Logical Reasoning

PT137 · S2 · Q24 Why are violins made by Stradivarius

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Why are violins made by Stradivarius in the early 1700s far superior to most other violins?

Background

People wonder why Stradivarius violins from the early 1700s are superior to most other violins.

Some say secret varnishes, but there's no evidence.

Pivot (however)

Climatologists have found that in the 1600s and 1700s, there were weather patterns in the area where Stradivarius worked that affected tree growth to produce wood with special acoustic properties.

Evaluate

What could we reasonably infer by combining the ideas? In particular, when the last claim of an Inference paragraph has a Pivot word attached, the tested inference is almost always what you get by Reconciling the Pivot idea with what came before it.

People are trying to solve the mystery of why Stradivarius violins are so superior. Is the causal difference-maker a secret varnish? There no evidence to suggest it is.

But there is evidence that the wood near Stradivarius's workshop had special acoustic properties.

Goal

So, it seems like this is heading towards the idea that, ?

We want the most safely worded version of that.

24.

Which one of the following most logically completes the argument?

  1. some other Italian violin makers

    Unsupported

    Unsupported: other violin makers Too Strong: equaled The paragraph we read definitely leaves room for this idea to be true. After all, Stradivarius violins are superior to most, but there can still be some violins as good. And it's possible that those as-good violins were made by other Italian violin makers who could have had access to the same wood. But why would this paragraph end by saying it's likely that other Italian violin makers from the early 1700s matched the quality of Stradivarius. It's possible yes, but there isn't any strong support for that here. We don't know anything about these other violin makers. If the paragraph had said, "The only other violins as good as S's violins were made by other Italian violin makers", then we could conclude "it's likely that they used the same wood". If the paragraph had said, "Some other Italian violin makers in the early 1700s used the same wood", then we could conclude "it's likely that their violins were also of superior quality". But this answer is making us assume that it's likely that they used the same wood.

    1% picked this

  2. Stradivarius was the only violin

    Too Strong: the only

    We're told that Stradivarius violins are superior to most other violins, but it's possible that some other violin makers in the early 1700s used the same wood and had violins of comparable quality.

    4% picked this

  3. no violin made from present-day

    Too Strong: no violin

    We're told that Stradivarius violins are superior to most, but there might still be some violins that are equally good in sound quality, and some of those may come from the modern era.

    1% picked this

  4. Correct

    the special qualities of Stradivarius

    Why this is right

    This is softly worded "due in part" and captures the momentum of where this paragraph was headed. It posed a curious question: Why are S's violins so darn good? It rejected one possible explanation: the notion that it's because of a special varnish has no evidence. And it is setting up this alternative explanation by telling us that, he did live in an area that produced wood with special acoustic properties.

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

    92% picked this

  5. Stradivarius did not employ any

    Too Strong: any

    Although the passage says there's no evidence he used a secret varnish, that's not saying "he didn't use a secret varnish". And even if it were saying he didn't use a secret varnish, he might still have used some other secret technique.

    2% picked this

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