| Critical Reasoning Butler: March 2025 |
| March 26 | CR 1 | CR 2 |
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CR 1 Salesman: Four out of five automobile repair and service franchises use only Elaion engine oil. So, if you are looking for high-quality engine oil, Elaion is the one to go for.
Which of the following, if true, undermines the salesman’s argument to the greatest degree?
A. Many engine oil manufacturers increase product sales to automobile repair and service franchises by selling these products to the franchises at the lowest price the manufacturers can afford.
B. Many automobile repair and service franchises that do not usually use Elaion will do so for cars whose engines cannot handle the engine oil they normally use.
C. Some competing brands of engine oil are intended to be used in machinery other than car engines.
D. Unlike some of its competitors, Elaion can be freely purchased without proof of identification.
E. In product trials, Elaion has been found to be more effective than its competitors that have been on the market longer than it has.
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CR 2 The oldest surviving example of written narrative fiction, the Akkadian poem
The Epic of Gilgamesh, dates from the seventh century BCE,
but the fact that the text of the poem sometimes refers to King Gilgamesh as “Bilgamesh” suggests that the Akkadians heard the story of Gilgamesh at least five centuries before this poem was written. After all, the Akkadians adopted the legend of Gilgamesh from the Babylonians, and presumably, along with the basic story, they adopted the then-current Babylonian spelling of his name.
Further, even though Babylonian writing was originally inconsistent regarding the spelling of the legendary king’s name, by the seventh century BCE, the Babylonians consistently spelled it as Gilgamesh and had been doing so for five hundred years.
In the argument given, the two portions in boldface play which of the following roles?
(A) The first and the second each describe evidence that has been used to challenge the position that the argument seeks to establish.
(B) The first is evidence that forms the basis for an objection to the position that the argument seeks to establish; the second is that position.
(C) The first is evidence that forms the basis for an objection to the position that the argument seeks to establish; the second is a consideration that is introduced to counter the strength of that evidence.
(D) The first provides evidence in support of the position that the argument seeks to establish; the second is that position.
(E) The first and the second each provide evidence in support of the position that the argument seeks to establish.