richachampion wrote:Sviatovin is a medieval Moringian text whose author and exact date of composition are unknown. However, the events in the life of Prince Sviatov that the text describes occurred in 1165, and in the diagram of Sviatov's family that accompanies the text his father, who died in 1167, is identified as still living. Thus Sviatovin must have been written between 1165 and 1167, assuming that ______________
(A) the life of Prince Sviatov is not the subject of any other medieval Moringian texts
(B) the author of Sviatovin intended it to provide as accurate a report about Prince Sviatov's exploits as possible
(C) the diagram accurately represents the composition of Sviatov's family at the time Sviatovin was written
(D) Sviatovin is the earliest Moringian text whose composition can be dated to within a few years
(E) Sviatovin was not written by Sviatov's father himself
Conclusion: The Sviatovin was written between 1165 and 1167
Premises: - text describes events from 1165
- diagram with text identifies his father as living; the father died in 1167
Because this is an assumption question we can try negation - the correct answer, when negated, will undermine the argument.
C negated:
the diagram DOES NOT accurately represent the composition of Sviatov's family at the time Sviatovin was written
Well, if the diagram doesn't accurately represent the composition of the family at the time it was written, then the fact that his father is alive according to the diagram is meaningless. In other words, the diagram could have been produced long after his father had died, in which case, there's no reason to believe that the text was produced before 1167. Because the negation of
C undermines the argument, we know we're looking at the correct answer.