PT6.S2.Q14 - Joshua Smith's new novel

AspiringAttorney_

I am not understanding what answer choice D is saying. Can someone please explain it to me?

kyopoyuri

Stimulus: Joshua Smith's book was criticized for being too "implausible." But that criticism is unwarranted. If you actually read the book, you would see that each incident that the hero gets involved in could happen to anybody.

Prephrase: Ok, so this is saying that because every incident that the hero gets involved in is something that sounds plausible, that means that the book as a whole is plausible. But what if those incidents, while they make sense independently, don't make sense when they're strung together? This isn't a great example, but let's say that on 12/21/2020 at noon, I was at the grocery store. Also, at that same time, I was at the movies. Those two separate things could happen to anybody, but those two things can't happen together, so as a whole it isn't plausible.

Correct answer, D : This is exactly that prephrase. The argument assumes that the whole story will have a certain characteristic (be plausible) just because the parts are plausible. Maybe each incident (each part) that the hero gets involved in is plausible, but as a whole it doesn't sound realistic.

AspiringAttorney_

Thank you, I understand clearly now.