John works five days each week except when on the vacation or during

Question

John works five days each week except when on the vacation or during weeks in which national holidays occur. Four days a week he works in an insurance company; on Fridays he works as a blacksmith. Last week there were no holidays, and John was not on vacation. Therefore, he must have worked in the insurance company on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday last week.

Which one of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?

a) John never takes a vacation of more than one week in length.

b) Every day last week that John worked, he worked for an entire workday.

C) John does not take vacations in weeks in which national holidays occur.

d) Last week John worked neither on Saturday nor on Sunday.

e) There were no days last week on which John both worked in the insurance company and also worked as a blacksmith.

I marked E

LalaB · Answer

so, u question seems to be why D is right?

in the text nowhere is mentioned about weekends. so, if u do not have the assumption that Sunday and Saturday this guy doesnt work, u cant say that he works from Monday till Tuesday for sure. without this assumption one can think that this guy works say Monday, Saturday and Sunday. 
so, this assumption can help us to limit his working days

hope it helps

goalset · Answer

I agree D and E both are close.But E cannot be the assumption on which this argument is based because it is stated that on 4 days he works in an insurance company and on 1 day ie. the friday he works as an blacksmith, there is no overlap of days  he could not work as an blacksmith and as an insurance agent on the same day.
D,leaving friday he works at the insurance company for 4 days and these 4 days may include saturday and sunday but if he did not work on weekend then he must have worked on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
and Thursday last week.

daboo343 · Answer

Conclusion :Therefore, he must have worked in the
insurance company on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
and Thursday last week.
 Premise :Four days a week he works in an insurance
company; on Fridays he works as a blacksmith. Last
week there were no holidays, and John was not on
vacation
Possible Assumption: As conclusion says he worked on M,T,W,T and F as a Blacksmith. at the same time, as we know he works only 5 days a week. So from the above data it is clear that he didn't worked on Sat and Sun.

POE:
a) Incorrect  John never takes a vacation of more than one week in length.
 Not relevent to the present context. 
b) Incorrect  Every day last week that John worked, he
worked for an entire workday.
It doesn't link premise to the conclusion. Whether he works for full day or not it does't matter because we are concerned with only days in which he worked for last week.
So this one is also irrelevant.
C)  Incorrect John does not take vacations in weeks in which
national holidays occur.
Not relevant.
d)  Correct Last week John worked neither on Saturday
nor on Sunday.
It matches with our thinking
Just recheck through " Negation test "
On negating we get " Last week John worked on Saturday
and on Sunday". this negated option tears our conclusion.
e) Incorrect  There were no days last week on which John
both worked in the insurance company and
also worked as a blacksmith.
It has no relavence to the stimulus

Abhishek009 · Answer

It helps me to visualize the things :-D

John's normal routine is - Capture.PNG Further it is stated - So,Be what John worked for 5 days last week... Now, from this data the Author concludes that John worked at the Insurance Company as per his usual routine ( without any exception ), that might be possible only if He works as per routine and doesn't substitute the usual work days for a Saturday / Sunday... If John decides to make weekly of or takes 2 days leave with the condition that he will have to go to office on Saturday/ Sunday, then the conclusion doesn't hold true.. Hence , answer must be (D)

hellosanthosh2k2 · Answer

Clear D.

E - cannot be assumption. If it were an assumption, then total number of days worked last week will be 4 (3 days(insurance) + Friday(insurance + blacksmith)), which contradicts the premise - john works 5 days a week unless that week has national holiday or he is on vacation.

nayyarsidharth · Answer

Fairly straight forward question. Answer, D.

a) John never takes a vacation of more than one week in length. -  We don't care about how long his vacations are. The question talks about his schedule last week and we know he wasn't on vacation then. So out.

b) Every day last week that John worked, he worked for an entire workday. -  Out of scope. Even on normal days we don't know if he works full-time or part-time, so negating this would in no way change the conclusion

C) John does not take vacations in weeks in which national holidays occur.  Out of scope. Even if he does take vacations in weeks with holidays, the argument states that last week there were no holidays nor was he on a vacation. We are only concerned about last week

d) Last week John worked neither on Saturday nor on Sunday.  Correct. If we negate this, it means John worked on Saturday or/and Sunday at the insurance company. But since he only works four days at the insurance company, he could not have worked there Mon-Thurs.

e) There were no days last week on which John both worked in the insurance company and also worked as a blacksmith.  If we take this to be true, it still leaves the possibility open that he worked on Saturday or/and Sunday. Therefore, he could not have worked Mon-thursday. Incorrect.

VerbalBot · Answer

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John works five days each week except when on the vacation or during

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