Ravi:
The highest priority should be given to the needs of the sales department, because without successful sales the company as a whole would fail.
Ed:
There are several departments other than sales that must also function successfully for the company to succeed. It is impossible to give the highest priority to all of them

Ed criticizes Ravi's argument by pointing out:

A) That the sales department taken by itself is not critical to the company's success as a whole.
B) The ambiguity of the term "Highest Priority"
C) That the department other than sales are more vital to the company's success.
D) An absurd consequence of its apparent assumption that a department's necessity earns it the highest priority
E) That Ravi makes a generalization from an atypical case.

This one is from Challenging Sets.

Request you to clear the following doubts

1- I narrowed down to A and D and then finally chose A, however it is incorrect. Can we negate the option A on the basis that option A is focusing on Subject Matter not on Argumentative Technique

2- I adopted the similar strategy to the question posted here-
mr-janeck-i-don-t-believe-stevenson-will-win-the-election-90932.html

However, answer turned out to be incorrect. I asked myself what question could have Ravi posted for which Ed providing an answer.
So, the answer turned out to be. i.e Ravi could have posted this question -
Sales department must function successfully for the company to succeed. Hence, it should be given highest priority.
This is what the answer A speaks.

Please let me know where I am going wrong.
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Thanks Karishma for the explanation. I can see why the Answer A is wrong, however I am still not sure whether I will be picking up D if this question comes up in exam as Answer choice A is artistically created... its so tempting to go for A...
I would like to ask what strategy do you adopt for such question.. do you paraphrase before moving to answer choices or do you move to answer choices and then negate the options by referring to the stimulus.

Thanks
H


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Thanks Karishma for the tip.

Per your earlier response, prior to this one, can I safely assume that in Method of Reasoning questions, the criticizer of the argument will either crack the argument by exposing assumption or will question the argument's premises. If it is true, then it gets easier to think of this way then move to the options choices.

Thanks



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Chose D.

Ravi states that company success is because of sales and needs of the sales department should be catered with highest priority.
Ed states that company's success depends on smooth working of many other departments as well and their needs should also be catered to. Highest priority cannot be given to all the departments.

An absurd consequence of its apparent assumption that a department's necessity earns it the highest priority - Correct Choice