PrepTest 126

Correct. Argument or Facts:
Argument

Valid or Flawed:
Flawed

Question Type:
Weaken

Stimulus Summary:
1885 — Jordan publishes a book
1892 — Grey publishes a book and uses a metaphor from Jordan's book
The metaphor is unusual and it's unlikely both came up with it, so it's likely that Grey read Jordan's book.

Answer Anticipation:
Big accusation from the conclusion here—Grey plagiarized Jordan. There better be strong premises to back that up!

And there is a premise that lines up with the strength of the conclusion—there's little chance" that two authors independently came up with the same unusual metaphor, which is strong enough to support a conclusion that plagiarism is "highly likely."

However, the conclusion picks the culprit! While Grey published his book after Jordan, that doesn't mean that Grey is the one who copied Jordan! It's possible that she saw an early draft of Grey's book, or the two were friends and Grey used the metaphor in person when talking with her. Or even that someone else came up with the metaphor and they both copied that person.

The conclusion picks an explanation (Grey copied Jordan) for an observed phenomenon (Grey and Jordan used the same unusual metaphor), so any answer that supports an alternative explanation will weaken this argument.

Answer Explanation:
This answer brings up an alternative possibility to Grey being the plagiarist—that both Grey and Jordan copied the metaphor from the same source. In presenting an alternative explanation to an observed phenomenon, this answer weakens the argument.

Key Takeaway:
When an argument offers an explanation for an observed phenomenon, the correct answer in a Weaken question will frequently bring up an alternative explanation.

Incorrect. The argument accuses" Grey of copying the metaphor, not other elements of Jordan's work. Grey using the metaphor in a book about different ideas doesn't speak to whether he took that metaphor from Jordan's book.

Incorrect. The target audience is out of scope of a discussion of whether a shared metaphor was stolen by one author from another.

Incorrect. Future uses of the metaphor doesn't address whether Grey stole it in 1892. Remember to track timelines!

Incorrect. This generalization doesn't speak to a specific instance—especially since Jordan's book predates Grey's by 7 years. Someone who is generally less inventive can still create quite a few unusual metaphors!