About this video
This reading-comprehension lesson walks through a question asking for the best single title that covers two related passages about how humans respond to music. The speaker tests each answer choice against what the passages actually discuss, eliminating options that mention things the passages never cover. The lesson's point is that one wrong word can disqualify an otherwise plausible answer.
You'll be able to
- identify the central question that two passages share.
- eliminate answer choices that include content the passages never mention.
- recognise that a single word can make an otherwise reasonable answer wrong.
Key words
- Passage title
- A short phrase that captures the main question or topic that a passage answers.
- Elimination
- A test strategy of ruling out answer choices that contradict or go beyond the passage content.
- Scope
- How broad or narrow an answer choice is compared with what the passages actually cover.
- Distractor
- A plausible but incorrect answer choice that is designed to tempt a careless reader.
Transcript
- Which one of the following would be most appropriate as a title for each of the passages? So the implication here is that, a single title could convey the information, from both of the passages. Which acknowledges that these passages are pretty close to each other, in terms of what question they're trying to answer.
So, let's look at these choices. We know that it's trying to explain how humans respond to music, and why they might feel that some music gives them positive feeling and other, sort of, music gives them negative feelings, based on their expectations, based on the tension, based on whether it's continuous or discontinuous.
So we're looking for something that really encapsulates the question that the passages seem to be trying to answer. So let's look at A. The Biological Underpinnings of Musical Emotions. Biological Underpinnings, maybe psychological underpinnings of the generation of those emotions, but it's mot really the underpinnings either.
I'm not liking A. B. The Psychology of Listener Response to Music. Now both passages definitely talk about the ways in which people respond to different kinds of music. It looks pretty good. I like B, I'm gonna keep on looking. Try to cross out the others because hopefully they won't be as good as B.
Let's see what happens. C. How Music Differs from Other Art Forms. Other art forms, not mentioned. D. Cultural Patterns in Listeners Responses to Music. We haven't heard any about cultural patterns, whether something's different in one culture or another. D is not the answer.
E. How Composers Convey Meaning Through Music. We have not heard anything about what composers are doing. E is not the answer. Our answer is B. So you know how a single word can make a wrong answer wrong. A single word can disqualify the entire choice. So try to find those words that just don't feel right.
Maybe because they're not mentioned, or because it just doesn't accurately reflect, what you know to be true about what you just read. Trust yourself.
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