Critical Reasoning

Source: Veritas Prep CR2
99. Although many seventeenth-century broadsides, popular ballads printed on a single sheet of paper and widely sold by street peddlers, were moralizing in nature, this is not evidence that most seventeenth-century people were serious about moral values. While over half of surviving broadsides contain moralizing statements, and it is known that many people purchased such compositions, it is not known why they did so, nor is it known how their own beliefs related to what they read.

Which one of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument?

A: Like other forms of cheap seventeenth-century popular literature, surviving broadsides seems mostly to have been rather low literary quality and to have been written by hack writers.
B: In many moralizing ballades, the moral content was confined to a single stanza expressing a pious sentiment tacked onto a sensationalized account of the crime and adultery.
C: Some seventeenth-century ballad sellers also sold some sermons printed in pamphlet form.
D: The clergy occasionally stuck broadsides warning about the danger of strong drink on the doors of seventeenth-century alehouses.
E: Well-educated people of the seventeenth century held broadsides in contempt and considered broadside peddlers to be disreputable vagrants.

OA: B

I'll go with B.

The ballades might be moralizing in nature, but few people who buy these even understood that they are meant to somehow improve their morals.

I would go with (D), I see 2 problems with (B), first it does not mention 17th century. so we are not sure what the date on these pamphlets is. Second, even if the religious message was short, there is little evidence that people did not follow the religious message.

With (d), what is stated is that quite a few of these pamphlets may be put at bars (alehouses) to moralize people... so created do ensure that people go on the righteous path...

again, I may be wrong.. Whats the OA

D mentions nothing of moral standards.

Danger and moral have a pretty big gap between the two.

IMO B.

Is it B?

YellowSapphire wrote:Source: Veritas Prep CR2
99. Although many seventeenth-century broadsides, popular ballads printed on a single sheet of paper and widely sold by street peddlers, were moralizing in nature, this is not evidence that most seventeenth-century people were serious about moral values. While over half of surviving broadsides contain moralizing statements, and it is known that many people purchased such compositions, it is not known why they did so, nor is it known how their own beliefs related to what they read.

Which one of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument?

A: Like other forms of cheap seventeenth-century popular literature, surviving broadsides seems mostly to have been rather low literary quality and to have been written by hack writers.
B: In many moralizing ballades, the moral content was confined to a single stanza expressing a pious sentiment tacked onto a sensationalized account of the crime and adultery.
C: Some seventeenth-century ballad sellers also sold some sermons printed in pamphlet form.
D: The clergy occasionally stuck broadsides warning about the danger of strong drink on the doors of seventeenth-century alehouses.
E: Well-educated people of the seventeenth century held broadsides in contempt and considered broadside peddlers to be disreputable vagrants.

ok. this cr is tough for me bc there are so many new word.
B is my choice

It seems the OA is B. I looked up the answer key on Amazon..

https://www.amazon.com/Critical-Reasonin ... 1936240092

Go to page 160 and look for Question number 99

It's B. The conclusion is that the fact that there is some moral content doesn't prove that broadsides were bought for moral enlightenment. B tells us the moral content was small and that they were mainly about GMAT and violence. That supports the contention that they weren't purchased for their moral content. Kind of like saying people buy Playboy for the articles.

I am still not understood.

WE are told there is very little moral content and a lot of GMAT and violence - therefore, we can't assume they are buying it for the moral content, but for the GMAT.

diebeatsthegmat wrote: ok. this cr is tough for me bc there are so many new word.
B is my choice

I agree with lunar. I think many people got lost in all the new terms, especially since the answers require some time to get a little used to.

In many moralizing ballades, the moral content was confined to a single stanza expressing a pious sentiment tacked onto a sensationalized account of the crime and adultery.

B is the correct choice because it provides an explanation that while there was moral content. the key word is that it's confined, meaning that there was moral content was sparse. I could see how this info could be difficult for non-native speakers to grasp.