Drama Critic : There were many interesting plays written last year

Question

Drama Critic :  There were many interesting plays written last year. Surely some will gain widespread popularity for at-least a few years, and some will even receive high critical acclaim, but none will be popular several centuries from now.The only plays that continued to be performed regularly over many decades and centuries are those that skillfully explore human nature, and none of the plays written last year examine human nature in a particularly skillful way.

The argument relies on assuming which one of the following ?

A. No play will be popular several centuries from now unless it continues to be performed regularly during the intervening time. 
B. For a play to deserve high critical acclaim it must be popular for more than just a few years.
C. There were no plays written last year that drama critic has neither read nor seen nor performed.
D. If a play does not skillfully explore human nature, it will not receive critical acclaim.
E. Any play that skillfully examines human nature will be performed regularly over the centuries.

LSAT

gmatexam439 · Accepted Answer

Drama Critic :  There were many interesting plays written last year. Surely some will gain widespread popularity for at-least a few years, and some will even receive high critical acclaim,  but none will be popular several centuries from now .The only plays that continued to be performed regularly over many decades and centuries are those that skillfully explore human nature, and none of the plays written last year examine human nature in a particularly skillful way.

The argument relies on assuming which one of the following ?

A. No play will be popular several centuries from now unless it continues to be performed regularly during the intervening time. - Correct. Highlighted part is the conclusion. Support for the conclusion is given that only those plays are played for decades or centuries that explore human nature, and none of the plays written last year examine human nature in a particularly skillful way. So, in short author states that capturing human nature is essential for a play to be continued to be performed for a century. This option bridges this gap. 
B. For a play to deserve high critical acclaim it must be popular for more than just a few years. - Argument is not about acclaimation .
C. There were no plays written last year that drama critic has neither read nor seen nor performed. - Out of scope 
D. If a play does not skillfully explore human nature, it will not receive critical acclaim. - If a play doesn't explore human nature then is won't be played for decades/centuries. 
E. Any play that skillfully examines human nature will be performed regularly over the centuries. - Exaggerated choice. Plus, capturing the human nature is not the ONLY requirement for a play to be played for a century. Exploring human nature might be an essential part of a set of things that might be responsible for making a play good enough to be played for decades. Maybe human nature's exploration's absence might hurt the play but it's presence might not be the only factor detrimental in the continuous performance of the play for decades/centuries

GMATNinja · Answer

The conclusion, as explained by  gmatexam439  in  this post , is that "none {of the interesting plays written last year} will be popular several centuries from now." Why not?

"None of the plays written last year examine human nature in a particularly skillful way." 
 "The only plays that continued to be performed regularly over many decades and centuries are those that skillfully explore human nature." 
 Since none of the plays written last year skillfully explore human nature, the plays written last year will probably not be performed regularly over many decades and centuries.

The author jumps from "the plays will not be performed regularly for decades/centuries" to "the plays will not be popular". Is that necessarily the case? What if a play can remain popular for centuries even if it is not regularly PERFORMED for centuries? In that case, a play that does not skillfully explore human nature might still remain popular for centuries. This would obviously go against the arguement.

Choice (A) tells us that this can't happen. No play will be popular several centuries from now unless it continues to be performed regularly. This bridges the gap in the author's logic.

As for choice (C), we are told that "none of the plays written last year examine human nature in a particularly skillful way." This statement can be true regardless of whether the critic has actually read/seen ALL of the plays himself/herself. (C) is not necessary, so it can be eliminated.

(A) is the best answer.

Aekagra · Answer

Imo clear E. Please share OA.

Stay Hungry Stay Foolish

DharLog · Answer

1. The simple ones. B and D are out because they are out of scope. We are not interested in critic's evaluation.
We have to evaluate the argument with the main part:  but none will be popular several centuries from now

2. C. Sounds not bad. Critic could miss some plays and there is a chance they can become popular. But something sounds wrong.
Yes, it evaluates the bolded part of our argument, but only the bolded part.

3. E. Sounds not bad too. It is given explicitly in the argument that only "skillful nature plays" continue to be performed. But no word that any such play continues to be performed.

4. A. It was hard to me. But A seemed the best choice.
 but none will be popular several centuries from now.   ---------->   The only plays that continued to be performed regularly over many decades and centuries. 
It is the only one answer that makes a connection between 2 parts of critic's argument. It was no said explicitly in the argument.

GMATNinjaTwo · Answer

Thanks for your replies!

To post additional questions not already addressed in this thread, feel free to use the  request verbal experts' reply  button.

ucb2k7 · Answer

gmatexam439

According to you,what is the conclusion of this argument?
And how does Á help us in reaching this conclusion. I chose C for this as if the person has not seen all the plays he cannot make a general statement.
Please clarify.

Thanks,

ucb2k7

gmatexam439 · Answer

Hi ucb2k7 , Please go through the below link. I have highlighted the conclusion and put my analysis in detail there. https://gmatclub.com/forum/drama-critic ... l#p2007382 Hope that helps!

TaN1213 · Answer

Hello Experts,

Please explain how A bridges the gap between the conclusion and facts. I am inclined towards C. How is C incorrect?
Thank you.

adkikani · Answer

Hi  GMATNinjaTwo   GMATNinja

Can you please explain how do you eliminate (E) in light of your youtube sessions.
I was stuck up with multiple negations here:
1.NO play that skillfully examines human nature will be performed regularly over the centuries.
2. Any play that skillfully examines human nature will be NOT performed regularly over the centuries.
You said: Think of answer option a type of strengthener choice which HAS to be true. 
Here, do I not even need to go to that extent since conclusion is about popularity and not regular performance? In case of doubt for an answer choice if negation is tough, how do I eliminate it?

gmatexam439 · Answer

Hi  adkikani ,

My 2 cents: Earlier I also used to use the negation method - strictly. But, there are various disadvantages of using this method, major being ignorance of logic. While the negation method is handy, keep it as a last resort.

Coming back to the question at hand; Option E is straightaway illogical because it doesn't target the conclusion. The conclusion is about popularity and not about a play being performed for centuries; so either of your negations don't impact the conclusion.

Plus, this choice is exaggerated choice, since the argument is about a specific set of plays while this option talks about "Any" play -- all the plays.

Hope that helps!

mdimranster · Answer

E connects skilfulness and playing for centuries

Sent from my SM-J710FN using  GMAT Club Forum mobile app

GMATNinjaTwo · Answer

Thanks again  gmatexam439 !

The author says that "the only plays that continued to be performed regularly over many decades and centuries are those that skillfully explore human nature". This does not mean that EVERY play that skillfully explores human nature will continue to be performed regularly for many decades/centuries. Skillfully exploring human nature is a NECESSARY condition but not a sufficient condition.

The following scenarios might make that clear:

If a play does NOT skillfully explore human nature, then it will not be performed regularly for decades/centuries. 
 If a play DOES skillfully explore human nature, then it  could  be performed regularly for decades/centuries. 
 If a play was performed regularly for decades/centuries, then we know that it must have skillfully explored human nature, since that was a NECESSARY condition.

Choice (E), on the other hand, describes "skillfully exploring human nature" as a SUFFICIENT condition. According to the author's argument, SOME plays that skillfully examined human nature were performed regularly for decades/centuries. The argument does not require that ALL such plays be performed regularly for decades/centuries.

So choice (E) does not have to be true in order for the argument to hold.

VerbalBot · Answer

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Drama Critic : There were many interesting plays written last year

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