Which of the following most logically completes the argument? The attribution of the choral work Lacrimae to the composer Pescard (1400 – 1474) has been regarded as tentative, since it was based on a single treatise from the early 1500’s that named Pescard as the composer. Recently, several musical treatises from the late 1500’s have come to light, all of which name Pescard as the composer of Lacrimae . Unfortunately, these newly discovered treatises lend no support to the attribution of Lacrimae to Pescard, since _______. (A) the treatise from the early 1500’s misidentifies the composers of some of the musical works it considers (B) the author of the treatise from the early 1500’s had no very strong evidence on which to base the identification of Pescard as the composer of Lacrimae (C) there are works that can conclusively be attributed to Pescard that are not even mentioned in the treatise from the early 1500’s (D) the later treatises probably had no source for their attribution other than the earlier treatise (E) no known treatises from the 1600’s identify Pescard as the composer of Lacrimae Lacrimae Step 1: Identify the Question Fill in the Blank questions can be one of several types; look at the word just before the blank to determine which type. In this case, the word since right before the blank indicates that this is a Strengthen question. Step 2: Deconstruct the Argument P made L? 1 data point Others also say P → L BUT no support b/c ___ The author concludes that the new information doesn’t actually support the idea that P composed L. The correct answer will be some reason why this new data doesn’t actually add new supporting information, even though it seems to. Step 3: Pause and State the Goal On Strengthen questions, the goal is to find something that makes the conclusion at least somewhat more likely to be valid. The author argues that the new data does NOT actually support the claim that P composed L. Which answer strengthens her argument? Step 4: Work from Wrong to Right (A) The conclusion focuses on whether the later-1500s treatises support the claim that P composed L, not whether the early-1500s treatise is credible. Even if the early-1500s treatise is faulty, that has no bearing on whether the later-1500s treatises are accurate. (B) As with choice (A), this choice focuses on the wrong evidence. The conclusion focuses on whether the later-1500s treatises support the claim that P composed L, not whether the early-1500s treatise is credible. (C) It was not claimed that the early-1500s treatise was a complete source of all of P’s works. Further, as with choices (A) and (B), the author’s conclusion focuses on the later-1500s treatises, not the early-1500s treatise. (D) CORRECT . If the treatises from the later 1500s based their claim solely on the one already-known treatise from the early 1500s, then these “new” data points aren’t actually contributing any new information to the discussion. In this case, the author’s claim is strengthened. (E) Treatises other than the ones mentioned in the argument are not at issue.

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The attribution of the choral work Lacrimae to the composer Pescard

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GmatKnightTutor

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02 Mar 2020, 03:29

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This is the anchor I used to solve this : Unfortunately, these newly discovered treatises lend no support to the attribution of Lacrimae to Pescard

Farina

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02 Mar 2020, 03:44

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Is it me or anyone else find it difficult to comprehend whats written in many of critical reasoning and reading comprehension questions? My answer was correct here though but took me a while to understand. These questions make me realize that indeed English is a foreign language!

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28 Aug 2020, 17:52

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VeritasKarishma

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Can someone please explain vvhat this means

Thanks

Here is the gist:

Some work was tentatively attributed to Pescard because only one treatise from early 1500s did so.
Recently, many treatises from late 1500s have been found which attribute the work to Pescard.

Still, the newly found treatises lend no support.

Now, think why? The issue some time back was that only one treatise attributed that work to Pescard. Now many more later treatises have been found which also attribute that work to Pescard. Still, we are not considering them credible - why? Probably because the later treatises were based on the one treatise of early 1500. We need more original attributions to Pescard. Actually, if you think a little, you can arrive at the reason on your own. (D) fits perfectly here.

As for (A), it is not a contender here. It says that the early 1500 treatise misidentifies some composers. It doesn't tell you why the later 1500 treatises that we have found are not credible. After 'since', you are looking for a reason why the newly discovered treatises lend no support to the attribution. For the same reason, we can ignore (B) .

Hi VeritasKarishma -- i do understand why D is right but i do have a followup on D

If the late 1500 treaties are based on the early 1500 treaties == doesn't that give us another reason to believe P is associated to Lacrimae even much so ?

I thought about if the blue mattered but perhaps it does not as the argument is only talking about strengthening why the late 1500 treaties don't add any value to the early 1500 treaties and that is all

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29 Aug 2020, 06:14

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Please help me in understanding why option (A) is not the right answer.

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31 Aug 2020, 22:56

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jabhatta2

VeritasKarishma

venmic

Can someone please explain vvhat this means

Thanks

You don't know if A (who lived 100 years ago) was linked to B.

You find a 100 year old book that says A was linked to B.
You get that tentatively there is a linkage. But you are not sure because no other 100 year old book says that A was linked to B.

Today 10 authors read that one book. On the basis of that, they write in their own books that A was linked to B. Does the linkage become stronger? No. All these 10 authors based their writing on that one book only which you already know. Only if you find some other independent books written 100 years ago saying that A was linked to B will the linkage strengthen.

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31 Aug 2020, 22:58

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tanya0630

Please help me in understanding why option (A) is not the right answer.

See here: https://gmatclub.com/forum/the-attribut ... l#p1127708

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The argument discusses the attribution of a choral work called Lacrimae to the composer Pescard. Initially, this attribution was regarded as tentative because it was based on a single treatise from the early 1500s that named Pescard as the composer. However, recently, several musical treatises from the late 1500s have been discovered, and they also name Pescard as the composer of Lacrimae.

Surprisingly, the argument states that these newly discovered treatises do not support the attribution of Lacrimae to Pescard. Now, let's consider the options provided and analyze each one to determine the logical completion of the argument:

Option (A) suggests that the treatise from the early 1500s misidentifies the composers of some of the musical works it considers. While this indicates a potential issue with the early treatise, it does not explain why the newly discovered treatises from the late 1500s do not support the attribution of Lacrimae to Pescard.

Option (B) proposes that the author of the treatise from the early 1500s had no strong evidence to support the identification of Pescard as the composer of Lacrimae. Although this could undermine the credibility of the early treatise, it does not directly address the lack of support in the newly discovered treatises.

Option (C) introduces the idea that there are works that can be conclusively attributed to Pescard, which were not even mentioned in the early treatise. While this highlights a potential inconsistency, it does not directly explain why the newly discovered treatises fail to support the attribution of Lacrimae to Pescard.

Option (D), however, provides a logical completion to the argument. It suggests that the later treatises probably had no source for their attribution other than the earlier treatise. In other words, the later treatises simply echoed the attribution made in the early treatise without independent verification or additional evidence. This explains why the newly discovered treatises from the late 1500s do not support the attribution of Lacrimae to Pescard.

Option (E) mentions the absence of treatises from the 1600s that identify Pescard as the composer of Lacrimae. While this absence might raise doubts about the attribution, it does not directly address the lack of support in the newly discovered treatises from the late 1500s.

Based on this analysis, we can conclude that option (D) is the most logical completion of the argument. It explains why the newly discovered treatises from the late 1500s do not support the attribution of Lacrimae to Pescard by suggesting that they simply relied on the earlier treatise without independent verification.

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27 Nov 2024, 04:29

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Let's break down the argument: The key point is that newly discovered treatises from the late 1500’s, which also name Pescard as the composer of Lacrimae, do not lend additional support to this attribution. We're looking for an option that explains why these later treatises aren't helpful in confirming Pescard as the composer.

Option (A): Misidentifications in the early treatise are not directly relevant to the fact that the later treatises are also naming Pescard.

Option (B): This option focuses on the early treatise's lack of strong evidence, not why the later treatises don't help.

Option (C): The presence of other works by Pescard not mentioned in the early treatise doesn’t explain the lack of support from the later treatises.

Option (D): This option suggests that the later treatises probably just repeated the information from the earlier treatise without any independent verification, which would mean they don't add new evidence.

Option (E): The absence of references to Pescard in 1600’s treatises doesn't explain why the late 1500’s treatises don't lend additional support.

So, Option (D) seems to be the most logical completion of the argument. It explains that the later treatises are not independent sources and likely copied the information from the early treatise, thus not providing new evidence.

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