Backyard gardeners who want to increase the yields of their potato

Question

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 _______.

Which one of the following most logically completes the argument?

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

dave13 · Answer

chose correct answer by POE 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 _______. Which one of the following most logically completes the argument? SO I NEED TO SRENGTHEN RECCOMEDATION DESPITE THE FACT THAT STINGING NETTELES ATTRACT MANY SPECIES OF APPHIDES THAT ARE HARFUL TO POTATOS. (A) stinging nettles require little care and thus are easy to cultivate (NOT CONCERNED WITH CULTIVATION) (B) some types of aphids are attracted to stinging nettle plants but do not damage them (SO WHHAT SOME ARE NOT, BUT MOST ARE HARMFUL

) (C) the types of aphids that stinging nettles attract do not damage potato plants ( CORRECT, THE ONLY LOGICAL ANSWER CHOICES, SINCE THERE ARE MANY APHIDES SPIECIES, THE ONES THAT ARE ATRRACTED ARE NOT HARMFUL FOR POTATO PLANTS) (D) insect pests typically cause less damage to potato plants than other harmful organisms do ( THIS DOESNT SAY ANYTHING IN FAVOR OF RECCOMEDATION) (E) most aphid species that are harmful to potato plants cause greater harm to other edible food plants ( NOT CONCERNED WITH OTHER FOOD PLANTS, APHID SPECIES WILL STILL DAMAGE POTATO PLANTS, I THINK THESE APHIDES SPECIES LOVE CHIPS VERY MUCH

)

Aayush9093 · Answer

Can someone explain option B please? Option B clearly states that the type of aphids which are attracted to potato plants do not damage them. I agree that the stimulus mentions 'many species of aphids are harmful to potato plants' but does not state that they are all attracted by potato plants. Option C and Option B are very close and thus difficult to choose.

Skywalker18 · Answer

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

Can someone explain option B please? Option B clearly states that the type of aphids which are attracted to potato plants do not damage them. I agree that the stimulus mentions 'many species of aphids are harmful to potato plants' but does not state that they are all attracted by potato plants. Option C and Option B are very close and thus difficult to choose.

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!!

anothermillenial · Answer

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  
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.

yc168 · Answer

OE for reference:

Overview:   The passage argues that gardeners should grow stinging nettles alongside potato plants in order to increase the yields of the potato plants, but it also considers a potential objection to this recommendation: stinging nettles attract aphids, and many aphid species harm potato plants. Your task is to find the statement that logically completes the argument by supporting the claim that the objection does not contradict the recommendation.

The Correct Answer:

C  (C) indicates that none of the aphids attracted to stinging nettles damage potato plants. This shows that the objection considered in the "Overview" does not actually contradict the recommendation, because the aphid species that harm potato plants aren't attracted to stinging nettles. By reconciling that objection with the recommendation, (C) logically completes the argument.

The Incorrect Answer Choices:

A  (A) indicates that stinging nettles are easy to grow, because they require little care. This is not a logical completion of the argument, because no matter how easy it is to grow stinging nettles, it wouldn't be helpful to grow them near potato plants if they attract aphids that harm those plants.

B  According to (B), some aphids attracted to stinging nettles don't damage those plants. But the argument addresses the possibility that aphids damage potato plants, not stinging nettles. So (B) isn’t a logical completion of the argument.

D  (D) suggests that other organisms are more harmful to potato plants than aphids and other insect pests. But even if this is so, aphids might still cause significant damage to potato plants that gardeners would like to avoid. Thus, the fact that stinging nettles attract aphids could still contradict the argument's recommendation.

E  (E) says that most aphid species that harm potato plants are even more harmful to other plant species. But this is not relevant to the issue that the argument is concerned with—the yield of potato plants in a backyard garden. So (E) is not a logical completion of the argument.

Backyard gardeners who want to increase the yields of their potato

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Backyard gardeners who want to increase the yields of their potato

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

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My Rewards