goalsnr wrote:
A medieval manuscript called L contains
all eighteen extant tragedies by the Greek playwright Euripides.
Of these, ten called the “select plays,” are accompanied in L by ancient commentaries and also appear in other medieval manuscripts;
this group includes some of Euripides’ best-known works, including the Medea.
The other eight, which appear only in L, are called "alphabeticals", because they appear in alphabetical order, without commentary.
The Electra is one of the alphabetical.
Which of the following can be reliably concluded on the basis of the statements given?
A. Only Euripides’ best-known works are accompanied by ancient commentaries in extant medieval manuscripts.
B. The select plays are accompanied by ancient commentaries because they were the best known of Euripides’ works.
C. No commentaries were written about Euripides’
Electra in ancient times.
D. Euripides’s
Medea never appears in medieval manuscripts unaccompanied by ancient commentary.
E. Euripides’
Electra does not appear accompanied by a commentary in any extant medieval manuscript.
NOW THAT THIS QUESTION HAS BEEN CORRECTED WITH ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, HERE ARE MY TWO CENTS :-
A. Only Euripides’ best-known works are accompanied by ancient commentaries in extant medieval manuscripts. WRONG
Ten best known works appear in
L with commentary but
they are found in other medieval manuscript too. (Written clearly in Question Stem.)
There is a probability that those other medieval manuscripts may not have a commentary.
There is no way to ascertain that other medieval manuscripts have commentaries or not.
B. The select plays are accompanied by ancient commentaries because they were the best known of Euripides’ works. WRONG
All we know that these select plays are his best work and have commentaries.
The question stem gives no indication for the reason of commentary being attached to only these plays.
May be the commentary are attached because they are his best work or may be the commentary is attached because they were part of a discourse where other scholars tried to critique it and thus have added commentary. May be the commentary is added by an ancient Ph.D student as a part of his desertation. WHO KNOWS !!
C. No commentaries were written about Euripides’
Electra in ancient times. MAY BE RIGHT .. KEEP IT
ELECTRA is found only in
"book L" and no where else.
It is a part of
alphabetical play series which do not have commentary.
Merging these two we can safely assume that since Electra is only found in L and have no commentary therefore no commentary was ever written on it. HOLD THIS OPTION
D. Euripides’s
Medea never appears in medieval manuscripts unaccompanied by ancient commentary. WRONG
Madea is found in Book L, but Madea is also found in many other medieval tests. (Given clearly in the Question stem)
In Book L, Madea has commentary. But in other medieval books Madea may or may not have commentary.
E. Euripides’
Electra does not appear accompanied by a commentary in any extant medieval manuscript. CORRECT ANSWER BETTER THAN OPTION C
Electra is a part of alphabetical play series in Book L. Alphabetical plays have no commentary. Therefore Electra has no commentary when it appears in Book L.
The alphabetical plays do not appear in any other medieval book. It means ELECTRA does not appear anywhere else.
MERGING THE TWO WE GET :- Electra never has commentary in any book (in reality it's just one book L because it is the only book where Electra appears and appears without commentary)
THIS OPTION IS MORE CONCISE AND ALIGNED WITH THE QUESTION STEM AND THEREFORE IS BETTER THAN OPTION C
ALSO NOTE OPTION C DOES NOT TALK ABOUT
MEDIEVAL MANUSCRIPTS BUT ANCIENT TIMES.
C.No commentaries were written about Euripides’ Electra in
ancient timesTaking all this in account OPTION E is the best answer