Contropositive wrote:
I have couple of doubts with option A & B:
I don't understand why A is not a contender:Argurment says: no need to use a grammar book ----> hence grammar books are useless as reference sources for authors
No need doesn't mean USELESS, right?
Maybe those Authors still use grammar book anyway? If that is the case then Conclusion won't follow. Option (A) seems to point out the same.
(B) says: infers, from the claim that an author does not mistakenly think that a sentence is ungrammatical
It has double negative. If we remove double negative, how would the sentence look like?
infers, from the claim that an author Correctly think that a sentence is ungrammatical
OR
infers, from the claim that an author CORRECTLY think that a sentence is grammatical
Remember, we're looking for the logical flaw in the argument. Not a statement about the argument that could, in theory, make sense.
The argument's essence is this: because a writer won't reference a grammar book for a sentence she's certain is right (or for a sentence she's certain is wrong), grammar books are useless as a reference tool for authors.
The flaw here is that there's a pretty big universe between the stuff we're sure is right and the stuff we're sure is wrong. How about everything we're just confused about? THAT'S the logical flaw. A grammar book would still be a useful reference for those situations.
Take another look at (A):
Quote:
infers, from the claim that authors should not consult grammar books, that they will not in fact do so
This isn't a flaw. The main claim of the argument is that grammar books are useless. It doesn't have to infer anything about whether writers will still use grammar books. In other words, if writers are still using grammar books, but not deriving any benefit, the argument would still be valid. So (A) is out.
Now here's (B):
Quote:
infers, from the claim that an author does not mistakenly think that a sentence is ungrammatical, that the author will be sure that it is grammatical
This is a headache to unravel. It's essentially saying that, in the case of a grammatically correct sentence, because authors won't goof and think that this sentence is wrong, they'll be sure that it's right. The problem is that the argument isn't saying that authors won't goof.
When the author Tim says, "I know for sure that this sentence is correct," for the purposes of this argument, it doesn't matter if he's right. What matters is that he's probably not picking up a grammar book to check. So this also isn't the flaw. Get rid of (B).
(E), on the other hand, directly states that there are sentences about which the author might be uncertain, so this one's our answer.
I hope that clears things up!