VKat wrote:
Hello ,
My query is related to op a.
Whenever I see 'some', I go for two extreme level cases,
1. Suppose, total passengers be 5 and 'some' can be 1, so 1 out of 5 are dissatisfied by the quality, 25% is a significant number, so we can take this as assumption.
2. Suppose, total passengers be 1000 and 'some' can be 1, hence here 1 out of 1000 are dissatisfied by the quality, which is not significant number, so it can't be taken as assumption.
Please let me know where I am lacking in my understanding.
So this question *seems* to be dealing with something most GMAT questions don't do: sufficient assumptions.
Most assumption questions deal with *necessary* assumptions. The questions are usually, "The author's argument *requires* which of the following?" "Which is an assumption on which the argument depends?"
This question asks which is an assumption the argument is 'based on.' "based on" is somewhat vague language, but it seems to me to lean into 'sufficient' language more than usual.
What's the difference? A necessary assumption must be true, or else the argument is false. A sufficient assumption ensures, or 'locks in' the logic of the argument. There's a lot of overlap and the distinction doesn't often matter, but basically:
NECESSARY ASSUMPTION: if the argument is true, this assumption must be true.
SUFFICIENT ASSUMPTION: if this assumption is true, the argument is guaranteed to be true.
The 'truth' of a necessary assumption isn't actually enough to 'guarantee' the argument (usually because there are *other* necessary assumptions that must also be true for the argument to hold).
Now, B is not actually a sufficient assumption... But it's a necessary consequence of a sufficient assumption! (That's fun).
If we knew that EVERYONE who is dissatisfied with the service DOES NOT RIDE, we would know the author's conclusion is true, because anyone riding would be satisfied and that number has been increasing.
And if EVERYONE who is dissatisfied does not ride, then SOME PEOPLE who are dissatisfied do not ride.
Also, if you negate B, you get 'NO ONE refuses to travel by train if they are dissatisfied with the service,' or, rephrased, 'people who are dissatisfied with the service still ride the train.'
If that's true, the conclusion isn't, I suppose, necessarily *false*, but the reasoning used to support the conclusion falls apart (this is a tricky thing... Usually the 'negation test' reveals a situation that would make the conclusion false. But what the negation test is *really* for is to reveal a situation in which the author's reasoning falls apart... Usually this guarantees a false conclusion, but occasionally it doesn't).
If we learn that 'dissatisfaction doesn't really keep people from riding the train,' the author's points are destroyed. So knowing that some people don't ride the train if they're dissatisfied is a necessary part of the reasoning.
PHEW. That's a pretty unusual question, in very subtle ways.
Mostly, though, this is how I think of the quantifiers:
NONE: 0%
FEW: 10% or less
SOME: 30-50%
ABOUT HALF: ~50%
MOST: 70%
ALMOST ALL: 90% or more
Not a science, or anything.