PrepTest 144, Section 3, Question 7
Critic: The recent biography of Shakespeare does not(53 more words not shown)
The conclusion of the argument(12 more words not shown)
- AThere is no(10 more words not shown)
- BThe life of(8 more words not shown)
- CShakespeare was very(8 more words not shown)
- DA biography should(8 more words not shown)
- EWhat is most(11 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
What is the most interesting thing about Shakespeare? His writing? His daily habits? What made him unlike the other people of his time?
The critic says this biography misses the most interesting part, but the evidence only identifies one thing it misses: what made Shakespeare different from his contemporaries. The book apparently does a good job of placing him in Elizabethan England. It explains what life would have been like for a man in that setting.
We can see where the critic is going. Perhaps the differences are exactly what make Shakespeare interesting. But that connection hasn't been stated. If what most interested us were some part of his ordinary daily life that the biography covered, missing his differences wouldn't establish the critic's conclusion.
What we’re looking for
The question asks for an assumption that makes the conclusion follow. Tie the missing topic to the most interesting topic: what is most interesting about Shakespeare is what made him different. Then a biography that doesn't explain those differences necessarily misses what is most interesting about him.
Working the answers
- A
Whether anyone can discover the differences is a separate issue. Even if those differences were impossible to know, we'd still need to establish that they are what is most interesting about Shakespeare. A doesn't connect the omitted material to the critic's conclusion.
- B
The conclusion isn't simply that ordinary Elizabethan life is interesting or uninteresting. It is about what is most interesting about Shakespeare and whether this book explains it. Even if the average man's life were uninteresting, that wouldn't identify the part of Shakespeare's life that matters most.
- C
Being very different doesn't establish that those differences are his most interesting feature. He might differ from others in many ways while some trait he shares with them interests us most. C gives us more difference without providing the needed connection to interest.
- D
What a biography should focus on isn't the same as what is most interesting about this particular subject. A book could fail to follow that proposed writing rule and still cover the most interesting aspect of Shakespeare. The critic's conclusion needs a connection between distinctiveness and interest, not a general instruction to biographers.
- ECorrect
This supplies the missing connection. The biography does not explain what made Shakespeare different, and E tells us that those differences are what is most interesting about him. Therefore the biography does not explain what is most interesting about him. Each part of the conclusion now has support.
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