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Information and IdeasHardInference about a repaired manuscript

Information and Ideas practice question

The manuscript's final pages are in a different hand from the rest, on paper of a different weight, and the story they tell ends the plot in a few hurried paragraphs. The librarian who catalogued it concluded that ____

Which choice most logically completes the text?

  1. A. the original ending was lost and a later owner supplied a replacement.Correct
  2. B. the author wrote the whole manuscript in one sitting.
  3. C. the final pages are the oldest part of the manuscript.
  4. D. the manuscript was never finished.

Answer: A. the original ending was lost and a later owner supplied a replacement.

Different hand, different paper, a hurried ending: added later.

Why the other answers are wrong

B. the author wrote the whole manuscript in one sitting.
Two hands rule out one sitting.
C. the final pages are the oldest part of the manuscript.
Nothing suggests the ending is older.
D. the manuscript was never finished.
It has an ending, just a replaced one.

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