Q14

[dayani_elika]

Can someone please explain this question and why certain answers are incorrect and how we come to choose the correct answer and why? Thank you!

[christine.defenbaugh]

Thanks for posting, dayani_elika!

When a Reading Comprehension section offers up a Weaken question, it's best to use the same Logical Reasoning skills you've been perfecting. We'll need to start with the argument core!

The question helpfully identified the conclusion we are meant to weaken, so we need merely identify the premise the author uses to support that conclusion. We find that premise in the same sentence as the conclusion, immediately prior (lines 37-39). So, we can simplify that argument core down to:

PREMISE: Venice has almost no narrative frescoes in churches.
CONCLUSION: Venetian artists had no practical experience of the large-scale representation of familiar religious stories.

This argument assumes the the only way these Venetian artists could have gotten that particular practical experience is through church narrative frescoes in Venice. If there were some other way Venetian artists could have obtained that practical experience, then this argument would fall apart. (C) gives us a possibility - even though there were almost no frescoes in Venice, the Venetian artists had practical experience with frescoes from elsewhere!

The danger in a question like this is attempting to weaken the conclusion in a vacuum. (C) doesn't tell us directly that the Venetian artists had practical experience of large-scale representation of familiar religious storylines - it just tells us they had experience with frescoes. If we had neglected to identify the premise for the argument, and attack the assumption, it would be very difficult to see how (C) related.


Still No Experience...
(A) Irrelevant comparison. Two types of Venetian paintings were similar to one another in style. There's still no great way for Venetian artists to get that practical experience of large/familiar/religious paintings.
(B) This connects Venetian authors to paintings outside Venice, but tells us nothing about Venetian artists. Also, the non-Venetian art is only secular - where would they get the practical experience for large/familiar/religious paintings?
(D) This tells us a lot about Tuscan frescoes, but nothing about Venetian artists, or where they might get practical experience with large/familiar/religious paintings.
(E) Enhanced drawing skill? This is interesting, but tells us nothing about where Venetian artists might have obtained practical experience with large/familiar/religious paintings.


I hope this helps clear things up a bit! When faced with a Logical Reasoning question on Reading Comprehension, use your LR skills! Assumption family questions require you to break down the argument core, and identify the gap!