September 2017 LSAT Section 4 Question 20

That Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale (1610-1611) is modeled after Euripides' Alcestis (fifth century B.C.) seems unde...

AndrewArabie on May 13, 2023

Difference between A and D

I initially selected A but during my blind review I was really looking into D for a while. I chose A for exactly the reason stated in the explanation. But the explanation for A is that yea he may have used these common phrases but that doesn't indicate he knew latin. Similarly just because there is a widely available latin translation at the time doesn't mean Shakespeare used it because he may not know any latin. Wide availability (D) = Commonly used (A) After more thought I'm not certain anymore that (D) strengthens more than (A). Can someone help me out here?

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Emil-Kunkin on May 20, 2023

Hi, D strengthens because it gives us reason to think that he actually learned the language Latin. A only gives us reason to think that he picked up a few loan words that were common in English, but it gives us no reason to think that he actually knew Latin. It's like the difference between being able to actually speak French Vs not knowing French, but knowing a few phrases that have slipped into English like Je ne sais quoi

AndrewArabie on May 22, 2023

Thank you Emil