Self-study
The reason J. S. Bach is remembered is not that he had a high ratio of outstanding compositions to mediocre compositions. ██ ██ ██████ ███████ ██ ███ ████ █ ████████ █████████ ██ █████ ████ ████ █ ████████ ████████████ █████████████ ██ ██ ███ ██████████ ████ ████ ██ ████ █████ ██ ███████████ ████ █████ ████████████ ███████ ███ █████
Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The author hypothesizes that the reason Bach is remembered is that he was such a prolific composer. This is based on the fact that Bach wrote more than a thousand full compositions, which the author believes would inevitably have resulted in some outstanding compositions that would survive for a long time.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that there is no other explanation for why Bach is remembered.
4.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ █████████ ███████ ███ █████████
a
Several of Bach's ██████████████ ███ ████████ ████ █████ ████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ███████ ██████████
This provides evidence that being a prolific composer is not enough to make one remembered. This calls into question the author’s explanation for why Bach is remembered.
Plausibility
Plausibility
Presenting evidence that corroborates (in Strengthen) or conflicts (in Weaken) with the author's hypothesized explanation or the predictions that follow from that explanation.
b
There are a ███ ██████ ████████ █████████ ███ █████ █ █████████████ █████ ██████ ██ █████████████
The author never suggested that writing a smaller number of compositions would make it impossible to be highly regarded or remembered. The author’s theory is just that writing a lot of compositions can make one remembered.
c
Bach wrote many ████████████ ████ ████ ██████████ ████████ ██ ███ █████████ ███ █ █████ ██████████ ██ █████ ████████████ ████ ████ ██████████
The author acknowledges that Bach could have written many mediocre compositions. But, the author believes that at least some were outstanding, they could allow Bach to be remembered.
Illusory inconsistency
Illusory inconsistency
Answer is attractive because it seems to (but doesn't actually) contradict the premises or conclusion.
d
The exact number ██ ██████ ████████████ ██ ███ ██████ █████ ████ ██ ████ ████ ████ ████ ██ ██████████
We don’t need to know the exact number of compositions. We still know that he wrote more than a thousand full compositions, which is a large number.
Illusory inconsistency
Illusory inconsistency
Answer is attractive because it seems to (but doesn't actually) contradict the premises or conclusion.
e
Some great creative ████████ ███ ██████████ ███████ ████ ███ █ ████ ████ █████ ██ ███████████ █████ ██ ████████ ██████
The author never suggested that having a high ratio of outstanding works to mediocre works could never be a reason someone is remembered. The author is simply arguing that in Bach’s case, that explanation doesn’t apply.
Illusory inconsistency
Illusory inconsistency
Answer is attractive because it seems to (but doesn't actually) contradict the premises or conclusion.