Verbal Reasoning Statements and Inferences

Direction: In the question the statement is given followed by some inferences. You must consider the statement to be true even if it seems to be at variance from commonly known facts. You must decide which of the given inference, if any, is a strong argument.

Statement: One of the most vexing problems in historiography is dating an event when the usual sources offer conflicting chronologies of the event. Historians should attempt to minimize the number of competing sources, perhaps by eliminating the less credible ones. Once this is achieved and several sources are left, as often happens, historians may try, though on occasion unsuccessfully, to determine independently of the usual sources which date is more likely to be right.

If the statements above are true, which inferences must also be true?

We have no plausible chronology of most of the events for which attempts have been made by historians to determine the right date.

Some of the events for which there are conflicting chronologies and for which attempts have been made by historians to determine the right date cannot be dated reliably by historians

Attaching a reliable date to any event requires determining which of several conflicting chronologies is most likely to be true.

Determining independently of the usual sources which of several conflicting chronologies is more likely to be right is an ineffective way of dating events.

The soundest approach to dating an event for which the usual sources give conflicting chronologies is to undermine the credibility of as many of these sources as possible.

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