PT152 S1 Q3 ExplanationLetter to the Editor: The arts section

Answer choices, explained

1. A

   Too Weak / No Impact0% picked this

   Some newspapers do not publish any reviews of

   This says that “In the world, there exists at least one newspaper that doesn’t publish any reviews of live plays”. Okay, cool, but that newspaper doesn’t have anything to do with the conversation we’re having about this newspaper, which does publish some reviews of live plays. The word “some” is almost always too weak to be a correct answer on Strengthen, Weaken, Paradox, and Sufficient Assumption.

   0%
2. B

   Correct91% picked this

   The number of movies released last year was significantly greater than the number of live

   Why this is right

   This provides an Alternate Explanation for why there are way more reviews of movies than of plays. “It’s not because the editors of the arts section have a bias towards movies; it’s just because there are way more movies to review than there are plays to review.” On Weaken (and Flaw, Necessary Assumption, Evaluate), the correct answer on an Explain Curious Fact style argument usually provides an alternate explanation for the curious fact. Meanwhile, on Strengthen, a correct answer is more likely to boost the plausibility of the author’s explanation for the curious fact.

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

   91%
3. C

   Strengthens, if anything5% picked this

   The newspaper has five movie critics, but only one

   This feels like an Alternate Explanation for why there are five times as many reviews of movies vs. plays:

   5%
4. D

   Too Weak1% picked this

   The newspaper does not have the space in the arts section to publish a review of every movie that is released or every

   This would only hurt the author if she had been thinking (implausibly, since this is an insane notion) that “the newspaper does have the space to publish a review of every single movie and play released or performed”. She wasn’t thinking any crazy thought like that, so this answer can’t hurt her. She wasn’t arguing that every play / movie should be reviewed. She just seems to expect an equal number of plays / movies would be reviewed, if the arts editors were unbiased.

   1%
5. E

   No Impact3% picked this

   The newspaper published more reviews of live plays in the last year than it did

   While this somewhat goes against the plausibility of the Author’s Explanation (“It doesn’t sound like the arts section has a bias that favors movies over plays; after all, they reviewed more plays last year than they did the year before.”) But it has very little impact, because even if the number of live plays reviewed has increased, it’s still only 1/5 the number of movies that get reviewed.

   3%