Self-study
Support Most respondents to a magazine survey who had recently listened to a taped reading of a certain best-selling novel said that they had enjoyed the novel, while most respondents who had recently read the novel themselves said they had not enjoyed it. █████ ██████ ███████ ███████ ███ ██████████ ████ █ ██████ ███ ███████ ██ █ █████ ███████ ██ █ █████ ██ ████ ██████ ██ █████ ███ █████ ████ █ ██████ ███ █████ ██ ███
Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The author hypothesizes that people who listen to a taped reading of a novel are more likely to enjoy it than those who read it. She supports this with a survey in which most respondents who listened to the taped reading of a certain novel said that they enjoyed it, while most who read it said that they did not.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that the sample of respondents are representative of all readers or listeners. She also assumes that the difference in enjoyment between readers and listeners of this novel applies to all novels.
7.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ █████ ████ ██████ ███ █████████
a
Most of the ███████████ ███ ███ ████████ ██ █ █████ ███████ ██ ███ █████ ███ █████ ████ ███ ███ ████ ██ ███ ███████████ ███ ███ ████ ███ █████ ███ █████ ████████ ██ █ █████ ███████ ██ ███
Whether people had previously read or listened to the novel doesn’t change the fact that most respondents who listened to it enjoyed it and most who read it didn’t. We can’t assume that their responses would’ve been different if they’d previously read or listened to the novel.
b
Most people can ████ █ █████ ██ ████████████ ████ ████ ████ ██ █████ ████ ████ ██ ██████ ██ █ █████ ███████ ██ ███
We can’t assume that the time it takes to read or listen to a book affects how much people enjoy the book. Thus, (A) doesn’t weaken the author’s argument, which relies on respondents’ reported enjoyment.
c
When people are █████ █████ ███████ ██ █ ████████████ █████ ████ ████ ████ ████ ██ ████████ ██ ██ █████ ████ ███ ████ ██████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ███████ ███ █████ ████ ████ ████ ███ ███ █████ ███
(C) doesn’t distinguish between readers and listeners; it only says that people are more likely to report enjoying the novel whether they read it or listened to it. But the author’s argument is about the difference in responses between readers and listeners.
d
Many novels that ███ █████████ ██ ████ ████████ ███ ███ █████████ ██ █████ █████████
This is true, but it doesn’t weaken the author’s argument. The fact that not all novels are available in audio versions does not challenge the conclusion that people people who listen to a novel are more likely to enjoy it than those who read it.
e
The novel in █████████ ██████ ████ ███████ ████████ ████████ ██ ████ █████████ ████████ ████ ███ ████ ██████████████ ████ █████ ████ ████ █████
This weakens the author’s argument by highlighting the assumption that the survey results regarding this novel can be generalized to draw a conclusion about all novels. Just because this novel might be more enjoyable to listen to doesn’t mean all novels are.