PrepTest 134

Incorrect. Those Critics don't have to underestimate her achievements to level one criticism against her.

Correct. Argument or Facts:
Argument

Valid or Flawed:
Flawed

Question Type:
Strengthen with Necessary Premise

Stimulus Summary:
Colette's novels analyze people in crisis, which raises important moral questions. So her books aren't indifferent to important moral questions.

Answer Anticipation:
We summed this argument up quite a bit, and it's important to note how we did it so that you can focus on just the relevant parts of an argument.

First, we ignored that first statement. Her background and the praise Coletter receives for the vividness of her language is out of scope of the conclusion about moral questions—which is telegraphed by the pivot ("But").

Second, we rephrased the conclusion. To say that criticism is unfair is to say that it is wrong. So the author must believe the Critics here are wrong and Colette wasn't indifferent to important moral questions.

With that part of the argument stripped down, we can see that the author supports that conclusion by stating that Colette's works, in poetically condensing moments of emotional crisis, raise important moral questions. But raising questions isn't the same as having an opinion on them (not being indifferent to them). The argument assumes that raising ideas in such a work is the same as not being indifferent to them, so we should find an answer stating as much.

Answer Explanation:
This answer connects what Colette does in her novels—raise moral questions—to the conclusion—that she's not indifferent to those questions. If a novel dealing with a moral crisis does have to be indifferent to the moral questions it raises, then the Critics' charge is fair.

Key Takeaway:
When a conclusion in an argument is an opinion of an opposing point and it refers back to those ideas without explicitly laying them out, rephrase the conclusion to be content-focused. This'll make it a lot easier to spot any gaps in the logic.

Incorrect. The praise Colette has received doesn't need to be sufficient to establish that she isn't indifferent to moral questions since the argument bases that conclusion on the content of her books.

Incorrect. This answer brings in the idea from the first statement which didn't play into the conclusion about moral questions.

Incorrect. Three issues here. First, Colette's motives don't determine the impact—her novels could be concerned with moral questions even if her intent wasn't to explore them. The Critics don't claim that she was indifferent, just her works were. Additionally, the motive behind one aspect of Colette's work doesn't determine the motive behind the work as a whole. The emotional crises she condenses may not have been intended to explore moral questions, but the novels themselves might have. Finally, the conclusion is about important moral questions, not just those of her time, so this answer is too limited.