#15 - H.G. Wells’s great dramatic novel The Time Machine is classified as science

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Justify. The correct answer choice is (E).

Answer choice (A):

Answer choice (B):

Answer choice (C):

Answer choice (D):

Answer choice (E): This is the correct answer choice.

[WildMountainElk]

I chose (A) for this question, because if that assumption were made it would make the logic in the prompt valid (although that assumption is more general than necessary).

Both (B) and (E) deal with the exclusivity of genres, but the prompt says nothing about exclusivity, only that the current classification is incorrect.

Any help in understanding why (E) is the correct answer would be great!

[Beth Hayden]

Hi Wild,

The stimulus is saying that the novel should not be classified as science fiction because it is a great dramatic novel that has compelling characters, and isn't "just" about the future of technology. But why can't it be both? Why can't a novel be science fiction and also a great dramatic novel? That's the problem with the author's argument, the fact that it's a great dramatic novel doesn't preclude it from also being science fiction. Answer choice (E) fixes that problem with the argument by saying that we have to pick one--either the novel is a great dramatic novel, or it is science fiction, but it can't be both. If that's true, the conclusion suddenly makes sense.

In response to your concern, the fact that the stimulus doesn't mention exclusivity is exactly the point. The author is saying that the science fiction classification is wrong because the book should have some other classification, which implies that the two are mutually exclusive. Answer choice (E) articulates that exclusivity.

Now let's look at answer choice (A). Remember that the conclusion is saying that the novel is mis-classified as science fiction. If (A) is true, it justifies calling it a great dramatic novel, but it does not explain why it can't also be a science fiction book.

Hope that helps!
Beth

[dragonfly]

Hi there,

I understand how E is sufficient, but I don't understand why B is not also sufficient to guarantee the truth of the conclusion. If novels can always be classified into distinct genres, and the stimulus classifies the work as a "great dramatic novel" in the first sentence, then the conclusion that the "science fiction classification is inappropriate" must be true because a novel could not be both a great dramatic novel and a science fiction novel. I understand that B is broader than needed, but don't understand why it is insufficient to guarantee the truth of the conclusion. What am I missing here?

Thanks in advance!

[Jeff Wren]

Hi dragonfly,

I believe that "great dramatic novel" is being used in this context as a description of the novel rather than as an actual genre. In other words, "dramatic novel" does not constitute a separate genre, so that it could be possible to have a great dramatic novel that is classified as science fiction.

This can be tricky because "drama" can describe a genre in certain contexts, but "dramatic" here seems to just be describing certain qualities of the novel rather than classifying it into a particular genre.

Notice in Answer E, the answer states that a dramatic novel cannot be great and be classified as belonging to the genre of science fiction. If dramatic novels were always considered a separate genre than science fiction, then this answer wouldn't really be necessary.