CR - In the secretarial schools...

[smohit04]

In the secretarial schools of the mid-20th century, accuracy of typing was valued as much as speed. Business letters were supposed to be error-free with no visible corrections, and on typing tests, deductions were made from the speed scoring for every error found. The development of so many varieties of correction methods and technologies in this time period is therefore somewhat of a mystery.

Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the conclusion drawn above?

(A) Business letters were typed on a heavyweight paper that not only looked good, but could endure repeated erasure.
(B) A special kind of typewriter paper called erasable bond was invented to allow easier removal of type from the page.
(C) Typewriters are more difficult to type on than keyboards, and even the most sophisticated typewriters would sometimes jam.
(D) In the mid-20th century, typewriters were as ubiquitous as computers are today.
(E) Typing mistakes were considered sufficient reason for firing a secretary.

The source of the problem is sample questions from 800score.com. The answer is given as D, but I could not understand why it is correct.

I think A can also weaken the conclusion, because it states that the business letters could endure repeated erasure which means that though the business letters were error free with no visible corrections, but that could be the result of repeated erasure of the errors made before.

Let me know your thoughts please.

[schmid215]

So the question asks us to reconcile the premium placed on error-free typing among secretaries during a certain time period with the prevalence of error correction technology during the same time period. Before looking at the answers, one should note that secretaries probably comprise only a small portion of those who typed. If this is true, then it is obviously plausible that the remainder of the typing population might not be so keen on not making errors; thus, it would make sense for error correction technology to still be prevalent. Choice C implies that this is the case; computers are very ubiquitous today obviously, not used by one specific class of specialists, and so if typewriters were equally ubiquitous in the time period in question, then it makes perfect sense that many people aside from secretaries who want to type error-free would be using them. Ergo, there would still potentially be a market for error-correction technology.

[tim]

good explanation, although you clearly meant to reference choice D rather than C. the problem with A is that it explains only one error correction method but does not explain the prevalence of many such methods..