Q26 - Tony: A short story

[H.liemail]

The correct answer is (a) I eliminated all of the answers. the reason I did not choose A because it says "best" understood, if it was "better" understood i think it would be the right answer I do not see how we can imply from the stimulus that human lives are best understood please explain thank you!

[giladedelman]

Thanks for posting!

(A) is correct because, on the one hand, we know Tony would disagree with this statement: according to him, an accurate depiction of human lives involves depicting gradually developing personalities. On the other hand, we have evidence that Raoul would agree with this statement. He says that "life consists ... of a series of completely disjointed vignettes." If that's what he says life consists of, then it's fair to say he believes life is best understood this way.

At any rate, you know that all the answers can't be wrong. It's not your job to find the perfect answer, merely the best.

(B) is, at best, half-scope. Tony would seem to disagree with this, though I'm not sure "narrative structure" is the same as "strategy." But Raoul doesn't weigh in at all on this issue.

(C) is out of scope. Tony says novels can do this, not that they usually do; Raoul says nothing on the subject.

(D) is out of scope. Tony doesn't say "only," and Raoul doesn't say a peep about sketch pads.

(E) is out of scope. Tony doesn't address this point, and Raoul doesn't say that the facets are usually kept hidden.

So, even if you're suspicious about the word "best," you still have a mountain of evidence to get rid of the other four answer choices.

Does that clear this one up for you?