#2 - Only 1,000 to 2,000 species of fruit flies exist

[marissasalazar9899]

I understand as to why A is correct, but what is confusing me is the language. It states that "All of the picture-winged drosophilids in Hawaii are believed to be descendants of the same one or two ancestral female fruit flies." The word "all" is rather strong language making it harder to prove, which we normally stray away from. I was just confused because in the explanation it expresses that the stimulus is delivered in absolute terms, so it is safe to say that if the stimulus is delivered in absolute terms the answer choice should represent the same language as the stimulus? I am also confused on the phrase in the explanation "however, when a stimulus that contains only information nevertheless has statements that force a conclusion, the answer to a Must Be True question will very often be that conclusion." Do you mind clarifying that last statement for me?

[Rachael Wilkenfeld]

Hi Marissa,

With statements of facts, the answer choice in an MBT question will often be what you can conclude from those facts. It's often a combination of ideas from the stimulus. All is strong language, but it can be well supported. In this case, our stimulus supports the word all. ALL of the species of fruit flies in Hawaii are thought to have come from 1-2 ancestral females. That means that ALL of any subgroup of Hawaiian fruit flies would have descended from 1-2 ancestral fruit flies. We could say all the fruit flies in Maui descended from 1-2 ancestral flies. We could say all rural fruit flies in Hawaii descended from 1-2 ancestral fruit flies. Those statements all use strong language but are supported by the strong language in the stimulus.

Hope that helps!