Grasses and woody plants are planted on dirt embankments to keep the

Grasses and woody plants are planted on dirt embankments to keep the embankments from eroding. The embankments are mowed to keep the grasses from growing too tall; as a result, clippings pile up. These piles of clippings smother the woody plants, causing their roots, which serve to keep the embankments from eroding, to rot; they also attract rodents that burrow into the dirt and damage the woody plant’s roots. Therefore, bringing in predators to eradicate the rodents will prevent erosion of the embankments.

Stimulus: grasses and woody plants are planted near the dirt embodiment to prevent eroding. The embankments are mowed to keep from grasses growing too tall which results in piling of the clipping. These clippings will smoother the woody plants roots which could cause decaying of roots which attracts rodents that burrow the roots and damage the plants. we see two problems

1) clipping
2) rodents

The author suggests that we should bring predators of rodents to eliminate them and save trees; however the problem of clipping still remains. IMO E

Which one of the following is an error of reasoning in the argument?


(A) Two events that merely co-occur are treated as if one caused the other.

(B) A highly general proposal is based only on an unrepresentative set of facts.

(C) The conclusion is no more than a restatement of one of the pieces of evidence provided to support it.

(D) One possible solution to a problem is claimed to be the only possible solution to that problem.

(E) An action that would eliminate one cause of a problem is treated as if it would solve the entire problem.

Grasses and woody plants are planted on dirt embankments to keep the embankments from eroding. The embankments are mowed to keep the grasses from growing too tall; as a result, clippings pile up. These piles of clippings smother the woody plants, causing their roots, which serve to keep the embankments from eroding, to rot; they also attract rodents that burrow into the dirt and damage the woody plant’s roots. Therefore, bringing in predators to eradicate the rodents will prevent erosion of the embankments.

Which one of the following is an error of reasoning in the argument?

(A) Two events that merely co-occur are treated as if one caused the other. - WRONG. Altogether wrong.

(B) A highly general proposal is based only on an unrepresentative set of facts. - WRONG. Both highlighted text is wrong.

(C) The conclusion is no more than a restatement of one of the pieces of evidence provided to support it. - WRONG. It is not a reinstatement but a general flow with a possible solution.

(D) One possible solution to a problem is claimed to be the only possible solution to that problem. - WRONG. 2nd best for me. Spent a lot of time on this one. Neither it claimed in such a manner nor it is said that the solution is the only one.

(E) An action that would eliminate one cause of a problem is treated as if it would solve the entire problem. - CORRECT. A possible solution is amplified to solve the entire problem.

Answer E.