A recently found collection of sonnets written by Shakespeare must

Question

A recently found collection of sonnets written by Shakespeare must have been finished after 1595 but before 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 overall several years
(C) Shakespeare's style of poetry did not change between 1595 and 1600

wadhwakaran · Accepted Answer

Premise:

1. The collection cannot not have been written earlier than 1595 because it refers a monument which was erected after 1595.
2. The collection 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.

Conclusion:  Collection of sonnets written by Shakespeare must have been finished after 1595 but before 1600.

(A) No stocks of the abandoned ink existed after 1600  Incorrect as it does impact the argument because it is clearly given that he did not use it purposely. So the existence or stock or not does not impact the argument.

(B) The parchment on which the sonnets are written cannot be tested accurately to determine its age.  Incorrect as this refers to the age of the parchment (material) on which the sonets were written and not the sonnets. What if the material was made in 1500 then that does not mean that sonnets were written in 1500.

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

(D) Shakespeare did not write the sonnets of the collection overall several years  Correct what if Shakespeare write the sonnets over a period of several years. What if the sonnets were started in 1595 and continued till 1615. Negate this and the argument breaks

(E) Shakespeare's style of poetry did not change between 1595 and 1600  Incorrect as we do not know about the style of poetry or anything about sonnet for that matter.

Aditi31 · Answer

D does strengthen the argument. But negation weakens the conclusion only if we keep the ink factor away. The sentence says with certainty that Shakespeare changed his ink. 
According to my reasoning, I could find a loophole in A that makes it a better choice. Shakespeare changed the ink when the new ink came in the market, maybe the ink came in the mid of 1600 and he wrote the reference in the beginning of 1600. There is maybe or maybe not case, but seems like the only sane loophole that strengthens and weakens the argument

An78w · Answer

Passage says that he started using the other ink because that was the better alternative that became available in the market post 1600. Doesn't mean that the older ink went out of the market. 
Both the inks could be available and still Shakespeare could choose to use the new ink

Flower_Child · Answer

Since this is an ASSUMPTION question and the best way to solve this is to negate the choice and that should break the author's conclusion .

Conclusion : Shakespeare must have been finished writing sonnets after 1595 but before 1600. It cannot have been written earlier than 1595 and after 1600.

Premises :
1.one of the sonnets references a monument in London that was not erected until 1595.
2.it is written with a type of ink that Shakespeare is known to have stopped using after 1600

Our MAIN goal is to find something that will negate the conclusion, i.e,  that will make us believe that Shakespeare might have written sonnets before 1595 OR after 1600 . Note that OR is used because we just want to crack the conclusion which can be done in either way .

Option choices:

(A) No stocks of the abandoned ink existed after 1600
 Incorrect  : After negating we get that - Stocks of abandoned ink  existed  after 1600. Does it break the conclusion. A big NO. Even if the stock existed it is known that Shakespeare stopped using it after 1600.

(B) The parchment on which the sonnets are written cannot be tested accurately to determine its age. 
 Incorrect  : Irrelevant. Shakespeare has written in those parchments only gives us one info that they were already available. Whether the parchments were made in 1400 or 1500 will not contribute in any way as the passage is concerned with the sonnets written in it.

(C) The monument referenced in the sonnet was familiar to general public in 1595
 Incorrect  : Irrelevant . We are concerned with Shakespeare and not general public.

(D) Shakespeare did not write the sonnets of the collection overall several years
 Correct  . Negation - Shakespeare did write the sonnets of the collection overall several years.
Now think what if this is true. This can be true in two ways :

1. What if Shakespeare started writing the sonnets before 1595. The passage tells us that  one of the sonnets references a monument in London that was not erected until 1595 . So what . Is it necessary to write about a building only after it was erected ? What if he referred to the building when it was under construction? Yes, it can be done . So this choice will negate the conclusion.

2.What if the Shakespeare completed the sonnets after 1600. The passage tells that  Shakespeare is known to have stopped using a a type of ink when a better alternative was introduced on the market that year . So what. What if he wrote half the sonnets using a type of ink and other half using another type of ink. Yes, it can be done . So this choice will again negate the conclusion.

So this is our required choice.

(Note : Here we can also go ahead and consider a case where Shakespeare started writing sonnets in 1596 and completed in 1599, which does fall into the range. This doesn't negate the conclusion then.
But we need to make sure what our main goal is .  We have to negate the choices and find something which will break the conclusion . And we did find not one but two such cases. 
Many a times, we are too strict and leave a choice because it contains 2 scenarios and only 1 of them negates the conclusion. Simply avoid that.
We need to be clear that  an ASSUMPTION is something that MUST ALWAYS BE TRUE . If we are able to find even a single case in which it breaks, that's our choice.)

(E) Shakespeare's style of poetry did not change between 1595 and 1600 
 Incorrect : Irrelevant . No relation has been given in the passage between Shakespeare's style of poetry and his timing of writing sonnets.

BinodBhai · Answer

Almost identical question from Manhattan Prep: https://gmatclub.com/forum/a-newly-disc ... 32998.html

Bunuel · Answer

Experts' Global Video Explanation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-YJ_ZUaOmg

CRACKU · Answer

Hey, thank you for the explanation, I didnt select D because i thought that 1595-1960 is still several years, he could have written it within this period and it will still be thought of as several years, and the negation which is yes he did write it, it doesnt affect the conclusion at all. I chose B as its negation "The parchment on which the sonnets are written can be tested accurately to determine its age" suggests that if they can be tested then the two premises are not needed and the argument is destroyed. Pls help me out, what did i miss?. Thanks

guddo · Answer

Your issue with D is that you are treating “over several years” as meaning only the years 1595 to 1600. But  that is not what the negation is doing .

Negating D means Shakespeare may have written the sonnets in the collection across a broader span, so some could have been written before 1595 and some later. Then the fact that one sonnet mentions the 1595 monument does  not  let us conclude the whole collection was finished after 1595.

For B, the negation only says the parchment can be dated accurately. That does not damage the argument. It just gives  another possible source of evidence . An assumption is something the argument needs, not something that would make the argument unnecessary.

A recently found collection of sonnets written by Shakespeare must

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