A recently found collection of sonnets written by Shakespeare must

Question

A recently found collection of sonnets written by Shakespeare must have been composed between 1595 and 1600. It cannot have been written earlier than 1595 because one of the sonnets references a monument in London that was not erected until that year. It cannot have been written after 1600 because it is written with a type of ink that Shakespeare is known to have stopped using when a better alternative was introduced on the market that year.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?

A) No stocks of the abandoned ink existed after 1600. 
B) The parchment on which the sonnets are written cannot be tested accurately to determine its age. 
C) The monument referenced in the sonnet was familiar to general public in 1595. 
D) Shakespeare did not write the sonnets of the collection over several years. 
E) Shakespeare's style of poetry did not change between 1595 and 1600.

gemministorm · Answer

The conclusion:
"A recently found collection of sonnets written by Shakespeare must have been composed between 1595 and 1600."

I feel option b as answer, bcz
B) The parchment on which the sonnets are written cannot be tested accurately to determine its age.

the conclusion says it's b/w 1595-1600 and not the precise date hence it must have been that the exact date on which it is written is not known.

arushi118 · Answer

The conclusion says that the  collection  of sonnets was written over a period of 1595 to 1600, but for saying that they were written after 1595 the passage just talks about one of the sonnets which was written after a particular monument was built -> So that means that it is necessary to assume that the  collection  of sonnets were not written over several years -> as if this is not assumed then it can be that the particular sonnet with reference to the monument could have been written after 1595 but other sonnets could have been written before also.
Hence, answer is  D

gemministorm · Answer

oh no... I think it should be A....
the last sentence: "It cannot have been written after 1600 because it is written with a type of ink that Shakespeare is known to have stopped using when a better alternative was introduced on the market  that year. " -- meaning post that year, the ink could have been used to write.
option A -> will close this loop hole in the assumption.

arushi118 · Answer

I think this means that the "new ink" which was a better alternative was produced "that year", and Shakespeare stopped using the older ink after that.

OneLazyBum · Answer

Option D
because it assumes that all of them are written during same time

Dereno · Answer

A recently found collection of sonnets written by Shakespeare must have been composed between 1595 and 1600. This is the conclusion the author is trying to prove.

To support it, the author has put forth the following facts:

It cannot have been   written earlier than 1595   because one of the sonnets references a monument in London that was not erected until that year.

It cannot have been   written after 1600   because it is written with a type of ink that Shakespeare is known to have stopped using when a better alternative was introduced on the market that year.

we need to find an assumption that bridges the gap between fact and conclusion.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?

A) No stocks of the abandoned ink existed after 1600.

If the abandoned ink doesn’t exist beyond 1600, we can definitely say that the works were created before 1600. But prior to1595, we have the monument to support its cause, not the ink. Hence, correct.

if we negate the option, that inks do exists after 1600, then sonnets were created between 1595 and 1600 fails to satisfy.  Hence, Option A is the correct assumption.

B) The parchment on which the sonnets are written cannot be tested accurately to determine its age.

The parchment paper used to create the sonnet cannot be testified for age using modern dating techniques , this doesn’t support the theory that the works of sonnets were created between 1595 and 1600. Hence, wrong.

C) The monument referenced in the sonnet was familiar to general public in 1595.

The statement monument was familiar to the general public in 1595, familiarity and existence are two different aspects. This contradicts the fact, erection of monument was known until 1595. We are concerned whether the monument is familiar to the author Shakespeare. Hence, wrong.

D) Shakespeare did not write the sonnets of the collection over several years.

If Shakespeare didn’t write the sonnet collections over years and have completed the work within a month or day. Then also, we cannot prove whether the work belonged to the timeline specified. As the work can be created in any time. Hence, wrong.

E) Shakespeare's style of poetry did not change between 1595 and 1600.

The style of the creator is not questioned here, irrespective of the style and theme, the sonnets were created by Shakespeare is the fact given in the question stem. Hence, wrong.

Option A

PK456 · Answer

I think the answer should be A. Could an expert please explain why the answer is D.

Bhushan30 · Answer

The answer is option D because there is a high chance the any of the sonnets apart from the London monument be written before 1995. Also, option A is wrong because the paragraph clearly says that Shakespeare stopped using the old ink after 1600. So it doesn't matter if old ink stock existed after 1600. Hence, option D is correct.

miag · Answer

Hi,

I think the key for rejecting A. lies here: " It cannot have been written after 1600 because it is written with a type of ink that Shakespeare is known to have  stopped using  when a  better alternative was introduced."

The reason for stopped usage of the ink is due to a better alternative being introduced so whether there was no avail stock of previous ink or not has no bearing on the conclusion. This is why A) can be elliminated.

D) - The conclusion actually hinges on the assumption that Shakespeare did not write the sonnets over several years. If its a collection of sonnets over years then: 
 
  possible that some sonnets were written before 1595 with no monument reference  
  even if one is after >=1595, then the collection wouldn't be entirely between 1595-1600, and hence break the conclusion

Hope this helps!

A recently found collection of sonnets written by Shakespeare must

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A recently found collection of sonnets written by Shakespeare must

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