Self-study
Literary critic: A folktale is a traditional story told in an entertaining way, which may lead some to think that folktales lack deeper meaning. ███ ████ ██ ███ ███ █████ █ ████████ ██ ██████ █████ ██ █ ███████ ███ ████████████ ███ ████ ███████████ ████ █████████ ██ ███ ██ ███ ███ ██ ███ ██████ ███ ██ ████ ███ █████████ ███████ █████ ███████ ████ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ████████
Summary
Folktales hold deep meaning. How do we know? Because all folktales are passed along by a culture for generations, each storyteller adds to the story, and as a result, folktales provide great insight into the wisdom of a culture!
Missing Connection
The conclusion is about deep meaning, but the premise doesn’t mention deep meaing! We need to know that the feature of folktales described in the premise (they provide insight into a culture’s wisdom) necessitates that they also possess the feature described in the conclusion (they’re deeply meaningful). In other words, something that provides insight into a culture’s wisdom also holds deep meaning!
Note that the correct answer could alternatively say that there is deep meaning in anything passed along for generations or to which various storytellers have contributed. Because these features are used to support the fact that folktales provide insight, though, it’s more likely that the right answer will discuss insight.
25.
The main conclusion of the ████████ ████████ ████████ ███ ██ ████████ ████████ ██ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ████████
a
Any tale that ██ ██████ █████ ██ █ ███████ ███ ███████████ ███ ███████ █████ ███████ ████ ███ ██████ ██ ████ ████████
This doesn’t mention deep meaning, so it can’t be right. We’re looking for an answer that links the conclusion (folktales are deeply meaningful) with the premise (folktales provide insight into a culture’s wisdom). (A) is only concerned with concepts contained in the premise!
b
Any tale that ████████ ███████ ████ ███ ██████ ██ █ ███████ ██ ██████ ██████████ ██ ████ ████████
(B) links the concept of insight into a culture’s wisdom (from the premise) with the idea of deep meaning (from the conclusion). If folktales provide insight into the wisdom of a culture, and anything that does so is deeply meaningful, then folktales are deeply meaningful!
c
Not every tale ████ █████ ████ ███████ ██ ██████ ██ ████ ██████ ███ ██████████████
The literary critic’s argument is that folktales possess deep meaning, so this statement about tales that lack deep meaning is irrelevant.
d
Any tale with ████ ███████ ████████ █████ ███████ ████ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ █████ ██ ███ ████ ██████ ███
(D) reverses the sufficient and necessary conditions of the statement we’re looking for: (D) says any deeply meaningful tale provides great insight. We want to know that any tale that provides great insight is deeply meaningful.
e
A story that ██ ████ █████████ ███ █████████████ ████ ███ ███████████ ████ ██████ ████████
We know folktales are told in an entertaining way, but not that they’re told primarily for entertainment. So (E) describes a type of story that folktales might not be in! Also, we want to show that folktales are deeply meaningful, not that they don’t necessarily lack deep meaning.