broall wrote:
Before the printing press, books could be purchased only in expensive manuscript copies. The printing press produced books that were significantly less expensive than the manuscript editions. The public's demand for printed books in the first years after the invention of the printing press was many times greater than demand had been for manuscript copies. This increase demonstrates that there was a dramatic jump in the number of people who learned how to read in the years after publishers first started producing books on the printing press.
Which one of the following statements, if true, casts doubt on the argument?
(A) During the first years after the invention of the printing press, letter writing by people who wrote without the assistance of scribes or clerks exhibited a dramatic increase.
(B) Books produced on the printing press are often found with written comments in the margins in the handwriting of the people who owned the books.
(C) In the first years after the printing press was invented, printed books were purchased primarily by people who had always bought and read expensive manuscripts but could afford a greater number of printed books for the same money.
(D) Books that were printed on the printing press in the first years after its invention often circulated among friends in informal reading clubs or libraries.
(E) The first printed books published after the invention of the printing press would have been useless to illiterate people, since the books had virtually no illustrations.
Step 1: Read the question stem - Weaken the argument
Step 2: Identify premises and conclusions and establish a relationship among them.
P1: Before the printing press, books could be purchased only in expensive manuscript copies
P2: the printing press produced books that were significantly less expensive than the manuscript editions.
P3: the public's demand for printed books in the first years after the invention of the printing press was many times greater than demand had been for manuscript copies.
C: Inc in demand because people learned to read.
Assumption: Earlier people did not know how to read, and during the first year of publishing they learned to read so that lead to an increase in demand.
What to look for: Option that states other factors were responsible for the increase in demand.
A: It wrongly tries to correlates that writing and reading. It has no bearing on the argument. If the correlation is true it will strengthen the argument.
B: Irrelevant and does not affect.
C: Correct - explains price was the reason for increase in demand
D: No effect on the argument.
E: Explains why people would have learned to read.
I know this is irrelevant to this question. But I have a question:
Is people a collective noun? If yes then it should be used with a singular verb. In which case is people used with a plural verb.