#17- Of all the Arabic epic poems that have been popular at

[jgabalski]

Can someone please help me with number 17, and why it is C? I think I am having trouble seeing what the "correlation" is in the stimulus. Maybe I am just associating this word too closely with data sets/surveys/etc. Thank you for the help.

[Robert Carroll]

j,

A correlation just means a connection between two things - a positive correlation exists when more of one thing is associated with more of another, and a negative correlation when more of one thing is associated with less of another (and vice versa). Sirat Bani Hilal is unusual in two ways - it is the only Arabic epic poem still performed, and it is usually sung, whereas most other epics were only recited. So "being sung" and "still being performed" are correlated in this one instance. The conclusion is that there is a causal connection between these two things.

Robert Carroll

[Relaxo]

Hello,

how can we conclude that there is a correlation really?

The text also says that most other epics were only recited, meaning that there must be others which have been sung (assuming an epic has to be sung or recited, or both). But none of the other epics are still played. So if there were a correlation, why aren't any of the other epics played anymore even if some exist which are sung?

Thanks in advance!

[Adam Tyson]

It's not so much that we are concluding that there is a correlation here, Relaxo, but that the stimulus is telling us that there is. A correlation just means that two things go together in some way. The correlation in this stimulus is limited to this one poem, but the two things that are, in this case, correlated are 1) it's the only one still publicly performed and 2) it's sung, which is unusual.

From this correlation, the author draws a causal conclusion, and of course it's not well supported because these sorts of conclusions rarely are. While there may never have been others that were sung, it still could be that others were, and that would mean the cause existed without the effect. There could be many other causes, which is a common problem with causal arguments.

One last thing, regarding this statement you made:

The text also says that most other epics were only recited, meaning that there must be others which have been sung

That's not a valid inference here. It is possible that this was the ONLY one that was ever sung! "Most" means more than half, which includes the possibility that all of the others were only spoken. Be careful about how you interpret words like "most" and "some" and "not all"!