#3 - In 1860 Bavarian quarry workers discovered the

[Administrator]

Please post your questions below!

[Stephanie_G]

I got this answer correct but I was just wondering why 'A' was incorrect. I figured because the creature did not HAVE TO be a descendant of the pterosaurs, it could be a descendant of another animal or a new bird all together with no clear descent. I just wanted to make sure I'm eliminating for the correct reasons. Thanks for the help!

[Dave Killoran]

Hi Stephanie,

You are exactly correct—good job! Your statement is basically the Assumption Negation Technique in action, and all the stimulus has said about pterosaurs was that it was previously thought that birds developed after they had disappeared. Aside from this timeline reference, the author doesn't make a judgment or otherwise rely on the idea that there's a direct relationships in descendant terms between the two.

By the way, the negation of (C) is an archetypal example of the Assumption Negation Technique, and provides a great example of how powerful that tool can be at times.

Please let me know if that helps. Thanks!