What do you guys/gals think counts as a "definitive conclusion"?

Darklord

In PT 35.S2.Q1, answer choice B states that the passage has no definitive conclusions regarding factual accuracy, but according to JY, there were definitive conclusions raised in the passage (probably on lines 23 and 53). I was really unsure about this because when I looked at the dictionary definition of "definitive conclusion" it seems like it is a conclusion that is final and no one can really question (which I don't think we get from this passage).

Any opinions on this matter?
Thanks!

Jonathan Wang

You're getting hung up on whether the answer choice is descriptively accurate and are completely missing answering the question's task, which is to find the main point.

Let's give the answer choice the most generous possible benefit of the doubt and say that "definitive conclusions" (whatever that means) were never drawn about the factual accuracy of these accounts, making the first half of the choice descriptively accurate. The second half of the answer choice, which is that these accounts are subjectively accurate, is definitely correct. So you'd have a 100% descriptively accurate answer choice in this position.

Well, so what? "Maybe factually accurate, yes subjectively accurate" is not the author's position. The author's position is "yes factually accurate, yes subjectively accurate". So regardless of where the line on 'definitive conclusion' is drawn, the answer is incorrect because it isn't even consistent with his viewpoint, so you can forget it about it being his main point.

Secondarily, if you want to actually deal with the descriptive accuracy portion, where's your evidence that no final conclusions have been drawn? We have two examples of studies where conclusions were drawn, in 23 and 53, and absolutely nothing to contradict them. Where do we derive our support for the notion that there have been no conclusions drawn? So I would argue that this answer choice is also incorrect because it is not an accurate description of the facts of the passage.

Darklord

oh wow thanks! That makes a lot of sense!