Reading comp PrepTest 155 · Section 3 · Question 25

Passage

Passage A  In 1940, Benjamin Lee Whorf seduced a whole generation into believing that our mother tongue restricts what we Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary Topic:
Social Science

Passage A
Paragraph 1
  • Paragraph note
    • Author's criticism of Whorf's theory (language restricts thoughts)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Author's view:
      • There's no evidence for Whorf's outrageous claim that language restricts our thoughts (second and last sentences)
    • Author's attitude: "seduced" (first sentence); "impose" (second sentence); "never actually been any evidence" (last sentence); "fantastic claims" (last sentence)
Paragraph 2
  • Paragraph note
    • Author's argument (new research shows that language influences what we think about) and support (gender example)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Author's view:
      • The main issue with Whorf's theory is the belief that language prevents certain thoughts (first sentence); research suggests that language just influences what we think about
    • Example of how language influences thought, according to the author:
      • German forces you to think about whether neighbors are male or female (last sentence)
    • Author's attitude: "main mistake" (first sentence); "suggests that in reality"
Paragraph 3
  • Paragraph note
    • Author's additional support (genders of objects influence how we think about the objects)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Cause-and-effect relationship, according to the author:
      • Gendered words for objects can cause us to develop different feelings about the object (first sentence)
    • Example of how gendered words influence thoughts, according to study:
      • Study on words where genders are different in German and Spanish (second through last sentence)
      • Words included bridges, clocks, violins, mountains, and chairs
    • Author's attitude: "can shape" (first sentence)


Passage B
Paragraph 1
  • Paragraph note
    • Study of Piraha and Munduruku Indian subjects (don't have number words but seem to understand numbers)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Point of intersection with passage A:
      • The idea of "number words" and an "innate imprecise nonverbal concept of number" invokes the same central question as passage A — does language change how we think?
    • Author's attitude: "give evidence" (first sentence); "appear to indicate" (last setnence)
Paragraph 2
  • Paragraph note
    • Discuss a surface-level interpretation of the study, and a deeper one
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Point of intersection with passage A:
      • The author brings Whorf is brought up, suggesting that on the surface, the study shows that language is independent of concepts (passage A would disagree that language and concepts are independent) (first sentence)
    • Comparison, according to the study:
      • People with exact number words value exact values (e.g., when doing basic addition and subtraction), while those without number words are indifferent to exact values (third through the fifth sentence)
    • List of potential conclusions from the study, according to the author:
      • Strong Whorfian, weak Whorfian, or non-Whorfian (last sentence()
    • Point of intersection with passage A:
      • The author also says the study's findings on exact numerical values could support the idea that language expands how we think about concepts (which the author of passage A discusses re: gender of bridges, etc.) or directs attention to certain concepts (which the author of passage A discusses re: gender of neighbors) (last sentence)
    • Author's attitude: "support" (first sentence); "there is more to the story" (second sentence); "suggest" (last sentence")


Main Points?
Passage A: Contrary to Whorf's hypothesis that language prevents us from having certain thoughts, language influences how we think about things.
Passage B: A study of innumerate peoples shows could support a variety of conclusions — from strong Whorfian to non-Whorfoian — about the relationship between language and thought.

Meta-Structure? Overall Relationship?
Relationship - Similar Viewpoints: Both passages discuss the connection between language and thought. The authors are at least somewhat aligned in their views. Both would agree that Whorf's theory isn't the end of the story when it comes to the relationship between language and thought. The author of passage A criticizes Whorf's theory for assuming that language prevents us from forming certain thoughts. And the author of passage B says that we can draw at least two non-Whorfian conclusions from a study.

Relationship - Different Scopes: The topic of passage A is also quite a bit broader in scope than the topic of passage B. Passage A addresses the relationship between language and thought in general. On the other hand, passage B discusses the conclusions about language and thought that can be drawn from one specific study. The type of language the passages describe is quite different as well. Passage A focuses on grammatically gendered words, while passage B hones in on numerical words. Because the scope and topics of these passages are slightly different, expect very few questions to ask us to compare the passages' details or the authors' views. Instead, most questions will likely ask about the general relationship between the two passages, or they'll ask about just one of the two passages. 

Last Thoughts?
Passage A is very strong in its negative opinion of Whorf's hypothesis, using language such as "seduced," "never actually been any evidence," and "main mistake." Nonetheless, the author believes there is a connection between language and thought — just not the one that Whorf put forward (forced thought vs. prevented thought).

Passage B brings up the hypothesis, but just to have a term to characterize conclusions that can be drawn from the study. At the end of the day, passage B believes that a "non-Whorfian hypothesis" is just as possible as a Whorfian one when describing the study's results.

These viewpoints are much more nuanced than just "Whorf good/bad," and so we should be wary of answers that are blunt in that respect.

Question prompt

Which one of the 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

Social Science

Answer choices

  1. A
    Passage A presents examples Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited
    Does this say that the passages discuss studies on the connection between language and thought and suggest that non-Whorfian conclusions can be drawn from the studies while focusing on different types of words and their effects on thought?

    Nope. Experienced test-takers would cross this off simply because it was a poor match to their anticipation.

    Further, neither passage explicitly characterize language-influenced thoughts as "compatible" or "incompatible." thoughts. If anything, the differences in the thoughts produced by gendered words in passage A were more incompatible ("strength" vs. "slender") than in passage B, where the language just led to an indifference to exact numerical values.
  2. B
    Passage A depicts language Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    Does this say that the passages discuss studies on the connection between language and thought and suggest that non-Whorfian conclusions can be drawn from the studies while focusing on different types of words and their effects on thought?

    No. Expert test-takers would eliminate (B) once they saw it wasn't a match to their anticipation.

    Moreover, both passages discuss vocabulary's effects on thoughts, and neither passage brings up grammatical structures.
  3. C
    Passage A regards linguistic Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited
    Does this say that the passages discuss studies on the connection between language and thought and suggest that non-Whorfian conclusions can be drawn from the studies while focusing on different types of words and their effects on thought?

    Negative. Astute test-takers would remove (C) from contention once they saw it didn't match their anticipation.

    Moreover, nothing in passage A suggests that Germans and Spaniards can't understand each other. In fact, the author of passage A says this was a fanciful claim Whorf made (PA, P1, S2-3)! And passage B never discussed whether cultures that care about exact values can understand the Piraha and Munduruku Indian people.
  4. D
    Passage A portrays linguistic Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited
    Does this say that the passages discuss studies on the connection between language and thought and suggest that non-Whorfian conclusions can be drawn from the studies while focusing on different types of words and their effects on thought?

    Again, no. Time-conscious test-takers would eliminate (D) just because it didn't match their anticipation.

    Besides, neither passage talks about where the differences in language came from — just how those differences influence thought. Like answer choice (C) in the first question of this set, this reverses the cause and effect.
  5. E
    Passage A focuses on Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E matches the stem
    Question Type:
    Major Point/Main Point

    Strategy Overview:
    Review the main point of both passages, consider how the main points relate to each other, and find the answer choice that describes the primary similarities and differences between the two passages

    Answer Anticipation:
    This variation on the Main Point question asks us to identify the overall relationship between the two passages. This big-picture question often shows up on comparative passages. For this reason, we should always take a moment to consider the passages' overall relationship after reading the two passages.

    Generally speaking, the authors of the two passages will draw similar conclusions about a similar topic or draw opposing conclusions about a similar topic. Additionally, the scope of the authors' arguments might be different — the authors might discuss the same topic, but one author might take a broad, bird's-eye view of the topic, while the other may dive into a more specific issue related to that topic.

    In this case, we determined that the passages reach somewhat similar conclusions on different topics. The authors are at least somewhat aligned in their views on the connection between language and thought. Both would agree that Whorf's theory isn't the end of the story regarding the relationship between language and thought. But, passage A focuses on grammatically gendered words, while passage B limits its discussion to numerical words.

    With these facts in mind, we should look for an answer choice that says the passages discuss studies on the connection between language and thought and suggest that non-Whorfian conclusions can be drawn from the studies, while focusing on different types of words and their effects on thought.

    Answer Choice Explanation:
    Does this say that the passages discuss studies on the connection between language and thought and suggest that non-Whorfian conclusions can be drawn from the studies while focusing on different types of words and their effects on thought?

    Yes. This reflects the last point, making (E) far closer to our anticipation than any other answer choice. Passage A talks about the subjective view of traits associated with objects of different grammatical genders. Passage B talks about having a "concept of number." As such, this answer correctly describes the relationship between the passages.

    Key Takeaway:
    For these Main Point variations that ask about the relationship between the passages, it can sometimes help to focus on each description of each passage individually. If either "half" of the answer choice is incorrect, it invalidates the whole thing.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 8%
  2. B 11%
  3. C 8%
  4. D 26%
  5. E Credited 48%

Deeper help

Ask follow-ups on any step

Optional AI tutor mode will let you interrogate assumptions, compare answers, and drill weak patterns without leaving the page.

Human-written explanations stay primary; AI is an add-on when you want it.

Discussion

View all discussions Start a discussion