Question

Difficulty: MediumSingle-Sentence Inferences

Consider the following excerpt from a historical analysis of early modern cartography:

"Although seventeenth-century Dutch cartographic publishers occasionally applied a protective varnish to engraved copper plates to slow corrosion during storage, chemical analysis of surviving imprints demonstrates that this resinous coating was applied solely to plates used for decorative wall maps commissioned by wealthy patrons, whereas nautical charts produced for commercial merchant vessels were systematically printed using untreated copper plates."

True or False: The copper plates utilized for printing seventeenth-century Dutch nautical charts lacked the protective resinous coating applied to plates intended for decorative wall maps.

Answer: Answer

Answer

True. The sentence explicitly restricts the application of the resinous protective coating to copper plates used for decorative wall maps, establishing that plates used for nautical charts were systematically unplated and untreated.
The statement accurately reflects the explicit contrast in the target sentence, which restricts the protective varnish strictly to decorative wall map plates and specifies that nautical chart plates were untreated.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the logical scope and key contrast markers in the sentence.
The sentence contrasts two types of copper plates using the structural pivot 'whereas': decorative wall map plates (which received a protective resinous varnish) and nautical chart plates (which were systematically printed using untreated copper).
Single-sentence reading comprehension inferences require strict tracking of restrictive modifiers such as 'solely' and contrast pivots such as 'whereas'.
2
Compare the statement directly against the facts established in the sentence.
The statement asserts that nautical chart plates lacked the protective coating present on wall map plates. This directly matches the text's assertion that nautical charts were printed from untreated copper plates while the coating was reserved solely for wall maps.
A valid GMAT inference must be completely provable from the provided text without relying on external assumptions or extrapolations.

Key Concept

Single-Sentence Inference: Tracking Explicit Restrictions and Contrasts
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