WinWinMBA wrote:
Garbage in this neighborhood probably will not be collected until Thursday this week. Garbage is usually collected here on Wednesdays, and the garbage collectors in this city are extremely reliable. However, Monday was a public holiday, and after a public holiday that falls on a Monday, garbage throughout the city is supposed to be collected one day later than usual.
The argument proceeds by
(A) treating several pieces of irrelevant evidence as though they provide support for the conclusion
(B) indirectly establishing that one thing is likely to occur by directly ruling out all of the alternative possibilities
(C) providing information that allows application of a general rule to a specific case
(D) generalizing about all actions of a certain kind on the basis of a description of one such action
(E) treating something that is probable as though it were inevitable
OFFICIAL EXPLANATION
We begin by analyzing the structure of the problem: Premise: Garbage is usually collected here on Wednesdays, and the garbage collectors in this city are extremely reliable. Premise: Monday was a public holiday. Premise: After a public holiday that falls on a Monday, garbage throughout the city is supposed to be collected one day later than usual. Conclusion: Garbage in this neighborhood probably will not be collected until Thursday this week. The argument is sound and the conclusion seems reasonable. The language in the conclusion is not absolute (“probably”), and this is justified since the language used in the argument—“usually” and “supposed to be”—is also probabilistic. Knowing that the argument is valid, the question you must ask yourself is, “How would I describe the structure of this argument?”
Answer choice (A): This answer forces you to make an assessment of the premises (the “evidence”) as they relate to the conclusion. Are the premises irrelevant to the conclusion? Clearly not. Therefore, this answer is incorrect.
Answer choice (B): This is a half-right, half-wrong answer. The argument does establish “that one thing is likely to occur.” But, is this established by ruling out all of the alternative possibilities? No, to do that would mean presenting arguments against the garbage being collected on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, etc. Since this section of the answer choice does not occur, this answer is incorrect. Also, because the argument does not rule out all the alternatives, the conclusion is not established “indirectly.”
Answer choice (C): This is the correct answer. Consider each piece of the argument: “providing information”—a variety of information about the garbage situation is provided. “application of a general rule”—the general rule is that “After a public holiday that falls on a Monday, garbage throughout the city is supposed to be collected one day later than usual.” “to a specific case”—the specific case is the pickup of garbage this week in this neighborhood. Given that all elements occurred and the answer presents an accurate description of the way the author made his or her argument, this answer is correct. Now, take a moment and compare this answer to the prephrase you made after reading the stimulus. How similar are the two? Given that you may not be familiar with the language used by the test makers, the two may not be very similar. As your preparation continues, you will become more comfortable with the language and your Method of Reasoning pre-phrasing will improve. For example, note the use in this answer of “general rule” to describe the last sentence of the stimulus. The test makers could also have used a phrase like “basic principle” to achieve the same result. Your job is to match their language to what occurred in the stimulus.
Answer choice (D): This answer is an over generalization—a situation where one instance is used to make a broad based conclusion. This is a Reverse Answer since the stimulus actually uses a general principle and applies it to one instance. In addition, the language in the answer is far too strong in saying “all actions of a certain kind” when the language in the stimulus was probabilistic.
Answer choice (E):This is an Exaggerated Answer. The conclusion states that “Garbage in this neighborhood probably will not be collected until Thursday this week” and the use of “probably” is a clear and obvious indication that the author does not think the Thursday garbage pickup is inevitable.
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Updated on: 19 Feb 2020, 02:04
45%
(medium)
37%
(01:50)
wrong 
