Question

Bernand: For which language, and thus which frequency distribution of letters and letter sequences, was the standard typewriter keyboard designed?

Cora: To ask this question, you must be making a mistaken assumption: that typing speed was to be maximized. The real danger with early typewriters was that operators would hit successive keys too quickly, thereby crashing typebars into each other, bending connecting wires and so on. So the idea was to slow the operator down by making the most common letter sequences awkward to type.

Bernand: This is surely not right! These technological limitations have long since vanished, yet the keyboard is still as it was then.

Which one of the following, if true, could be used by Cora to counter Bernard's rejection of her explanation?


(A) Typewriters and word-processing equipment are typically sold to people who have learned to use the standard keyboard and who, therefore, demand it in equipment they buy.

(B) Typewriters have been superseded in most offices by word-processing equipment, which has inherited the standard keyboard from typewriters.

(C) The standard keyboard allows skilled operators to achiever considerable typing speeds, thought it makes acquiring such skills relatively difficult.

(D) A person who has learned one keyboard layout can readily learn to use a second one in place of the first, but only with difficulty learn to use a second one alongside the first.

(E) It is now possible to construct typewriter and word-processing equipment in which a single keyboard can accommodate two or even more different keyboard layouts, each accessible to the operator at will.

Answer 1

Option (A) is the strongest argument Cora could use, emphasizing consumer familiarity and demand for the standard typewriter keyboard layout, despite the original reason for its design being outdated.

Step-by-step explanation:

The standard typewriter keyboard, known as the QWERTY layout, was designed with the English language in mind, and its configuration was meant to prevent mechanical jams rather than to maximize typing speed. To counter Bernard's rejection of her explanation, Cora could argue that the standard keyboard design persists not due to technological limitations, but because of the familiarity and training associated with it. Option (A) from the provided choices is the strongest argument Cora could make. It suggests that consumers are used to the standard keyboard, and this consumer demand influences the continued production and use of this layout in both typewriters and word-processing equipment. Even though technological advances have allowed for different keyboard configurations, the QWERTY layout remains because users have learned to type on it and demand it. It is not uncommon for technology to retain certain features due to user familiarity, even when the original reasons for those features have become obsolete.