Logical Reasoning

PT105 · S1 · Q20 The nature of English literature

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The nature of English literature reflects the rich and diverse vocabulary of the English language, which resulted from the dual influence of the Anglo-Saxon and, later, French languages.

Facts

causal (resulted from, reflects)

Dual influence of >> rich and diverse >> nature of Anglo-Sax + French vocabulary English lit contrast / pivot (though)

French doesn't have dual influence. Directly influenced by Latin (barely a trace of Celtic)

French lit is known for simplicity and clarity.

Evaluate

The #1 thing we listen for on Most Supported is causal language. The other things we listen for are conditional / pivot / mathy / comparison ideas.

It seems like maybe we're being tested on the causality of "dual influence leads to rich/diverse vocab", or the pivot contrast provided with French's simpler / clearer single origin language.

Goal

I wouldn't have a good prediction here, so let's just look for the most provable answer. It'll probably relate to the causal difference maker of .

20.

Which one of the following can be most reasonably inferred from the information above?

  1. Correct

    The origin of English played

    Why this is right

    This follows directly from the first sentence, and rewards us for finding the cause/effect connection. English literature reflects English's rich and diverse vocabulary; that vocabulary "resulted from the dual influence of the Anglo-Saxon and, later, French languages" — i.e., its origin. So the origin had some influence on the nature of English language.

    Skill tested: Most Supported · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

    72% picked this

  2. The vocabulary of the Anglo-Saxon

    Unsupported

    There's some support for the notion that English is a richer language than French, since two languages fed into English. But we have no support for the idea that one of those component languages, Anglo-Saxon, was itself richer than French.

    13% picked this

  3. The vocabulary of English is

    Unsupported

    This is pretty tempting, since English is a blend of two languages (so maybe it has twice as many words?), but it's less provable than (A). The stimulus describes English's vocabulary as rich and diverse but doesn't make a quantitative claim about size relative to French. Whether English has more words than French is not addressed. The fact that French literature is famously simple and clear doesn't reveal that French has fewer words in its language.

    7% picked this

  4. Simple and clear literature cannot

    Too Strong

    The stimulus notes that French is simple and clear and English is rich and diverse — but it never claims simple, clear literature cannot be written in a rich-vocabulary language. This is an overstated absolute that goes far beyond the stimulus's descriptive contrast.

    4% picked this

  5. English literature and French literature

    Unsupported

    Given that French is one of the two languages that influenced English, it seems very possible that French language has had a lot of influence on English language. And in the literary world, it would be very possible that English and French authors have been influenced by each other's works.

    5% picked this

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