Self-study
Social critic: The operas composed by Bizet and Verdi are nineteenth-century European creations, reflecting the attitudes and values in France and Italy at the end of that century. ███████ ██████ ███████ ██████ █████ ██████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ████ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ███████████ █████ ██████ ███ ████ █ █████ ████████ ██ ████████████ █████ ██████████ ██████ █████ ███████ ████ ███ ███ ███████████ ████████ ██ █████ ██████
Summarize Argument: Counter-Position
The conclusion isn’t explicitly stated, but it is implied.
Some studies criticize these operas on reinforcing stereotypes about women in current North American culture. The social critic points out that hardly any current North Americans have seen these operas. The implication is that the critique of these studies is wrong.
Identify Conclusion
The implied conclusion is a disagreement with the studies: These operas couldn’t have had significant impact in North America on female stereotypes.
14.
Which one of the following ████ ██████████ █████████ ███ ██████████ ████ ███ ██████ ████████ █████████ ██ ██ ██ ██████ ██████ ██ ██████████ ██ ██████████
a
Bizet and Verdi ███████████ ██████ ██ █████ ████ ████ █████████████ ██████████ ████████████ ████████████
This isn’t supported by the argument. The social critic’s argument and study critique are limited to North America. We don’t know how pervasive the operas are outside of North America.
b
Nineteenth-century French and ███████ ██████ ██ █████ ███ █████ █████████ ████ ████████████ █████ ████████ ██████ ██ ██████
We can’t make this comparison. We don’t have information on the images of any of the women (B) includes.
c
The operas of █████ ███ █████ ████ ███ █████████████ ███████████ ██ █████████████ ██████ ██ █████ ██ ████████████ █████ ████████
This is supported by the argument. The operas have had limited exposure within North America, supporting that the impact of the operas on North American society isn’t significant.
d
Opera is not ██ █████████ ██████ ███████ ██████ █████████ ██ ████████████ █████ ████████
This generalizes beyond the information we have. We know about the lack of significant impact in North America of operas by two specific composers; we can’t make a conclusion about the impact of all opera in North America.
e
People cannot be ██████████ ██ ██████ ████ ███ ███ ████████ ███████ ███
This is an assumption the social critic makes. (E) would strengthen the argument, but there’s nothing in the argument that supports (E) being true.