#10 - Bernard: For which language, and thus which frequency

[mpoulson]

Actually, after reading it a couple more times I think I understand. If Cora responded with C it wouldn't effectively undermine Bernard's rejection. If current keyboards allow one to reach considerable speeds then it might even support what Bernard is saying. Instead A, allows for the acceptance of Cora's original argument and the rejection of Bernard's rejection. Let me know if I am on the right track.

- Micah

[Robert Carroll]

Micah,

You are on the right track. Bernard's "This is surely not right!" is a rejection of Cora's explanation of the original reason typewriter keyboards were designed the way they were designed. His evidence for his rejection is beside the point. Even if conditions have changed and typewriters don't need to be designed as they are, Cora can still be right that the original reason was technological limitations that have since become moot. Answer choice (A) weakens Bernard's rejection because it gives a reason - people's reliance on the design - that is perfectly compatible with Cora's explanation of the original reason for the design.

Basically, Bernard is saying something like, "If the technological limitations are the reason it was designed that way, why is the design still around when the limitations aren't?" Answer choice (A) explains how the design could still be around in a way that does not undermine the original explanation - it is simply inertia. Thus, one would still wonder why the keyboards were originally designed as they were, because the original design couldn't be something people relied on before it existed! And that would leave Cora's explanation for that fact untouched, as the question asks.

Robert Carroll