Reading Comprehension · Inference (Author's View)

PrepTest 146 · Section 4 · Question 21

Phase 1 (your first ~400 questions): read the guidance, then answer. No clock.

Step 1 · Pre-Question Guidance · read this first

Question type

Inference (Author's View)

The one idea it tests

If a sign's shape has no link to its meaning, then the shape could have been any free sign.

The basic logic

Ask what the example sign shows: is its meaning tied to its look or just agreed on? Then pick the statement that follows from that, and reject claims about history or society the passage never makes.

Tiny words that decide it

“not”
“rather”
“abstract”

Playground logic

The zigzag means 'cone' even though it looks nothing like a cone. So the team could have picked any unused mark for 'cone' and it would have worked just as well.

Step 2 · The kid passage

This question belongs to Passage 3 (Questions 15–22). Read its kid passage and structure guide first: The Mystery of the Playbook Squiggles →

Step 3 · Try the model question

The author of the kid passage would most probably accept which one of the following about the zigzag mark for 'cone'?

Step 5 · Work the real question

Open PrepTest 146, Section 4, Question 21 in your official copy from LSAC (for example in LawHub) and read it there.

Your answer

How to apply it

Open Question 21 in your official copy and answer it first.

Find the sign the question points to and the sentence explaining what it is not. Ask: does the sign's shape do any work in carrying meaning? If not, the meaning is just agreed on. Choose the answer that follows from that, and reject answers that give the sign a special cause, a special history, or a link to politics.