- Tue Sep 15, 2020 1:42 pm
#79002
Hi danimcca!
There's nothing inherent about any answer choice that makes it a contender. Contenders are simply the answer choices that you want to keep around as you are going through the answer choices. Your contenders might be different than someone else's contenders, and that's fine. It's never wrong to keep something as a contender and it's never wrong to not keep something as a contender...unless of course it ends up being the correct answer!
So let's talk about why answer choice (D) is incorrect. In this question, we are being asked to determine the Main Point of the argument. With a Main Point question, you should have a really specific prephrase as to which specific sentence or part of a sentence is the main point in the stimulus before you move on to the answer choices. There may be more than one answer choice that is true based on the argument. But you are not looking for just a true statement. You are looking for the main point. Also, the main point is not a summary of the argument--it is the main conclusion of the argument. (Main Point = Main Conclusion)
In this case, the conclusion is the second sentence "Such a move is ill-advised." How do we know that this is the main point? Because the author offers premises in support of it. Premises answer the question "why should I believe this conclusion?" So why is cutting back on book reviews ill-advised? Because "Though meant to increase readership, it actually decreases readership." So answer choices (D) does not describe the main point of the argument; rather, it describes the premise of the argument. It gives us the reason why newspapers should not have cut back on book reviews.
Hope this helps!
Best,
Kelsey
