Professor Chan: The literature department’s

Answer choices

1. A

   Too Strong: never3% picked this

   Texts that are true literary works never have a detrimental effect

   Wigmore's argument has nothing to do with "true literary works", so we can really stop reading there. But this is also an absurdly extreme claim that Wigmore did not commit herself to. If we negate this and say, "There is at least one text that was a true literary work that had some detrimental effect on society", it would have no effect on the argument.

   3%
2. B

   Too Strong: cannot3% picked this

   Courses offered by the literature department cannot include both true literary works and material

   Wigmore's argument has nothing to do with "true literary works", so we can really stop reading there. This is another very extreme claim that Wigmore did not commit herself to. If we negate this and say, "Courses offered by the LIt Department can include both ads and true literary works", that would have no effect on the argument.

   3%
3. C

   Too Strong11% picked this

   Students who take courses in the literature department do not get from those courses other skills besides those needed

   Too Strong: no other skills Only Mentioned ? Only This is saying that the only skills students get from Literature Department courses is the skill of analyzing and understanding texts. Necessary Assumption loves to give this type of trap answer. The only skills mentioned in the paragraph are "analyze and understand texts", but that doesn't imply that those are therefore the only skills. When I say, "Irish people love Christmas", I am not implying that "Irish people are the only people who love Christmas".

   11%
4. D

   Out of Scope: entirely through visual3% picked this

   Forms of advertising that convey their message entirely through visual images do not have a

   Wigmore's argument is about all advertisements. This answer is about a specific subset: those ads that convey messages entirely through visual images. Since Wigmore never discussed this specific subset, we can't accuse her of assuming any specific beliefs about this subcategory of ads.

   3%
5. E

   Correct81% picked this

   The literature department’s responsibility is not limited to teaching students how to analyze

   Why this is right

   This is a surprising correct answer. It's worth considering because it's using ruling-out language (not), which is the hallmark of so many correct Necessary Assumption answers. If we negate this and say, "The literature department's responsibility is limited to teaching students how to analyze true literary works", does that hurt the argument? Yes. Wigmore is acknowledging in her first sentence that ads might not be true literary works. If they aren't true literary works, then according to this negation the literature department has no responsibility to teach them. The possibility that ads belong to a category of things that this department has "no responsibility to teach" badly weakens the argument. So this works as a correct answer.

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

   81%