Shakespeare was the world's greatest playwright, which means that he

Question

Shakespeare was the world's greatest playwright, which means that he must have written the world's greatest plays. The fact that he wrote the greatest plays in the world only goes to prove that he is the world's greatest playwright.

Which of the following statements best matches the argument shown above?

Which of the following statements best matches the argument shown above?

A. Dr. Smith is the only member of the twenty‐strong English department who thinks that Byron wrote greater poetry than Keats. Therefore Byron was not as good a poet as Keats was.

B. A miscarriage of justice occurs when an innocent person is sent to prison. However, there are no miscarriages of justice because people in prison are guilty. Otherwise they would not have been sent to prison.

C. The presence of enlarged white corpuscles in the blood would indicate that the patient must be suffering from disease X. However, his blood sample contains no enlarged white corpuscles, so he cannot be suffering from disease X.

D. Blair denies having committed the robbery, but has implicated Brown. Brown on the other hand, claims that he was elsewhere at the time, and points the finger squarely back at Blair.

E. I believe that the presence of the tartar sauce helps to accentuate the flavour of the other ingredients, but they in turn release chemicals which tend to neutralise the tartar sauce. Therefore the dish is much less spicy than pure tartar sauce would be

Deeksharathore · Answer

I was confused between B & C. Why not C?

Chandrahaskrishna · Answer

Option C, in my opinion, states the exact line of thought as in the argument. So why don't we consider C as the answer option? And how is B the OA? Can someone please throw some light on this...! Bunuel

Merc · Answer

The last statement in the stem of the question is a fact that reaffirms the statement , its not a conclusion..
Im C the last statement so he cannot be suffering from X is a conclusion rather a fact affirming the statements.

sambitspm · Answer

Honestly, the best matches arguments need way too much effort

And yes, please go with POE (Process of Elimination) for such questions. We first need to understand the logic behind the given statement. Shakespeare was world's greatest playwright -> conclusion -> he must have written greatest plays. Fact that he wrote greatest plays -> he must be greatest playwright. So, basically we are circling around the premise and the conclusion. The premise is used to form a conclusion. And that same conclusion is used to re-form the premise. Now let's see the options. A. Dr. Smith is the only member of the twenty‐strong English department who thinks that Byron wrote greater poetry than Keats. Therefore Byron was not as good a poet as Keats was. Dr Smith is the only member who thinks Bryon wrote greater poetry than Keats. So Bryon was not as good as Keats. The conclusion is negating the premise. It is not displaying the same cyclic pattern as given. B. A miscarriage of justice occurs when an innocent person is sent to prison. However, there are no miscarriages of justice because people in prison are guilty. Otherwise they would not have been sent to prison. Miscarriage of justice occurs when an innocent person is sent to prison -> Have both conclusion and premise in same statement. Using the same conclusion, a negate statement is formed -> No miscarriages because people in prison are guilty. Great!! Now you might say it is negating the premise, so how is it great. Well in the 3rd sentence, it is also given that Otherwise they would not have been sent to prison. So, your negation can easily work. Keeping it in the bank. C. The presence of enlarged white corpuscles in the blood would indicate that the patient must be suffering from disease X. However, his blood sample contains no enlarged white corpuscles, so he cannot be suffering from disease X. Classic example of negation as explained in Option B . You cannot negate the premise and say my conclusion stays valid. So NOO D. Blair denies having committed the robbery, but has implicated Brown. Brown on the other hand, claims that he was elsewhere at the time, and points the finger squarely back at Blair. You might think that finger is pointed back to Blair, but it is not concluding that whether Blair did the robbery or Brown did. So honestly there is no conclusion, there is just a cycle. E. I believe that the presence of the tartar sauce helps to accentuate the flavour of the other ingredients, but they in turn release chemicals which tend to neutralise the tartar sauce. Therefore the dish is much less spicy than pure tartar sauce would be Well, this statement is just presenting a conclusion. If it would have said - the food seems less spicy, then it should contain the tartar sauce - then we might have considered this option. So No We are left with option B. IMO B

bidskamikaze · Answer

What I understand by reading the question statement is that:
 If occurrence of A proves occurrence of B, then occurrence of B proves occurrence of A. 
> Basically, either both are true, or both are not true.
Inference from above: if B did not occur, then A also did not occur.

Only option B fits this template.

Answer B

stne · Answer

The premise is kind of circular. Greatest playwright must have written the world's greatest plays. The fact that he wrote the greatest plays in the world only goes to prove that he is the world's greatest playwright.

A. Dr. Smith is the only member of the twenty‐strong English department who thinks that Byron wrote greater poetry than Keats. Therefore Byron was not as good a poet as Keats was. Nothing Circular about this. INCORRECT.

.B. A miscarriage of justice occurs when an innocent person is sent to prison. However, there are no miscarriages of justice because people in prison are guilty. Otherwise, they would not have been sent to prison. Says miscarriage of justice occurs when an innocent person is sent to prison, however, no miscarriages occur because all in prison are quilty otherwise they could not have been sent to prison.   Most Similar. Best of the lot. Circular. CORRECT.

C: The presence of enlarged white corpuscles in the blood would indicate that the patient must be suffering from disease X. However, his blood sample contains no enlarged white corpuscles, so he cannot be suffering from disease X. Not circular.  INCORRECT.

D:Blair denies having committed the robbery, but has implicated Brown. Brown on the other hand, claims that he was elsewhere at the time, and points the finger squarely back at Blair. Clearly not circular. INCORRECT.

E:I believe that the presence of the tartar sauce helps to accentuate the flavor of the other ingredients, but they in turn release chemicals which tend to neutralize the tartar sauce. Therefore the dish is much less spicy than pure tartar sauce would be.  Clearly very much different from the reasoning given. INCORRECT.

Ans- B

Hope it's clear.

CrackverbalGMAT · Answer

Hi Deeksha

Here, we are asked to replicate the structure of the argument made in the stimulus. Therefore, it becomes imperative to understand the structure of the stimulus. For such questions, I find it useful to allocate variables to the various parts of the argument to get a clear picture.

Shakespeare was the world's greatest playwright (X) --> he must have written the world's greatest plays (Y)
The fact that he wrote the greatest plays in the world (Y) --> only goes to prove that he is the world's greatest playwright (X)

So essentially the argument is following a circular logic, with the conclusion of the first argument (Y) acting as the premise of the second and vice versa. Let us examine option (B).

B. A miscarriage of justice occurs when an innocent person is sent to prison. However, there are no miscarriages of justice because people in prison are guilty. Otherwise they would not have been sent to prison.

The first statement sets the standard for what follows. On examining the subsequent statements:

Person is in prison (X) --> Guilty (Y)
Now, we know that if X --> Y, then Not (Y) --> Not (X). This is exactly what happens in the last statement.
Not guilty (Not Y) --> Not sent to prison (Not X)

As we can see, what is used as a conclusion in the first statement is used (in its negated form) as a premise in the second statement, and vice versa, which perfectly replicates the structure of the stimulus. Thus (B) is the correct answer.

Option (C) does not follow this circular structure.

C. The presence of enlarged white corpuscles in the blood would indicate that the patient must be suffering from disease X. However, his blood sample contains no enlarged white corpuscles, so he cannot be suffering from disease X.

Enlarged white blood corpuscles (X) --> Disease X (Y)
No enlarged white blood corpuscles (Not X) --> No disease X (Not Y)

The premise in the first statement (in negated form) continues to be the premise in the second statement and the same holds true for the conclusion as well. Hence this is not the correct answer.

Hope this helps.

VerbalBot · Answer

Hello from the GMAT Club VerbalBot!

Thanks to another GMAT Club member, I have just discovered this valuable topic, yet it had no discussion for over a year. I am now bumping it up - doing my job. I think you may find it valuable (esp those replies with Kudos).

Want to see all other topics I dig out? Follow me (click follow button on profile). You will receive a summary of all topics I bump in your profile area as well as via email.

Shakespeare was the world's greatest playwright, which means that he

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards

GMAT Critical Reasoning (CR) Questions

Shakespeare was the world's greatest playwright, which means that he

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards