#15 - Mystery stories often feature a brilliant detective

[c-erv]

So would "often" and "some" be synonymous in terms of the most/some relationship?

[Claire Horan]

"Some" and "Often" are not synonyms. If something happens "often," it MUST happen "some" of the time. If something happens "some" of the time, it does not necessarily happen "often." This is the same relationship as a square to a rectangle, where "some" of the time is the rectangle and "often" is the square.

Let's see how this relationship impacts the question at issue:

Mystery stories often [think square] feature a brilliant detective and the detective’s dull companion. Clues are presented in the story and the companion wrongly infers an inaccurate solution to the mystery using the same clues that the detective uses to deduce the correct solution. Thus, the author’s strategy of including the dull companion gives readers a chance to solve the mystery while also diverting them from the correct solution.

Which one of the following is most strongly supported by the information above?

(A) Most mystery stories feature a brilliant detective who solves the mystery presented in the story. [To continue our analogy, "most" would be a blue square, perhaps, because it is even more specific. If something happens most of the time, it must happen "often," but not the other way around.]
(C) Some [think rectangle] mystery stories give readers enough clues to infer the correct solution to the mystery. [Is a square a rectangle? Yes!]

I hope the shape analogy helped. You can also try to conceptualize the relationships between these types of words by drawing and analyzing your own Venn diagram.

[c-erv]

That helped. Thanks for clarifying guys!

[christianitylove]

I dont understand why letter (C) is the correct choice. It says that the author diverts readers from solving the mystery, and letter (C0 says that the mystery stories give readers a chance to figure the correct solution. So confusing

[Ricky_Hutchens]

Hi christianitylove,

The stimulus says that mysteries often feature a dull companion who misinterprets the clues. It then says that the detective solves the mystery using the same clues. Therefore, the author is providing the reader with the necessary clues to solve the mystery.

The way the author diverts the reader is by having the companion misunderstand the clues, but the clues are still there for the reader to interpret the correct way.

[bk1111]

Why is E incorrect? I am guessing it is because of “generally”
But the stimulus also says mystery novels “often” feature stories. Is that first sentence independent from all the others when it refers to often?

[Adam Tyson]

There are two big problems with answer E, bk1111, and you've identified one of them. "Generally" means more often than not, or most of the time. Synonyms include "usually" and "typically". Information about what "often" happens tells us only that they happen with some frequency. That doesn't prove that they happen more often than not. I often have trouble sleeping, knowing that there are unanswered questions here in the forum, but that only happens to me about 2 nights out of 5. That's still often, as far as I am concerned, but not nearly the majority of the time. I don't generally have trouble sleeping, but I often do.

The second problem with E is that it brings up something completely unsupported by the stimulus. Where does the stimulus tell us anything about who uncovers the clues, or that any clues are misleading? The dull companion and the brilliant detective use the same clues, and the problem is that the dull companion is misunderstanding or misinterpreting them. The clues aren't misleading, but the dull companion's analysis of them may be, and for all we know those clues are all discovered by the brilliant detective. Way too much new information in that answer for us to select it as a "most strongly supported" answer choice!

I hope that gives you some clues about how to approach the next question like this one. Good luck!

[bk1111]

There are two big problems with answer E, bk1111, and you've identified one of them. "Generally" means more often than not, or most of the time. Synonyms include "usually" and "typically". Information about what "often" happens tells us only that they happen with some frequency. That doesn't prove that they happen more often than not. I often have trouble sleeping, knowing that there are unanswered questions here in the forum, but that only happens to me about 2 nights out of 5. That's still often, as far as I am concerned, but not nearly the majority of the time. I don't generally have trouble sleeping, but I often do.

The second problem with E is that it brings up something completely unsupported by the stimulus. Where does the stimulus tell us anything about who uncovers the clues, or that any clues are misleading? The dull companion and the brilliant detective use the same clues, and the problem is that the dull companion is misunderstanding or misinterpreting them. The clues aren't misleading, but the dull companion's analysis of them may be, and for all we know those clues are all discovered by the brilliant detective. Way too much new information in that answer for us to select it as a "most strongly supported" answer choice!

I hope that gives you some clues about how to approach the next question like this one. Good luck!

Thank you for the detailed clarification about "generally" and what I can infer based on "often" I will definitely keep this in mind going forward. Also, I redid this question just now before reading your response and I caught the fact that E refers to "misleading clues" - something not mentioned in the stimulus. I did not read carefully enough that first time. Thank you!

[akanshalsat]

Hello! I still don't really understand why C is correct- the stimulus doesn't say any of this. it merely says that the DULL COMPANION gives readers a chance to solve the mystery, and we know that the dull companion wrongly infers wrong solutions using the clues, so therefore B makes sense, that if the companion wrongly infers solutions from the clue AND the companion gives us a chance to solve the mystery- then obviously we are the ones able to spot the mistakes in reasoning of the companion - thus being able to solve the mystery

[Adam Tyson]

It's not the dull companion that gives us the chance to solve the mystery, akanshalsat, but the set of clues included in the story that gives us that chance. The brilliant detective uses the same clues as the dull companion, which means that those clues, which are all in the story, are sufficient to solve the mystery! We could therefore solve it, too, if we were as brilliant as the detective and not distracted by the dull companion. All the clues are there!