The pioneering works of early fantasy authors contain almost all of th

Question

The pioneering works of early fantasy authors contain almost all of the plot elements used by modern fantasy authors. Since these modern fantasy authors are merely reusing story elements that have already been written, there is little or no value in their works.

The argument above most strongly depends on which of the following assumptions:

A. No work that is based on an earlier work could possibly contain any additional plot or storytelling elements of value.
B. Modern fantasy authors must have read the works of early fantasy authors.
C. Publishers are willing to promote works that deliberately recycle story elements from other stories.
D. Professional reviewers find little of value in the works of modern fantasy authors.
E. Modern fantasy authors typically sell many more books than did early fantasy authors.

Patronus · Accepted Answer

Conclusion: Because modern authors are re-using the story, there is no value in their work.

A. No work that is based on an earlier work could possibly contain any additional plot or storytelling elements of value.
 Negation: Some work based on earlier work is of possibly of value. If that is so, then even if modern authors are re-using the story, there is STILL value of their work. Conclusion falls apart in this case. So the original choice is the correct choice.
 
B. Modern fantasy authors must have read the works of early fantasy authors.
 Negation: Modern authors have NOT read the works of early authors. 
That is to say they just copied it without reading and simply re-used it. 
Or they just read the works of 1 author whose story they copied. Not the works of early author"s"
Or say they read the works of all authors, it STILL does not say how does it add value to their work!

Options C,D and E are irrelevant and do not bridge the gap.

sayantanc2k · Answer

No, it is not a double-negative - there is only one negative "no".

Negation of option A:
At least some work that is based on an earlier work could possibly contain any additional plot or storytelling elements of value.

keats · Answer

Can anyone help me with negation of option (A). Is it a double-negative sentence?

keats · Answer

Thanks  sayantanc2k  This helps.

chesstitans · Answer

after you have attempted serious practices, you can pick an answer with blind eyes.

Weido · Answer

The pioneering works of early fantasy authors contain almost all of the plot elements used by modern fantasy authors. Since these modern fantasy authors are  merely  reusing story elements that have already been written, there is  little  or no value in their works.

A. No work that is based on an earlier work could possibly contain any additional plot or storytelling elements of value.
--> Negation to "Some work".

Can an expert please explain why this 100% breaks the conclusion. The prompt tells us that they merely reusing story elements, not that the 100% copy the story. Moreover there can be either little value in the copied works or no value.

Negation of A tells us that some of the works could contain some plots or storytelling of value. But does this really 100% breaks the conclusion that states that the copied stories have little value. Even if the the copies contain some unique element of value, this element can be small and results in just a little value. Because the conclusion also gives the possibility of little value in copies, imo the conclusion is not completely broken. Maybe almost but there is still a slight possibility that the conclusion holds.

Maybe an Expert could be so kind and explain this to me. Without the small word "little" I would agree with A but since little value is stated, it is possible that "some work that is based on an earlier work could possibly contain some additional plot or storytelling elements of value".

Thanks in advance.

redskull1 · Answer

Weido .

Just as I thought too.Completely agree with you

itisSheldon · Answer

Veritas Prep  OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

Correct Answer: A

As with any strengthen question, begin by finding the conclusion and premises used by the author's argument. The conclusion is that the works of modern fantasy authors are of little value. The supporting evidence (premises) is that modern works possess almost all of the plot elements of earlier works and that modern authors are reusing story elements. The assumption that links these two ideas is that modern works might not have other elements which make them worthwhile. This matches answer choice A. Answer choices B and C allude to some elements of deliberate plagiarism which are not actually required by the argument. Answer choices D and E are out of scope since they reference new elements of reviewers and sales, which are not involved in the original argument.

zoezhuyan · Answer

Dear experts, anyone can help to understand the first sentence 
The pioneering works of early fantasy authors contain almost all of the plot elements used by modern fantasy authors.

How works of EARLY authors contain elements of MODERN author ? 
For me, EARLY is prior to MODERN. I can more understand easier that works of MODERN authors can contain elements of EARLY authors. 
Seems I missed something, But I have no idea, please elaborate.

Thanks in advance

Posted from my mobile device

GDT · Answer

sayantanc2k 
I was convinced with A but on reading B, I felt that it is an even essential condition because it is given that modern authors are merely reusing the elements of older works and so there is no value in their works

How can we reject B then?

VivekSri · Answer

Hey you can easily reject B, by reading the conclusion again.  The conclusion is related to modern authors' value in their work .   So assumption has to connect the value of modern author and the modern author himself. This is why the answer is A.

In what circumstances your answer is B. If your conclusion is - T he pioneering works of early fantasy authors contain almost all of the plot elements used by modern fantasy authors . If this statement is conclusion, then there should be connection between modern authors and how their plot contains works of early pioneering works of early author.  Then they must have read the works of early author. Unfortunately this is premise not conclusion.

IanStewart · Answer

The question asks for the assumption on which "the argument most strongly depends". The argument says new fantasy novels do not contain original plot elements. It then concludes that these new novels are of no value. The obvious foundational assumption is that the "value" of a novel stems from the originality of its plot elements (and not, say, from the quality or originality of the writing). That's the assumption on which the argument "most strongly depends", but it's not one of the answer choices, so the right answer isn't there. Answer A is doubly problematic, because it talks about works that are "based on an earlier work", and we have no reason to think modern fantasy novels are "based on" earlier ones; we only know they're in the same genre.

It's just not a good question, and is not worth studying.

It's just not a good question, and is not worth studying.

VerbalBot · Answer

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The pioneering works of early fantasy authors contain almost all of th

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The pioneering works of early fantasy authors contain almost all of th

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