Support Certain minor peculiarities of language are used unconsciously by poets. ██ ████ █████████████ ██████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ████ ████ ███ █████ ████ ███ ██████ ██ ███████ ███ ████████ ██ ██████ ███ ██████ ███ ████████ █████ ████████ ██ ████ ██████ ██ ███ ████ ██ ████ ███ █████ ████ ███ ██████ ██ ██ ████████ ███████████████ ██ █████ ████ ███ ███████ █ ████ ██ █████████████████ ████ ██████ █████████ ██ █████████ █ ████ ██ ██████████ ███████ ██████████ ██ ███ ████ ██ █ ██████████ █████ █████ ██ ████████ ███ ████ ██ ███ ████ ██ ████ █████
The argument concludes that unconscious linguistic peculiarities can be used to identify who wrote poems of unknown authorship. How does this work? Because when only one poet uses a particular linguistic peculiarity, then it's probably a personal idiosyncrasy. This is in contrast to when multiple poets use a particular linguistic peculiarity—then it just reflects common language.
The issue is, taking a mystery poem's use of a linguistic peculiarity as evidence that it was written by a particular poet requires already assuming that the poem was written by that poet—it's circular reasoning. Without that assumption, it's equally likely that the authors were different, and just used the same linguistic peculiarity. That would just make the peculiarity a
For which one of the █████████ ███████ ███ ███ ████ █████████ █████ █████ ███████ ██████████ █████ ██ ███ ██████████ ██ ███ █████
The labor of █████████ █████████████ ██ ████████ ████ ██ ███ ████ ██ █ █████ ████ ███ ██ █ ████ ██ ███████ ██████████ █████ ███ ██ ██████████ ██████ █████ ████████ ███████ █████████ ████ ███ ████ ██ ███████ ██████████ ███ ███████ ██ ███ █████ █████
How frequently the test may be used isn't the same thing as how reliable the test is when someone chooses to use it. We're looking for a flaw in the latter claim—our aim is to show why the test wouldn't work, even if someone did use it. (A) doesn't give us that explanation.
This would be a good answer if the question stem asked us why the test was unlikely to be practically useful. That's a related question, but it's not quite the same as what we're actually asked.
A peculiarity of ████████ ████ █████ ██ ████ ██ ██ ███████████ ████ ██ ██████ ██ ██ ██████ █████████ ██ ███ ████ ██ █ █████ ██ ████ █ ██████ ████ ███ █████ ██ ████ ████ ███████ ██ ████ ████ █████ ███ ███████ ████ ████████████
(B) tells us why this test couldn't identify every poem that a particular poet wrote—but that's not quite what the question stem asks. Instead, we're trying to explain why this test would never reliably identify who wrote a poem. Based on (B), the test could still work in some cases.
Like (A), (B) would be a better answer if the question stem asked us why the test was unlikely to be practically useful. But that's a different question than what the question stem asks.
A peculiarity of ████████ ██ █ ████ ██ ███████ ██████████ █████ ██ ████████ ██████ ████ ███ ████ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ███ ██████ █████ ██ ███ ████ ███████████ ██ ████ ███ ███████████ ███ ███ ██████ ██ ████ ███████
This is a roundabout way of describing the flaw of circular reasoning in the argument—it accurately explains why the test isn't reliable, as the question stem asks. Because the results of the tests could provide evidence for either a positive or negative outcome, it can't decide between the two.
Say we're testing poem X, which frequently uses semicolons. It could be written by poet A, who
Minor peculiarities of ████████ ██████████ ███ ████ ██ ███ ████████ ██████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ████ ███████ ██ ██████ █████ ███████ ███████ ███ ████████████ ██████ ████████
This might be true, but the test isn't about literary quality or effect. Instead, it's just about determining who wrote a mystery poem. Whatever factors are important to literary effect, they don't help us explain why the test isn't reliable for determining authorship.
A poet’s use ██ ████ █████████████ ██ ████████ █████ ████ ████ ███████████ ██ ████ █████ ███ █████████ ██ █████ ██████ ███ ███ ███ ████ █████ ██ █████████████████ ██ ████████ ██ █ █████ █████
Whether a poet used certain peculiarities unconsciously or on purpose isn't important for the test—the key question is just whether that poet was the only one to use such peculiarities. As long as the peculiarities were truly unique to a poet, then they can help to identify that poet's poems no matter how they were used—so (E) doesn't explain any doubts about the test's reliability.
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