Which one of the following best describes the function of the last paragraph of the passage?

Shiyi-Zhang January 29, 2019

Could someone explain this question to me? Thanks!

Ravi February 11, 2019

@Shiyi-Zhang,

Happy to help.

The question says, "Which one of the following best describes the
function of the last paragraph of the passage?"

In looking at the last paragraph of the passage, we see that the
author points out some extreme examples of formal and substantive
reasoning by mentioning the ramifications that the extreme versions of
these types of reasons can lead to (lines 55 through 59). The author
makes the case that the extreme types of formal reasoning can lead to
wooden interpretations of statutes and an unwillingness to develop the
common law through judicial activism, while the extreme end of
substantive reasoning has resulted in really liberal interpretations
that the statutes are essentially ignored altogether.

From this, we know that the role of the last paragraph is for the
author to present the consequences of extreme examples of formal and
substantive reasoning. This is precisely what (A) gives us, as it
says, "It presents the consequences of extreme interpretations of the
two types of legal reasons discussed by the author." (A) matches up
perfectly with what we said the main point of the last paragraph is,
so this is the correct answer.

You asked about (E) and why it's incorrect. Let's take a look.

(E) says, "It presents scholars’ characterizations of both legal
systems that are only partially correct."

The issue with (E) is that the author does not refer to the scholars'
characterizations of the legal systems mentioned in the final
paragraph; rather, she is referring to the scholars' characterizations
of the legal REASONING. Legal systems are not the same thing as legal
reasoning, so we can get rid of this answer choice on this alone.
However, there's another problem with this answer choice, too. The
author never suggests that the scholars' characterizations of the
legal reasoning discussed in the last paragraph is only partially
correct. All she says is that it's a very extreme type of that kind of
reasoning that has bad consequences (lines 49 through 56). Therefore,
we can confidently eliminate (E).

Does this help? Let us know if you have any more questions!