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great writer

by papgust » Fri Dec 25, 2009 4:09 am
Concetta: Franchot was a great writer because she was ahead of her time in understanding that industrialization was taking an unconscionable toll on the family structure of the working class.

Alicia: Franchot was not a great writer. The mark of a great writer is the ability to move people with the power of the written word, not the ability to be among the first to grasp a social issue Besides, the social consequences of industrialization were widely understood in Franchot's day.

In her disagreement with Concetta, Alicia does which one of the following?
(A) Accepts Concetta's criterion and then ads evidence to concetta's case
(B) Discredits Concetta's evidence and then generalizes from new evidence
(C) Rejects Concetta's criterion and then disputes a specific claim
(D) Disputes Concetta's conclusion and then presents facts in support of an alternative criterion
(E) Attacks one of Concetta's claims and then criticizes the structure of her argument

Please explain your reasoning. Will post the OA soon.
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by rohan_vus » Fri Dec 25, 2009 4:31 am
Might be C..Had to decide closely between C & D. But on second thought , seems the D is just half right.

(A) Accepts Concetta’s criterion and then ads evidence to concetta’s case
---> Doesnt accept the criteria to judge one as great writer . Alicia only accepts the evidene and the fact of Concetta but not her conclusion .

(B) Discredits Concetta’s evidence and then generalizes from new evidence
---> Not true ..Alicia doesnt deny the fact or evidence put forth by Concetta , rather she just turns down her conclusion of Franchot being a great writer . Alicia does ackowledge that Franchot may be ahead of her time in understanding prob indirectly by saying a great writer is judged not by "the ability to be among the first to grasp a social issue ".All that Alicia does is she rejects that Franchot being a great writer coz she doesnt agree the evidence set up by Concetta is a valid criteri. Here is a subtle difference in a vali criteria and evidence . A evidence is a plain fact and Alicia agrees but she just rejects this evidence to be classified as valid criterion for juding someone as great writer


(C) Rejects Concetta’s criterion and then disputes a specific claim
Nope. She first rejects the claim of Concetta and denies the criteria . Order is reversed in this choice----> Not sure order as such is really important here or may be i am inferring too much in terms of order what Alicia literally did first . If order is not to be really weighed on then in totality this choice seems ok as Alicia indeed rejects the criteria and she also rejects the claim.. But if choice would have been like 'Disputes claim by rejecting Concetta's criterion' , then i might have picked up in first read .

(D) Disputes Concetta’s conclusion and then presents facts in support of an alternative criterion
-->Alicia after denying the claim presents an different way ( crireria) to judge a writer's greatness.-- I made a mistake here initially---> Thing is there is no facts forwarded by Alicia as such to support her criteria "The mark of a great writer is the ability to move people with the power of the written word"... Only thing Alicia does is says social consequences were widely understood , this doesnt sound to be a fact supporting her criteria...

(E) Attacks one of Concetta’s claims and then criticizes the structure of her argument
--->Alicia does attack the claim but she doesnt criticize the structure of her argument , rather Alicia turns down Concetta's conclusion by criticizing the criteria set by Franchot .
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by pandeyvineet24 » Fri Dec 25, 2009 8:08 am
IMO D.

Alicia disputes the Concetta claim "Franchot was a great writer" and then presents evidence to support her conclusion.

A - No acceptance between Alicia and Concetta
B - Even though Alicia discredits Concetta's evidence, but she does not generalize anything, instead presents her own evidence.
C - Alicia rejects the entire claim and the reasoning of Concetta's argument.
E - Alicia does not criticize the structure of the argument, but the she rejects the reasoning and the claim.
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by papgust » Fri Dec 25, 2009 7:31 pm
rohan_vus wrote: (C) Rejects Concetta’s criterion and then disputes a specific claim
Nope. She first rejects the claim of Concetta and denies the criteria . Order is reversed in this choice----> Not sure order as such is really important here or may be i am inferring too much in terms of order what Alicia literally did first . If order is not to be really weighed on then in totality this choice seems ok as Alicia indeed rejects the criteria and she also rejects the claim.. But if choice would have been like 'Disputes claim by rejecting Concetta's criterion' , then i might have picked up in first read .

(D) Disputes Concetta’s conclusion and then presents facts in support of an alternative criterion
-->Alicia after denying the claim presents an different way ( crireria) to judge a writer's greatness.-- I made a mistake here initially---> Thing is there is no facts forwarded by Alicia as such to support her criteria "The mark of a great writer is the ability to move people with the power of the written word"... Only thing Alicia does is says social consequences were widely understood , this doesnt sound to be a fact supporting her criteria...
Rohan, excellent reasoning! OA is C

Even i wasn't sure whether order is important or not in choice C. So, i rejected C and chose D.

@Testluv, is order important here? In the correct answer choice, order of argument is not proper.
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by Testluv » Sat Dec 26, 2009 2:48 pm
Hi papgust,

Yes, order definitely is important when describing someone's reasoning. Choice C is correct and DOES preserve the order. Rohan is correct in that the Alicia's first sentence rejects Concetta's main claim. However, Alicia also rejects Concetta's claim that Franchot was ahead of her time in understanding that industrialization was taking a toll on the working class' family structure.

So, if we look at Alicia's response:

"Franchot was not a great writer. The mark of a great writer is the ability to move people with the power of the written word, not the ability to be among the first to grasp a social issue. Besides, the social consequences of industrialization were widely understood in Franchot's day."

The first sentence rejects Concetta's main claim. The second sentence rejects Concetta's criterion. The third sentence disputes a specific claim that Concetta made--that Franchot was prescient in her pointing out that industrialization would take a toll on the family structure of the working class.

So, choice C would also have been correct had it read:

"Rejects Concetta's main claim, rejects Concetta's criterion, and then disputes a specific claim".

Choice C as it is written is under-comprehensive--it didn't say everything it could have said in order to qualify as correct. However, this under-comprehensiveness does not detract from its correctness--it is still an adequate description of what Alicia does in disagreeing with Concetta.
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by papgust » Sat Dec 26, 2009 7:39 pm
Thanks Testluv! Awesome reply.
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