Self-paced
M: The Greek alphabet must have been invented by some individual who knew the Phoenician writing system and who wanted to have some way of recording Homeric epics and thereby preserving expressions of a highly developed tradition of oral poetry.
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Summarize Argument: Counter-Position
P concludes that M is incorrect—that the Greek alphabet was not invented by someone who knew the Phoenician writing system and wanted to record Homer’s stories. P explains that writing down those stories would have been pointless for such an individual, who would already need to know those stories without writing them down. Also, no one else would know the newly-invented alphabet and be able to read the stories.
P argues that M’s hypothesis is not convincing because there would be no point for someone to write down a story that they already know, in a new alphabet. However, this is a flawed argument: P overlooks several possible explanations. For example, what if the writer is worried about forgetting the story later, or plans to teach the new alphabet to others?
3.
Which one of the following ██ ██ █████████████ ████████ ████ █ ████ ██ ██████████ ██ ██
a
attacking M's understanding ██ ███ ████████ █████ ██ ████ ██████
M arguably seems to think oral poetry has
b
disagreeing with M's ██████ ███████ ██████████ ██ ██████ ██
P certainly disagrees with M, but does attempt to refute M's thesis. P offers
c
challenging M's knowledge ██ ███ ██████████ ███████ ██████
P never mentions the Phoenician writing system, and doesn't contest M's claim that it's connected to the invention of the Greek alphabet. P just argues that M's explanation of why that alphabet was invented makes no sense.
d
attempting to undermine ███ ██████████ ██ ██████ ██ ██████ ██████
P says M's hypothesis is "laughable," which is synonymous with "absurd." And P gives reasons to explain why M's hypothesis would be absurd: a person who already knows a story would have no reason to write it down, especially in a new alphabet that no one else could read.
e
providing an alternative ██████████████ ██ ████████ ███ ███████ ██ █
M doesn't really offer any evidence, just makes a claim about the invention of the Greek alphabet. Because M doesn't give evidence, P isn't able to reinterpret any such evidence. Instead, P relies on common-sense claims about the possible utility of a new alphabet.