Necessary AssumptionDiff: Easy
Logic Breakdown
Passage Summary: Because a single mistake in a law or treaty can be a catastrophe, the writing is made to be so precise and boring that it loses all artistic value.
Conclusion: The stilted, meritless nature of legal and diplomatic language is a direct result of its design to prevent misinterpretation.
Reasoning: Misinterpreted statements in these fields lead to disasters, so the language is intentionally crafted to be unambiguous, which supposedly strips it of literary quality.
Analysis: The author is assuming a 'Gap' exists between clarity and art: specifically, that a text cannot be both perfectly unambiguous and literarily meritorious. To find the necessary assumption, look for a statement that links these two concepts, likely suggesting that literary merit requires some level of the very ambiguity that lawyers and diplomats are trying to avoid. If you negate the correct answer—saying 'literary merit is possible even without ambiguity'—the author's argument falls apart.
Conclusion: The stilted, meritless nature of legal and diplomatic language is a direct result of its design to prevent misinterpretation.
Reasoning: Misinterpreted statements in these fields lead to disasters, so the language is intentionally crafted to be unambiguous, which supposedly strips it of literary quality.
Analysis: The author is assuming a 'Gap' exists between clarity and art: specifically, that a text cannot be both perfectly unambiguous and literarily meritorious. To find the necessary assumption, look for a statement that links these two concepts, likely suggesting that literary merit requires some level of the very ambiguity that lawyers and diplomats are trying to avoid. If you negate the correct answer—saying 'literary merit is possible even without ambiguity'—the author's argument falls apart.
Passage Stimulus
Passage Redacted
Unlock Full Passage13.The writer's argument requires assuming which one of the following?
Correct Answer
A
A states that language with literary value is more likely to be misunderstood than language without such value. That’s the needed bridge: if literary merit raises the risk of misinterpretation, then designing language to avoid misinterpretation would indeed strip away literary merit. Negation test: If language with literary value is not more likely to be misunderstood, then one could write language that both avoids misinterpretation and still has literary merit, undercutting the conclusion that such language is “utterly without literary merit.”
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