PrepTest 24, Section 3, Question 23
Historians of North American architecture who have studied early nineteenth-century houses with wooden floors have observed that the boards used on the floors of bigger houses were generally much narrower than those used on the floors of smaller houses. These historians have argued that, since the people for whom the bigger houses were built were generally richer than the people for whom the smaller houses were built, floors made out of narrow floorboards were probably once a status symbol, designed to proclaim the owner's wealth.
Historians of North American architecture who have studied early nineteenth-century houses with wooden floors have observed that the boards used on the floors of bigger houses were generally much narrower than those used on the floors of smaller houses. These historians have argued that, since the people for whom the bigger houses were built were generally richer than the people for whom the smaller houses were built, floors made out of narrow floorboards were probably once a status symbol, designed to proclaim the owner's wealth.
Historians of North American architecture who have studied early nineteenth-century houses with wooden floors have observed that the boards used on the floors of bigger houses were generally much narrower than those used on the floors of smaller houses. These historians have argued that, since the people for whom the bigger houses were built were generally richer than the people for whom the smaller houses were built, floors made out of narrow floorboards were probably once a status symbol, designed to proclaim the owner's wealth.
Historians of North American architecture who have studied early nineteenth-century houses with wooden floors have observed that the boards used on the floors of bigger houses were generally much narrower than those used on the floors of smaller houses. These historians have argued that, since the people for whom the bigger houses were built were generally richer than the people for whom the smaller houses were built, floors made out of narrow floorboards were probably once a status symbol, designed to proclaim the owner's wealth.
Which one of the following, if true, most helps to strengthen the historians' argument?
More original floorboards have survived from big early nineteenth-century houses than from small early nineteenth-century houses.
In the early nineteenth century, a piece of narrow floorboard was not significantly less expensive than a piece of wide floorboard of the same length.
In the early nineteenth century, smaller houses generally had fewer rooms than did bigger houses.
Some early nineteenth-century houses had wide floorboards near the walls of each room and narrower floorboards in the center, where the floors were usually carpeted.
Many of the biggest early nineteenth-century houses but very few small houses from that period had some floors that were made of materials that were considerably more expensive than wood, such as marble.
Explanations
This argument concludes that large houses most probably featured narrow floorboards as a status symbol, given that bigger houses were owned by wealthier folks and smaller houses had broader floorboards.
We're asked to strengthen the argument. So we need to make it more likely that these narrow floorboards were chosen despite how expensive or cumbersome they were to purchase and install. That, or perhaps something that explicitly connects a narrow floorboard to some gaudy design trend.
Let's see.
Nah. Cool story bro, but this doesn't affect the likelihood that the narrow floorboards were status symbols.
Yes. This works. If a narrow floorboard cost roughly the same as a broad floor board, then you'd literally have to pay more to use the narrow floorboards because they cover less of a footprint than the broader floorboards. This would be like tiling your bathroom with 1x1" square tiles instead of 12x12" tiles, simply because you liked the look—you'd need way more tiles to accomplish the job.
Nope. Like A, who cares? This is probably true, but doesn't help us understand how likely it is that the narrow floorboards were a status symbol.
Nah. This reads more like a weakener. What does this have to do with narrow floorboards being a status symbol? If this was true, most of the narrow floorboards would have been carpeted over and never seen / observed.
No. Like A and B, this is completely extraneous to the argument. This is probably true, but has no impact on the likelihood that these narrow floorboards are status symbols.
0 Comments