#14 - Marian Anderson, the famous contralto, did not take

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Strengthen. The correct answer choice is (B)

The structure of the argument is:

Premise: Anyone who has to struggle early in life is able to keep a good perspective on
the world.

Premise: Anderson had to struggle early in life.

Conclusion: Marian Anderson, the famous contralto, did not take success for granted.

A mechanistic analysis reveals that “Anderson” is common to the conclusion and a premise, and
“struggle early in life” is common to the two premises. Thus, we would not expect to see either
in the correct answer. New elements that should be in the correct answer are “able to keep a good
perspective on the world” and “did not take success for granted.” Only answer choices (B) and (E)
contain both elements. Since (B) and (E) are Reversals of each other, let us look at the conditional
relationship present in the stimulus:

Premise: Struggle early in life able to keep a good perspective on the world

Premise: Struggle early in life Anderson

Conclusion: Did not take success for granted Anderson

Clearly, we need a connection that moves from “able to keep a good perspective on the world” to
“did not take success for granted,” such as the following:

able to keep a good perspective on the world did not take success for granted

This relationship, which is the same as that presented in answer choice (B), ultimately creates a
chain that can be used to prove the conclusion:

struggle keep a good perspective did not take success for granted

The addition of the premise “Anderson struggled early in life” to the chain above yields the
conclusion “Anderson did not take success for granted.” Hence, answer choice (B) is correct. Answer
choice (E) is a Mistaken Reversal of the correct answer.

[cboles]

I diagrammed this question and this is what I had:

SG->S->GP

SG: success for granted
S: struggle
GP: good perspective

With that diagram I selected E. Why was I wrong?

[Nikki Siclunov]

Hi cboles,

Before we diagram the stimulus, it is imperative to understand what the premises and the conclusion are. That way, we'll know precisely which elements need to be connected in order to justify the conclusion.

The argument is structured as follows:

• Premise: Struggle Good Perspective
  
  Premise: Struggle (MA)
  
  Concl.: Take Success for Granted (MA)

The conclusion is clearly the first sentence of the stimulus, because the rest of the stimulus supports it ("We know this because...). Now, just because MA had to struggle doesn't mean she never took success for granted: the element of "taking success for granted" is a new ("rogue") element that appears in the conclusion only. At the most basic level, we need to connect this element to the rest of the argument - immediately eliminating answer choice (C).

From the combination of the two premises, we know that MA had to struggle, guaranteeing that she keeps a good perspective on the world:

• Premise (1) + (2): Good Perspective (MA)

To prove the conclusion, we simply need to establish that people who keep a good perspective on the world do not take success for granted:

• Justify: Good Perspective Take Success for Granted

We can also diagram this using the Double-Not Arrow:

• Justify: Good Perspective Take Success for Granted

This prephrase immediately validates answer choice (B). Answer choice (E) is the Mistaken Negation of this idea.

Hope this helps!

Thanks,