Before the printing press, books

Answer choices

1. A

   Opposite Impact (strengthens)1% picked this

   During the first years after the invention of the printing press, letter writing by people who wrote without the assistance of scribes

   This makes the author's explanation more plausible, suggesting that literacy HAS spread (since people don't seem to need scribes or clerks as much to write a letter).

   1%
2. B

   Strengthens (if anything)1% picked this

   Books produced on the printing press are often found with written comments in the margins in the handwriting of the

   Since you have to be literate to write comments in the margin, if anything, this helps the plausibility of the author's story that literacy was on the rise.

   1%
3. C

   Correct90% picked this

   In the first years after the printing press was invented, printed books were purchased primarily by people who had always bought and read expensive

   Why this is right

   This choice suggests that the increase in demand for printed books was not because more people learned to read, but because existing readers who had previously bought expensive manuscripts could now buy more with the same amount of money. This provides an Alternate Explanation for the increased demand, thereby weakening the conclusion that it was due to a newfound ability to read among the general populace. When we see Explain Curious Fact arguments on Weaken (which is the most common type), the most common way to weaken is an Alternate Explanation for the curious fact.

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

   90%
4. D

   Strengthens (if anything)2% picked this

   Books that were printed on the printing press in the first years after its invention often circulated among friends in

   If books circulated among friends, that suggests that all the friends who had temporary custody of the book were able to read it, which supports the plausibility of the author's notion that literacy had spread.

   2%
5. E

   Strengthens6% picked this

   The first printed books published after the invention of the printing press would have been useless to illiterate people, since the

   This strengthens by ruling out an alternate explanation --- we could have said, "Sure more people are buying books now that they're cheaper, but that doesn't mean they can read! They're just buying them for the pictures." But this answer rules out that explanation.

   6%