Early pencil leads were made of solid graphite minted in Cumberland,

Question

Early pencil leads were made of solid graphite minted in Cumberland, in Britain. Modern methods of manufacturing pencil leads from powdered graphite are the result of research sponsored by the government of France in the 1790s, when France was at war with Britain and thus had no access to Cumberland graphite.

The information above most strongly supports which one of the following?

(A) The world's only deposit of graphite suitable for manufacture of pencils is in Cumberland, in Britain.

(B) In the 1790s, France's government did not know of any accessible source of solid graphite appropriate to meet France's need for pencils.

(C) One of the causes of war between France and Britain in the 1790s was the British government's attempt to limit the amount of Cumberland graphite being exported to France.

(D) Government-sponsored research frequently gives rise to inventions that are of great benefit to society.

(E) Even today, all pencil leads contain Cumberland graphite.

roadrunner · Answer

Answer is B

(A) The world's  only  deposit of graphite suitable for manufacture of pencils is in Cumberland, in Britain.  Too strict

(B) In the 1790s, France's government did not know of any accessible source of solid graphite appropriate to meet France's need for pencils.  Correct answer

(C) One of the causes of war between France and Britain in the 1790s was the British government's attempt to limit the amount of Cumberland graphite being exported to France.  reason is not stated. Thus, cannot be inferred

(D) Government-sponsored research frequently gives rise to inventions that are of great benefit to society.  too broad to infer

(E) Even today, all pencil leads contain Cumberland graphite.  OFS

nks2611 · Answer

can someone define the reason for picking B as the right answer , somehow to me it does not seem cool .need help ?

abhimahna · Answer

The argument is saying Early pencil leads were made of solid graphite in Britain.

Modern ones are made from powered graphite in France. It was discovered when France was at war and had no access to solid Graphite.

(B) In the 1790s, France's government did not know of any accessible source of solid graphite appropriate to meet France's need for pencils. : This tells us that they discovered something new because they didn't have access to the previous one. This point is supported by "had no access to solid Graphite."

GMATNinjaTwo · Answer

The correct answer choice (B) contains a couple subtle modifiers that are essential to our analysis...

Notice that  source  is modified by both  accessible  and  appropriate to meet France's need for pencils . This means that France's government may have known of numerous sources of solid graphite, but if those sources were inaccessible and/or otherwise inappropriate to meet France's need for pencils, then France would have been left in need of an alternative. For example, France's government certainly knew about the source of solid graphite in Cumberland, but this source was not  accessible  because of the war with England. France's government may have known about a source of solid graphite buried under the Atlantic Ocean, but if that source were not  accessible , France would have been out of luck.

Similarly, France's government may have known about other sources of solid graphite that were not  appropriate to meet France's need for pencils  (ie for economic or practical reasons). For example, perhaps France could have imported solid graphite from another country, but doing so would have made pencils unaffordable.

To summarize, did France's government know about other sources of solid graphite besides the one in Cumberland? Perhaps... but if any of those sources were accessible and appropriate to meet France's need for pencils, there may not have been a need to develop the "modern methods of manufacturing pencil leads from powdered graphite".

Choice B might not seem correct if you don't pay attention to those key modifiers ("accessible" and "appropriate to meet France's need for pencils"). This is a valuable lesson to remember when analyzing CR questions. The passage, question stem, and answer choices might contain a few tiny words/modifiers that entirely change the meaning. Unless you are paying close attention, you might overlook those words, causing a misunderstanding.

saswata4s · Answer

(A) The world’s only deposit of graphite suitablefor manufacture of pencils is in Cumberland,in Britain. -  Too extreme. Nowhere it is mentioned that world's only deposit of graphite is in Cumberland. 
(B) In the 1790s, France’s government did not know of any accessible source of solid graphite appropriate to meet France’s need for pencils. -   Correct.  
(C) One of the causes of war between France and Britain in the 1790s was the British government’s attempt to limit the amount of Cumberland graphite being exported to France. -  The reason of war is not mentioned in the argument. 
(D) Government-sponsored research frequently gives rise to inventions that are of great benefit to society. -  Too extreme. One research gave positive result doesnt mean that every government-sponsored research will give. 
(E) Even today, all pencil leads containCumberland graphite. -  It is mentioned that Modern methods of manufacturing pencil leads from powdered graphite.

Answer B.

Skywalker18 · Answer

Early pencil leads were made of solid graphite mined in Cumberland, in Britain. Modern methods of manufacturing pencil leads from powdered graphite are the result of research sponsored by the government of France in the 1790s, when France was at war with Britain and thus had no access to Cumberland graphite. 
Type - Inference

(A) The world’s only deposit of graphite suitable for manufacture of pencils is in Cumberland, Britain. - Incorrect - this may or may not be true. There might be other mines that have solid graphite too but they are not mined or maybe the graphite is not used in making pencil leads.
(B) In the 1790s, France’s government did not know of any accessible source of solid graphite appropriate to meet France’s need for pencils. - Correct - It is mentioned that France did not have to Cumberland graphite during the war and thus needed to find a new raw material.
(C) One of the causes of war between France and Britain in the 1790s was the British government’s attempt to limit the amount of Cumberland graphite being exported to France. - 
Incorrect- the argument does not state this .
(D) Government-sponsored research frequently gives rise to inventions that are of great benefit to society. - Incorrect - We can't generalize the given case to say such an extreme.
(E) Even today, all pencil leads contain Cumberland graphite.- Incorrect - It is mentioned that modern methods use powdered graphite

Answer B

guptarahul · Answer

(A) The world’s only deposit of graphite suitablefor manufacture of pencils is in Cumberland,in Britain.
 (B) In the 1790s, France’s government did not know of any accessible source of solid graphite appropriate to meet France’s need for pencils. 
(C) One of the causes of war between France and Britain in the 1790s was the British government’s attempt to limit the amount of Cumberland graphite being exported to France.
(D) Government-sponsored research frequently gives rise to inventions that are of great benefit to society.
(E) Even today, all pencil leads containCumberland graphite.

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Early pencil leads were made of solid graphite minted in Cumberland,

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Early pencil leads were made of solid graphite minted in Cumberland,

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