Many people who simply enjoy listening to popular music do not realize

Question

Many people who simply enjoy listening to popular music do not realize that it has been used to express religious and political messages. After all, popular music has repeatedly been adopted by social movements to express their viewpoints, since it has the potential to contribute to the "conversion" of nonmembers to the movement's position, as well as to raise the morale and to express the solidarity of the movement's participants.

Which one of the following most accurately expresses the main conclusion of the argument?

(A) Popular music accounts for the success of social movements.

(B) Popular music's entertainment value has been overemphasized.

(C) Popular music is the most effective way of converting people to social movements.

(D) Popular music has purposes other than mere entertainment.

(E) Popular music has a profound emotional impact on its listeners.

sansun · Answer

Answer D

The important piece here is that the "after all" in the question is the supporting evidence, not a conclusion. So, The first sentence states: Many people don't realize that popular music has been used to express religious and political messages. And then explains why.  This is exactly D

Looking at the other options:
(A) Too strong. The passage says music can contribute to social movements, not that it accounts for their success.
(B) The passage never says entertainment is overemphasized
(C) It says music has the potential to convert people, not that it is the most effective way.
(E) Emotional impact is mentioned indirectly (morale, solidarity), but that's evidence, not the main point

guddo · Answer

Many people who simply enjoy listening to popular music do not realize that it has been used to express religious and political messages. After all, popular music has repeatedly been adopted by social movements to express their viewpoints, since it has the potential to contribute to the "conversion" of nonmembers to the movement's position, as well as to raise the morale and to express the solidarity of the movement's participants.

Which one of the following most accurately expresses the main conclusion of the argument?

The argument’s main point is that popular music is not merely for enjoyment. It has also been used to express religious and political messages and to support social movements.  So the conclusion is that popular music has purposes beyond entertainment .

(A) Popular music accounts for the success of social movements.

This is too strong. The passage says popular music can help social movements, not that it explains their success.

(B) Popular music's entertainment value has been overemphasized.

This is not the conclusion. The passage does not say entertainment value is exaggerated; it says popular music has other uses too.

(C) Popular music is the most effective way of converting people to social movements.

This is too strong. The passage says popular music has the potential to help convert nonmembers, not that it is the most effective method.

(D) Popular music has purposes other than mere entertainment.

This is correct. The argument says popular music can express religious and political messages and support social movements. That is exactly the broader  main conclusion .

(E) Popular music has a profound emotional impact on its listeners.

This is unsupported. The passage mentions morale and solidarity, but does not make this broad emotional claim.

Answer: (D)

kingbucky · Answer

To find the main conclusion, we must identify    the statement that is supported by the rest of the passage   . The first sentence claims that people who enjoy popular music often miss that it is used for religious and political messages. The second sentence starts with "After all," which signals that it is providing evidence to prove the first sentence.   Therefore, the first sentence is the main conclusion.

(A) Popular music accounts for the success of social movements.  
 Incorrect. The passage states that music can  contribute  to a movement, but it never claims it is the sole or primary reason for a movement's overall success. This is far too extreme.

(B) Popular music's entertainment value has been overemphasized.  
 Incorrect. The author points out that people fail to realize music has  other  uses, but does not argue that society is overly obsessed with its entertainment value. It simply states the other purposes are under-recognized.

(C) Popular music is the most effective way of converting people to social movements.  
 Incorrect. The argument mentions that music has the "potential to contribute" to conversion. It never states that it is the "most effective" method.

(D) Popular music has purposes other than mere entertainment.  
  Correct.  This perfectly paraphrases the first sentence of the passage (the main conclusion). People listen to it simply for enjoyment (mere entertainment), but fail to realize it is used to express religious and political messages (other purposes). The entire second half of the paragraph exists to prove that these other purposes exist.

(E) Popular music has a profound emotional impact on its listeners.  
 Incorrect. While the passage mentions that music can "raise the morale" of participants, this is just a supporting premise used to  explain how  it helps social movements, not the main conclusion itself.

vaibhav_bisht · Answer

hi i choose the option D in this issue but i am still confused on option E, i rejected it because "it explain only one point conversion of non memmber to the memmber it is emotional change , but to increase the morale show solidarity it doesnot come under emotion therefore i reject the it and choose D. please tell me if my logic was correct or wrong

guddo · Answer

Your final choice is correct, but the reason for rejecting (E) should be slightly different.  The passage does not say that popular music has a profound emotional impact on listeners.  Raising morale may involve emotion, but conversion and expressing solidarity are  broader social and political functions , not simply emotional effects.

egmat · Answer

Hi vaibhav_bisht,

Good instinct to keep poking at E, but the logic you used to kill it isn't quite the right test for this question, even though you landed on the correct answer.

Remember, the stem asks for the  main conclusion . So the real question for every choice isn't "Is this statement accurate?" - it's "Is this the  point being argued , or is it part of the  support ?"

Here's where your reasoning drifts. You rejected E by arguing that "raise the morale" and "express solidarity" aren't really emotional. But look at where those words sit in the passage:

"... since  it has the potential to contribute to the 'conversion'... as well as to raise the morale and to express the solidarity..."

That whole clause comes after  "since"  - it's the  evidence  for why music gets adopted by movements. So E ("profound emotional impact") is drawn straight from the  support , not the conclusion. That's why it's wrong - not because morale/solidarity fail to count as emotional.

In fact, your basis is a little shaky: raising morale and building solidarity  are  fairly emotional effects. If you lean on "these aren't emotional," a slightly different answer choice could slip past you.

The cleaner rule:  in a Find-the-Conclusion question, test each choice by its  role , not by whether it's true or accurate. E states a supporting detail; D states the thing all that support exists to prove.

Quick check to lock it in:  suppose E were reworded to "Popular music raises morale and builds solidarity in movements." That's now clearly accurate - but is it the conclusion? No. It still lives inside the "since" clause as evidence. Same role, still not the main point. That's the filter to apply every time.

Answer: D

Many people who simply enjoy listening to popular music do not realize

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Many people who simply enjoy listening to popular music do not realize

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