PrepTest 126, Section 1, Question 25
Some twentieth-century art is great art.(17 more words not shown)
Each of the following statements(9 more words not shown)
- ASome influential art(3 more words not shown)
- BSome twentieth-century art(3 more words not shown)
- COnly art that(5 more words not shown)
- DOnly art that(9 more words not shown)
- ESome twentieth-century art(6 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Start with the art we know exists: some twentieth-century art is great.
What does being great require? It must involve original ideas. It must also be influential, because the passage says art that isn't influential cannot be great. So the twentieth-century art we started with has both features. We aren't talking about one piece that is original and a separate piece that is influential; the same great art must meet both requirements.
What we’re looking for
The question is an EXCEPT: four statements follow, and one doesn't. I would keep that known group in view as I check the choices. We can use it to establish that certain features occur together, but we shouldn't turn requirements for great art into requirements for every other kind of art.
Working the answers
- A
This follows. The great twentieth-century art is influential and involves original ideas. It therefore gives us at least some influential art with original ideas. We don't have to know anything about the rest of the influential art to establish this overlap.
- B
This also follows. Some twentieth-century art is great, and all great art involves original ideas. The particular twentieth-century art that is great must therefore involve original ideas too.
- CCorrect
This says that all influential art must involve original ideas. We don't know that. Great art must have both qualities, but influential art that isn't great could lack originality. Perhaps an unoriginal work still influences other artists. That would violate C while leaving all the given statements true.
There is some overlap between influence and originality, as A correctly says. The mistake is turning that overlap into a requirement that every influential work must meet.
- D
This follows. Being influential and involving original ideas are both required for greatness. If either were missing, the work couldn't count as great under the passage's rules. D states those requirements; it doesn't say that having both automatically guarantees greatness.
- E
This follows from the same group we identified while reading. The twentieth-century art that is great has to be influential and involve original ideas. Since some such great art exists, some twentieth-century art has both features.
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