Backyard gardeners who want to increase the yields of their potato

Backyard gardeners who want to increase the yields of their potato plants should try growing stinging nettles alongside the plants, since stinging nettles attract insects that kill a wide array of insect pests that damage potato plants. It is true that stinging nettles also attract aphids, and that many species of aphids are harmful to potato plants, but that fact in no way contradicts this recommendation, because _______.

Conclusion- If you want to increase the yields of potato plants, then grow stinging nettles alongside the plants
Premise- stinging nettles attract insects that kill a wide array of insect pests that damage potato plants
Counter premise - stinging nettles attract aphids and many species of aphids are harmful to potato plants

So, isn't this a kind of a paradox?
but that fact in no way contradicts this recommendation(conclusion) --> So, we will need to explain this situation

Which one of the following most logically completes the argument?

(A) stinging nettles require little care and thus are easy to cultivate- irrelevant
(B) some types of aphids are attracted to stinging nettle plants but do not damage them- irrelevant- we DO NOT care about SN plants
(C) the types of aphids that stinging nettles attract do not damage potato plants- Correct
(D) insect pests typically cause less damage to potato plants than other harmful organisms do- irrelevant
(E) most aphid species that are harmful to potato plants cause greater harm to other edible food plants - irrelevant

Answer C



Aayush9093,
We do not care whether the stinging nettles are damaged. This recommendation refers to "If you want to increase the yields of potato plants, then grow stinging nettles alongside the plants"

Hope this helps!!

Backyard gardeners who want to increase the yields of their potato plants should try growing stinging nettles alongside the plants, since stinging nettles attract insects that kill a wide array of insect pests that damage potato plants. It is true that stinging nettles also attract aphids, and that many species of aphids are harmful to potato plants, but that fact in no way contradicts this recommendation, because _______.

Notes

(C) grow nettles next to potato ---> ^^ potato
(P) nettles attract insects -> kill pests -> help potato
(CP) nettles attract aphids....hurt potatoes [oh no?!]
BUT doesn't hurt (C) b/c ______?

Analysis

The stimulus is pretty simple. We are told that growing nettles is a great idea because it attracts insects and kills pests that hurt potatoes. Then there's a big turn here! We're also told that nettles also attract bad insects like aphids....which hurt potatoes. The author then tell us not to worry about aphids because ______________. Hmm, this is kind of like a figure out the discrepancy. Let's think and check the stimulus again for some hidden killer words....author says "many species of aphids are harmful" but what if the nettles attract a species that ISN'T harmful....maybe the non-harmful species is the only one that lives in my backyard? That's plausible. What else? Maybe the species is harmful but LESS harmful than the pests?

Which one of the following most logically completes the argument?

(A) stinging nettles require little care and thus are easy to cultivate
The information in the stimulus is about increasing potato yield with nettles. We are asked to answer why the attraction of aphids, which supposedly hurt the potato yield, to nettles doesn't negate the author concluding that nettles are a grand idea. The fact that nettles are "easy to cultivate" is great but it doesn't answer the aphids issue.

(B) some types of aphids are attracted to stinging nettle plants but do not damage them
This is pretty sound....and damn similar to our pre-thinking analysis. Ah, now looking between (B) and (C), I realise I've read wrong. (C) is much better since (B) states that "some types are attracted"..... We shouldn't assume that "some are attracted.....don't damage" excludes the idea that "some are attracted DO damage them". Also, we only care about the damage to potato plants...not to the nettles! Ah! The evils of quick reading.

(C) the types of aphids that stinging nettles attract do not damage potato plants
Uh oh! This also sounds like our pre-think. Well, we'll come back to this in the second round.
This is definitely a better answer because it secures the author's point that we should all be relieved and be 100% OK with growing nettles.....and how it affects the potato plants NOT the nettles we're growing!

(D) insect pests typically cause less damage to potato plants than other harmful organisms do
I mean, OK, but "other harmful organisms" could mean anything. We can't really infer that this means aphids.

(E) most aphid species that are harmful to potato plants cause greater harm to other edible food plants
This answer choice says that aphids cause "greater harm to other edible food plants"....which is dandy BUT just because aphids cause "more harm" elsewhere doesn't mean they don't damage potato plants.

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