sunhwa2881
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Q8 - A history book written hundreds

by sunhwa2881 Mon Sep 27, 2010 5:50 pm

Can you please explain why C is the correct answer?
 
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Re: Q8 - A history book written hundreds

by giladedelman Wed Sep 29, 2010 5:35 pm

Thanks for the question!

So, let's break down the argument core:

The history book has inconsistencies, THEREFORE the author must have gotten information from more than one source.

Is that a valid argument? Isn't it assuming that the only way to end up with inconsistencies is to get information from multiple sources? Couldn't something else lead to having inconsistencies?

(C) is correct because it strengthens the assumption by negating a competing possibility. If the author did use and repeat a source that had its own inconsistencies, we wouldn't be able to conclude that he used multiple sources; maybe the inconsistencies in his work all came from the one he consulted. So it's necessary to assume that he didn't use a source with inconsistencies.

(A) is out of scope. We care whether this book used multiple sources, not about what authors normally do.

(B) is out of scope. Whether the inconsistencies were apparent is irrelevant.

(D) is out of scope. It doesn't matter whether the author was aware.

(E) is far too broad. Why would the author need to be familiar with all the available source material?

Does that answer your question?
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Re: Q8 - A history book written hundreds

by Dannyboy3D Thu Dec 05, 2013 2:58 am

I don't even understand what C) is trying to say at all...can someone just break down the language of C)?
 
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Re: Q8 - A history book written hundreds

by paulinoinny Wed Dec 11, 2013 9:10 pm

Let me give this a shot.

The answer is C because the conclusion states that the history book author MUST have used MORE THAN ONE source, therefore, the assumption is that if there was more than one source, that one source did not make all the same mistakes. Seeing as the book had several inconsistencies. My thinking is that all of the inconsistencies were each different.
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Re: Q8 - A history book written hundreds

by WaltGrace1983 Tue Feb 25, 2014 6:07 pm

paulinoinny Wrote:Let me give this a shot.

The answer is C because the conclusion states that the history book author MUST have used MORE THAN ONE source, therefore, the assumption is that if there was more than one source, that one source did not make all the same mistakes. Seeing as the book had several inconsistencies. My thinking is that all of the inconsistencies were each different.


I think it may be easier to think about it like this: the conclusion is assuming that the author wasn't using one book that, within itself, had inconsistencies. Thus, we could rephrase it by saying that this book the author used did not have contradictory information within its pages. For example, on page 1 it said that Abraham Lincoln was born in 1841 and on page 76 it said that Abraham Lincoln was born in 1642. (C) eliminates the possibility of something like this happening.
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Re: Q8 - A history book written hundreds

by uhdang Tue Mar 31, 2015 1:33 am

Interesting question starting with an interesting question stem!

This is a Necessary Assumption question. And I first went blank for about 2 seconds because of the question stem. Looking at it closely, I figured that,

[ The conclusion cited follow ==> (Right Answer Choice) ]

And it's asking us for a necessary assumption! Clever!

Intrigued, I thought that there could be a sufficient assumption question with a question stem like, "Unless the conclusion is true, it doesn't follow that" (Just switching position.) Is there such a question stem?

Anyhow, let's get into the Core:

A history book written hundred of years ago contains several inconsistencies

==>

Some scholars argue the author must have been getting information from more than one source.

@ Assumption analysis.

1) We assume that scholars are right. Maybe they are wrong. Introducing a possible mistake these scholars could have made and presenting it wasn't made would be a valid necessary assumption. For instance, these scholars went through at least one source that could confirm the inconsistency of the history book. would be a valid necessary assumption. If they didn't, it opens up a possibility that those scholars did not confirm the fact and their claim could be untrustworthy!

2) The author directly connects having several inconsistencies to getting information from more than one source. In other words, he/she assumes that going through more than one source is the ONLY way that the history book could contain those several inconsistencies. What if the author got the information from one source but that one source has all those several inconsistencies?

Now, let's get into the answer choices.

A) We are not concerned about what the author does with discrepancies. We want to know where these discrepancies came from. One source or more?

B) whether discrepancies are apparent to which readers is not our concern. Having inconsistencies is a given premise. There ARE inconsistencies. We don’t care about who can recognize it or not at the present time. Irrelevant.

C) This exploits our second assumption. This eliminates the possibility that the author used only one source but the only source the author used contains those discrepancies. To verify the answer choice, negating this would read, “author used some source that contained inconsistencies repeated in the history book.” "Some" is equal to "at least one." Saying "at least one" would embrace the scenario of using more than one source, but it also contains a possible case where the author used only one source and it contained the repeated inconsistencies. (When "some" meant "one") And this would hurt the conclusion.

D) Whether author was aware of this discrepancy has nothing to do with how many sources he/she used. Out of scope.

E) Again, no influence to the conclusion. We don’t need to know that the author is familiar with all the available source to conclude that he/she has used one or multiple sources.
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