PrepTest 129

Correct. Argument or Facts:
Argument

Valid or Flawed:
Flawed

Question Type:
Strengthen with Sufficient Premise

Stimulus Summary:
Lessing: Literature must represent events in sequence
Counterexample: Imagists' poems, which are just disparate images
Conclusion: Lessing was wrong

Answer Anticipation:
Note how much of the stimulus we stripped away! Removing irrelevant premises is an important skill to develop in order to focus on the relevant information. Here, the conclusion is just about literature, so everything about painting (and even the generalization) can be stripped away to focus just on the view that the conclusion rejects.

And to reject Lessing's claim, the Essayist uses a counterexample—a type of literature that doesn't conform to the rule established by Lessing. Lessing established that a necessary part of literature ("must represent") is representing actions in sequence. For the Essayist's counterexample to successfully rebut that argument, it must not represent actions in sequence.

However, the Essayist doesn't establish that the imagists' poems don't represent actions in sequence. Instead, it establishes that they consist solely of disparate images. While that doesn't sound like sequential events/actions, it's possible that these disparate images are meant to represent some type of progression of events. Thus, in order to justify the use of the counterexample, the correct answer should establish that these imagists' poems, consisting solely of amalgams of disparate images, can't represent a sequence of events/actions.

Answer Explanation:
This answer matches our anticipation. If amalgams of disparate images can't represent a sequence of events, then the imagists' poems aren't sequential, and they serve as counterexample to Lessing's rule—literature that doesn't represent a sequence of events.

Key Takeaway:
Counterexamples need to be guaranteed to rebut the thing they're countering. If there's any room between the example and the counterpoint, then it's not a successful counterexample.

Incorrect. "Subject matter" is a bit off from the stimulus, but even ignoring that, the Essayist's conclusion is based on the condition that the imagists' poems are legitimate literature, so this answer is out of scope.

Incorrect. His awareness of anything isn't related to whether he was right or not!

Incorrect. The question isn't whether it represents some subject matter, but rather if the imagists' poems represent sequential subject matter.

Incorrect. This answer doesn't establish which category the imagists' poems fall into, so it doesn't justify their use as a counterexample.