PrepTest 127, Section 3, Question 21
George: Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, hardly(47 more words not shown)
Boris's response to George is(8 more words not shown)
- Ashow that the(17 more words not shown)
- Bexplain why ballroom(6 more words not shown)
- Crelate the merengue(11 more words not shown)
- Daccount for the(9 more words not shown)
- Edemonstrate that all(7 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Why are more people learning ballroom dancing? Perhaps dancing at weddings has become more important to them. Perhaps people have more money for lessons, or more places to take them. Those would be possible explanations to investigate.
Boris says the merengue and related dances became popular, and that their popularity spread to other ballroom dances. That could explain why interest spread from one dance to another. But the merengue is itself a ballroom dance. Why did people begin learning that in 1995?
Boris starts his explanation after the revival is already underway. Imagine asking why people began driving and being told that they drove one kind of car and then became interested in other kinds. That might account for the spread to other cars while leaving the original change unexplained. George's question is about the revival of ballroom dancing, so Boris needs to account for how that revival began.
What we’re looking for
The flaw answer should identify that missing beginning. We do not need to reject the possibility that one dance's popularity encouraged interest in others; we need to see why that account is incomplete.
Working the answers
- A
The same people need not learn both the merengue and the other dances. The first group's enthusiasm might influence a different group. Even establishing an overlap between the dancers would leave the central question unanswered: why did interest in ballroom dancing begin to revive?
- B
Explaining the earlier lack of popularity would be different from explaining the later revival. We could explain what prompted renewed interest without fully accounting for why few people took lessons in the preceding period. The unanswered part of George's question is what set the new interest in motion.
- C
A relationship between the merengue and previously popular dances might be interesting, but Boris doesn't need to give a general account of those older forms. What is missing is a reason people began learning the merengue and related ballroom dances in the first place.
- DCorrect
Boris begins with many people learning the merengue and other ballroom dances. That is already part of the revival George wants explained. Moving from those dances to additional ballroom dances may explain the spread of interest, but it doesn't account for the initial renewed interest.
- E
Ballroom dancing can gain popularity overall while some forms remain unpopular. Neither George's question nor Boris's proposed explanation requires every type to be popular. Showing that all types currently attract people would also leave the origin of the revival unexplained.
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