PrepTest 130

Incorrect. This answer distinguishes between narrative descriptions and emotional writing—that's not an example of someone able to tell something is off despite not being able to articulate the rules.

Incorrect. In this case, the engineers seem to be able to specify the relevant physical rules they're using in their designs.

Correct. Argument or Facts:
Facts

Question Type:
Principle (Illustration)

Stimulus Summary:
Most people can pick out good and bad grammar in their native tongue even though they don't know the specific rules.

Answer Anticipation:
This Principle (Illustration) question tasks us with defining the principle that justifies the Linguist's statements and then apply it to a similar situation, so we need to start with identifying that principle. Another way to think of this is that the stimulus and correct answer are both examples of the same generalization.

So how do we generalize here? The example given is related to language, so we should try to generalize away from that. In the stimulus, it's established that people can tell when something does or doesn't follow the rules even when they can't say what, exactly, those rules are. The correct answer should similarly highlight an example where people know something is right or wrong even if they don't know what "rule" determines that.

Answer Explanation:
This answer highlights a scenario where people can tell if something is right or wrong as a waltz even if they don't know the "rules" that make something a waltz. This illustrates the same general principle as the example in the stimulus, so it's our answer.

Key Takeaway:
Principle (Illustration) questions are essentially asking you to find an answer that serves as an example to the same principle that the stimulus does. You'll need to abstract away from the example in the stimulus in order to do so. One great way to do that is to make a principle that does relate to the topic in the stimulus, and then replace each topical word with a more general one.

Incorrect. This answer distinguishes between experiencing something and describing it—which isn't the same as knowing whether something conforms to a set of rules.

Incorrect. This answer, in many ways, is the opposite of the stimulus. There, people could practically apply rules they couldn't define; this answer has people unable to practically apply rules that they can define.