severe logic, manuscript from Prep, I need help

[saintjingjing]

[editor's note: this problem has not been transcribed correctly. for a correct transcription, see this link: http://s27.postimg.org/hfz1cr6z7/Imagem1.jpg]
A medieval manuscript called L contains all eighteen extant tragedies by the Greek playwright Euripides. Of these, ten called the "select plays," are accompanied in L by ancient commentaries and also appear in other medieval manuscripts; this group includes some of Euripides’ best-known works, including the Medea. The other eight, which appear in alphabetical order, without commentary. The Electra is one of the alphabeticals.
Which of the following can be reliably concluded on the basis of the Statements given?
A. Only Euripides’ best-known works are accompanied by ancient commentaries in extant medieval manuscripts.
B. The select plays are accompanied by ancient commentaries because they were the best known of Euripides’ works.
C. No commentaries were written about Euripides’ Electra in ancient times.
D. Euripides’ Medea never appears in medieval manuscripts unaccompanied by ancient commentary.
E. Euripides’ Electra does not appear accompanied by a commentary in any extant medieval manuscript.
from prep,

about E,I want to ask in E, it infact needs an assumption that E(no s.p.) must be both no commentory and no in any extant manuscript. But if we reserve S.P.----> select plays," are accompanied in L by ancient commentaries and also appear in other medieval manuscripts, it infact conlcudes1 ) no commentory and can appear in other manuscript, 2) commentory and can not appear in other 3) no commentory and can not appear in manuscript

sorry I can not paste the picture about this one from PREP, how? I do not find any related button

[RonPurewal]

hi --

1) please post a screenshot to postimage.org and then post the link here; this problem doesn't seem to be from GMAT PREP.

2) after you post the screenshot, please write your question(s) in complete sentences, without abbreviations -- i can't actually tell what you are asking here. for instance, i don't know what "E(no s.p.)" means.

[bruno.shinjo]

Hi Ron,

This is really a GMATPrep question, as per link below:
http://s27.postimg.org/hfz1cr6z7/Imagem1.jpg

I think that the key to nail this question was to read close that "The other eight (...) appear only in L". This is the only way to stablish a connection with answer E. Is this the correct way to think?

Thanks,

hi --

1) please post a screenshot to postimage.org and then post the link here; this problem doesn't seem to be from GMAT PREP.

2) after you post the screenshot, please write your question(s) in complete sentences, without abbreviations -- i can't actually tell what you are asking here. for instance, i don't know what "E(no s.p.)" means.

[RonPurewal]

In these problems, you just have to think about what you can absolutely prove.
If that's what you mean by "establishing a connection", then, sure. But be sure to note that this kind of "connection" is VERY different from the kinds of "connections" in more common questions types (strengthen, weaken, explain, etc.). The latter are NOT strict logical connections; instead, they require common sense / real-world thinking.

The passage says that Electra (along with the other alphabeticals) appear ONLY in L, and that they appear in L WITHOUT commentary. That's enough to prove choice E.

[momo32]

Dear Ron，
can you explain the choice C.

thx

[RonPurewal]

Dear Ron，
can you explain the choice C.

thx

What about it?

[MichelleU634]

i picked the correct answer because E seemed the most sure.

For C. I figured the passage only said Electra only appeared in L with commentary which is specific to only Electra's appearance. However the commentary could appear any where else (Just not with electra).

Is that the logic you would use to eliminate C?

[RonPurewal]

it's a much bigger issue than that.

the entire passage is concerned exclusively with the surviving manuscripts of these plays. that's all.

back in ancient times—when the play was first written—there may have been thousands and thousands of copies of Electra with commentary.
or there may have been none.
we just don't know.

we have a bunch of information about what is still in existence now, but, of course, that can't tell us anything about what existed back then.

[douyang]

For answer choice E, how do we know that "the other eight" does not appear in other medieval manuscripts? It is true that the first ten appear in other manuscripts, but it may not mean that "the other eight" does not appear in other manuscripts. Are we making assumptions here?

[RonPurewal]

For answer choice E, how do we know that "the other eight" does not appear in other medieval manuscripts? It is true that the first ten appear in other manuscripts, but it may not mean that "the other eight" does not appear in other manuscripts. Are we making assumptions here?

ah, thanks for pointing this out.

there's some hugely important information missing from the original post.
according to the passage that's actually in gmat prep, the other 8 plays "appear only in L".

you can verify this in the image that's linked earlier (http://s27.postimg.org/hfz1cr6z7/Imagem1.jpg).

this is such a huge mistake that i'm going to lock this thread; if there are further questions, it's best to start a new thread (with a correctly transcribed problem!).