When glass products are made from recycled glass, the resulting products can be equal in quality to glass products ma...
MazenMarch 8, 2020
Please Help Video Explanation on Answer-Choice B
Hi,
The video explanation eliminates answer-choice B because it is "not necessarily true." I eliminated it because I thought it "cannot be true," (must be false). My reasoning is that if "it can be equal in equality," then it is possible, whereas the answer-choice renders it "impossible." But the video explanation states that it is "not necessarily true," (could be false). Am I missing something? Please help, because my confidence after my time-management.
Thank you
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You seem to have a solid understanding of the difference between must be false/cannot be true and could be false/is not necessarily true, which is important. I also commend you on taking the time to thoroughly understand the reasons for eliminating each incorrect answer.
You are correct that the passage's statement that products made from recycled glass "can be equal in quality" to glass products made from raw materials makes it so that the statement made in (B) can be false. In other words, it makes it so that the statement that "it is POSSIBLE to make glass products from recycled glass that are equal in quality to the best glass products made from the usual raw material" can be true.
However, it does not guarantee that the statement above is true (AKA it does not guarantee that the original statement in the passage must be false). This is because of the word "can." We do not know that products made from recycled glass must always be equal in quality to those made from raw materials. Perhaps they generally are but have restrictions. For example, the "best glass products" may be extreme enough to create a scenario in which the recycled products cannot be equal. We do not know, so we cannot assume. The point here is that the word "can" is too open-ended for us to make strong definitive judgements. If the products can be equal, it is also true that they are not necessarily always equal.
You can think about this in the same way that you think about the phrase "could be false," which is synonymous with "can be false." You know that if something CAN be false, it is not necessarily true. This is different than something that must be false. The passage's statement that the quality CAN be equal therefore means that it is not necessarily unequal. This is different than saying that the quality must be equal.
Does that make sense? Please let us know if you have any other questions and best of luck with your studies!
MazenMarch 9, 2020
Skylar, first of all, thank you. Secondly, please correct me if I am wrong. You are correct and I am wrong, but isn't the usage of the word "best" in answer-choice B quintessential to rendering it, as you and the video explanation agreed, "not necessarily true" as opposed to "cannot be true."
I appreciate your analysis of the words "possible," and "can," but as I struggled to see it clearly, I reread the answer choice. Somehow the word "best evaded me. But wouldn't answer-choice "B" be "cannot be true," absent the word "best"?
I hope you are able to get back to me on this, as I am still struggling otherwise.
MazenMarch 9, 2020
Skylar, also the answer-choice, B," says "Impossible," not "possible" as you wrote in the third line of the second paragraph.
Here is answer-choice B copied and pasted:
"B: It is impossible to make glass products from recycled glass that are equal in quality to the best glass products made from the usual raw material."
I think you and I said the same thing: "can be equal" means, as you wrote that it is "POSSIBLE." Answer-choice B states that it is "impossible." The one word that potentially changes the calculus from "possible" to "impossible," is the word "best" in the answer-choice, not the passage. Even then, however, "must be false," is too strong of a characterization!
Please, please get back to me on this!
SamAMarch 10, 2020
Hello @Mazen,
I'll add to Skylar's explanation here. You are correct that the word "best" does make a difference. Let's discuss what we know for certain about glass.
"When glass products are made from recycled glass, the resulting products can be equal in quality to glass products made from quartz sand, the usual raw material."
Everything we know is in that sentence. We don't know which type of glass or which quality of glass this applies to. Glass products from recycled glass can be equal in some circumstance, but we don't know which. The statement might only apply to mid or low quality glass.
So, when answer choice B makes a claim about the "best glass products," we cannot confirm that it is true, nor can we confirm that it is false. In other words, answer choice B could be true! It might be impossible to match the best quality glass products. That would not contradict anything in the passage. This is why, as you said, "must be false" is too strong of a characterization.
MazenMarch 10, 2020
Thank you guys; It's clear!
RaviMarch 19, 2020
@Mazen, great! Let us know if you have any other questions!
