Quote:
In order to learn to speak a foreign language, a person must practice effectively. The only effective way to practice is by uttering original sentences in that language, rather than reciting memorized ones. A person can utter such sentences only by first making mistakes in that language that would appear foolish to fluent speakers of the language.
Which of the following conclusions can be properly drawn from the statements above?
A. People who have learned to speak a foreign language will have appeared foolish to fluent speakers of that language.
B. People who only recite memorized sentences in a foreign language will never learn to speak that language.
C. People who have not learned to speak a foreign language have not appeared foolish to fluent speakers of that language.
D. People who do not make mistakes when uttering original sentences in a foreign language do not appear foolish to fluent speakers of that language.
E.When combined with other exercises, reciting memorized sentences in a foreign language can be an effective means of practicing to speak that language.
In order to solve the question, you may apply the
IMS's four-step approach.STEP #1 - READ THE QUESTION STEM TO FIGURE OUT THE QUESTION TYPE
The stem says, 'Which of the following conclusions can be properly drawn from the statements above?' Clearly, we are dealing with a conclusion question. Now that the first step is done, let us move on to the second step.
STEP #2 - READ AND X-RAY THE ARGUMENT/PARA
Since we are dealing with a conclusion question, we need to simply read and x-ray the para. Remember, in a conclusion question, we do not have to figure out the conclusion and the premise. The facts mentioned in a para are stated below. You may want to draw inferences wherever needed.
FACT #1 -> In order to learn to speak a foreign language, a person must practice effectively. (INFERENCE: Without practicing effectively, it is not possible to learn a foreign language.)
FACT #2 -> The only effective way to practice is by uttering original sentences in that language, rather than reciting memorized ones. (INFERENCE: Reciting memorized sentences in not an effective way to practise. The ONLY way to practice effectively is by uttering original sentences.)
FACT #3 -> A person can utter such sentences only by first making mistakes in that language that would appear foolish to fluent speakers of the language. (INFERENCE: It is possible to utter original sentences ONLY by first making mistakes in that language, and the act of making mistakes would appear foolish to fluent speakers of the language)
Now, that the para is x-rayed, we shall move on to the third step, which is framing a shadow answer or simply figuring out what the right answer should be doing.
STEP #3 - FRAME A SHADOW ANSWER/KNOW WHAT THE RIGHT ANSWER SHOULD BE DOING
In a conclusion question, the right answer should be 100 percent validated by the para. It should be either linking the unlinking terms or summarizing the given sentences. Let us now proceed to the final step.
STEP #4 - ELIMINATE THE INCORRECT ANSWER OPTIONS
We can eliminate answer options that go beyond the scope of the para. While answers that are way too extreme are generally eliminated, if the author himself adopts an extreme language (which is what the author has done here by using the word 'ONLY' twice), it is possible for the right answer to be extreme as well.
A. People who have learned to speak a foreign language will have appeared foolish to fluent speakers of that language. -
OUT OF SCOPE -
The author says that the mistakes would appear foolish and not the people. -
ELIMINATEB. People who only recite memorized sentences in a foreign language will never learn to speak that language. -
LINKS THE UNLINKED TERMS -
Remember, FACT #1 states the only way to learn a language is to practice effectively, and it can be inferred from FACT #2 that it is not possible to practice effectively by uttering memorized sentences. 'Memorized sentences' has been linked with language learning in this answer option. From both FACT #1 and FACT #2, it is evident that it is not possible to learn a foreign language by reciting memorized sentences alone. -
KEEPC. People who have not learned to speak a foreign language have not appeared foolish to fluent speakers of that language. -
OUT OF SCOPE -
The para does not deal with people who have not learned to speak a foreign language -
ELIMINATED. People who do not make mistakes when uttering original sentences in a foreign language do not appear foolish to fluent speakers of that language. -
OUT OF SCOPE -
The para does not deal with people who do not make mistakes. -
ELIMINATEE. When combined with other exercises, reciting memorized sentences in a foreign language can be an effective means of practicing to speak that language. -
OUT OF SCOPE -
The para does not talk about 'other exercises'. -
ELIMINATEHence, B is the right answer.