PrepTest 154, Section 4, Question 15
Many popular novels have stylistic elements commonly associated(29 more words not shown)
The reasoning in the argument(5 more words not shown)
- Atakes something that(19 more words not shown)
- Btakes for granted(10 more words not shown)
- Cfails to specify(11 more words not shown)
- Dfails to consider(11 more words not shown)
- Etakes the fact(12 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Maybe the novels sound like journalism because the writers used to be journalists. That would make sense, and the next sentence tells us that many of these popular novelists did begin that way.
But does their style make the books popular? That's a different question. Perhaps journalistic writing is common among novelists generally, including authors whose books sell poorly. In that case, finding it among successful books wouldn't tell us that it gives those books an advantage.
What we’re looking for
The author looks at popular novels, notices a shared feature, and treats the feature as something that improves a novel's chances of popularity. We need more context before making that move. For the flaw question, I'd say the style might not be what makes the difference. The argument hasn't separated a feature associated with successful books from a feature that helps them succeed.
Working the answers
- A
The author never establishes that journalistic style is required for popularity, and the conclusion doesn't say it guarantees popularity. It says the style increases the chances. This answer changes both the starting claim and the conclusion. A familiar description of a reasoning error still has to match the actual argument.
- B
The argument says many popular novelists began as journalists. That doesn't assert that most journalists could become novelists. The direction matters: a fact about the background of some novelists isn't a claim about what most members of their former profession could do. This isn't the assumption driving the popularity conclusion.
- C
We could ask whether popular means selling a certain number of copies or appearing on a bestseller list. But choosing a precise cutoff wouldn't fix the reasoning. Under any consistent standard, noticing journalistic style among popular books doesn't by itself show that the style improved their chances. The problem isn't the lack of a numerical definition.
- DCorrect
What happens to the unsuccessful books written in that style? If the style is widespread among those books too, its presence in popular novels could reflect how people commonly write rather than an advantage that produces popularity.
This doesn't mean that finding a few unsuccessful examples would disprove any benefit. A style could improve the odds without guaranteeing success. The problem is that the argument looks only at successful cases and never gives us the fuller comparison needed to support a claim about improved chances.
- E
The author doesn't conclude that popular novels are well written. Popularity and quality could come apart, but that isn't the inference here. The conclusion concerns whether journalistic style helps a book become popular. E criticizes a judgment the author never makes.
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