isn't in our notes or main point. But we should recall that Tutuola is Nigerian, and at least one English writer (the author) is praising his accomplishments. That surely counts as international recognition. Therefore, we can be confident that this answer choice is supported and eliminate it without reviewing the passage.

    But if we had to check the passage to confirm that (C) is supported, we'd find that the author used a superlative in the first sentence to establish Tutuola as the "first" Nigerian writer to attain international recognition (P1, S1).

  4. D
    use of an omniscient Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

    (D) Is this consistent with the main point or reflected in our notes?

    This isn't in our notes or main point. Therefore, we may need to review the passage to see whether this is supported — especially if we don't remember that the "summary" referenced in our fourth paragraph note is performed by an omniscient voice (P4, S3).

    Fortunately, a quick CTRL/Command + F search for "omnisc" would show that this is supported. Tutuola uses an "omniscient, summarizing voice at the end of his narratives" (P4, S3), so he at least uses an omniscient narrator in this part of his works. Therefore, we can cross (D) off.

  5. E
    transformation of Yoruba folktales Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E matches the stem

    (E) Is this consistent with the main point or reflected in our notes?

    Nope. This answer contradicts the main point of the passage — the author contends that Tutuola isn't a novelist but rather a teller of folktales, so the author wouldn't characterize his works as "modern novels." Since this answer contradicts the main point and we eliminated all the other answers, we should feel 100% comfortable picking it.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 7%
  2. B 5%
  3. C 7%
  4. D 4%
  5. E Credited 78%

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