George: Throughout the 1980s

Answer choices

1. A

   Irrelevant Comparison20% picked this

   show that the people who learned the merengue are the same people who are now interested

   Boris's explanation doesn't hinge on the idea that the original merengue people are part of the current ballroom dance craze. He's only identifying them as the initial spark. If we said, "Why is Justin so into ultimate fighting?" and the answer was "Justin's dad was into boxing. That got Justin's older brother into wrestling, which then got Justin into ultimate fighting", this story wouldn't necessitate that Justin's dad is now interested in ultimate fighting.

   20%
2. B

   Out of Scope: "before 1995"11% picked this

   explain why ballroom dancing was so unpopular

   Boris's job was to answer the question of "Why is ballroom dancing popular now?" He wasn't trying to answer the question "Why wasn't ballroom dancing popular in the 80's / early 90s?"

   11%
3. C

   Out of Scope: "before 1995"5% picked this

   relate the merengue to the forms of dancing that were more

   Since Boris is only trying to explain why ballroom started getting popular again in the mid 90s, there's no reason why he needs to relate merengue to the styles before 1995. Granted, that can be a legitimate way to explain a musical trend. The dirty, self-loathing, grunge rock music of the early 90s is often thought to have become popular precisely because of its relationship to the glamorous, self-glorifying, hair band rock music of the 80s. But Boris doesn't need to relate merengue to previous dance forms. A dance style might get popular in 2020, because of an influential YouTube / TikTok celebrity. That could be a legitimate explanation. We don't have to explain this dance style's popularity by referring to dance styles of the 2010s.

   5%
4. D

   Correct61% picked this

   account for the beginning of the revival of interest in

   Why this is right

   At first this might feel contradicted: didn't Boris account for the beginning by saying, "In 1995, people started learning the merengue and some related ballroom dances"? Yes, but why did they start learning ballroom dancing in 1995? That's essentially still George's question. Why did ballroom wake up from hibernation in the mid 90s? Boris has essentially answered, "Ballroom started getting popular again in the mid 90s because in the mid 90s, some ballroom dances started getting popular again."

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

   61%
5. E

   Too Strong: "all types"3% picked this

   demonstrate that all types of ballroom dancing are

   The author doesn't need to demonstrate that 100% of ballroom dancing styles are currently popular. 99% would still be convincingly popular.

   3%