questionsvani wrote:
Request a more detailed distinction between A and E please
Hello,
questionsvani. How about we look at the two answer choices side by side, along with the passage for reference?
Quote:
Insectivorous plants, which unlike other plants have the ability to trap and digest insects, can thrive in soils that are too poor in minerals to support noninsectivorous plants. Yet the mineral requirements of insectivorous plants are not noticeably different from the mineral requirements of noninsectivorous plants.
The statements above, if true, most strongly support which one of the following hypotheses?
(A) The insects that insectivorous plants trap and digest are especially abundant where the soil is poor in minerals.
(E) Insectivorous plants can get some of the minerals they require from the insects they trap and digest
Answer choice (A) focuses on the number of insects that are present in areas with mineral-poor soil, but we have no reason to believe or hypothesize that such insects must necessarily be
abundant, let alone
especially abundant. They could be present in sufficient numbers to allow the insectivorous plants to
thrive, nothing more. Perhaps a single insect provides the mineral requirements for an insectivorous plant for a long time, so it might not be necessary for the plant to have access to many of these or other insects. The language of the answer choice is overreaching. Even
are is problematic, since it projects a must-be-true condition onto the statement: language such as
could be,
may, or
might is more cautious and therefore less debatable.
On this point, notice that answer choice (E) adopts such language in both
can and
some. It is not saying that insectivorous plants
do get
all of their mineral requirements from insects, just that it seems reasonable to posit that, since they consume insects and
can thrive in soils that are too poor in minerals to support noninsectivorous plants, the insects provide some form of nutrition. If one answer choice is overreaching and speculative, while the other is cautious in its phrasing and fits the given information, then you want to get behind the safer bet.
Good luck with your studies.
- Andrew
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