blowice27 wrote:
Hollyhocks raised in greenhouses by the Texas University botany school grow an average of 20 centimeters per year, while hollyhocks raised outdoors by the Florida University botany school grow an average of 14 centimeters per year. The annual growth rate of the average hollyhock is 17 centimeters per year. If a hollyhock originally planted outside by the Florida University botany school is transplanted and moved to the greenhouses run by the Texas University botany school, the hollyhock's growth rate will be greater than it would have been.
Which of the following, if true, would best support the conclusion drawn in the passage?
A. As more hollyhocks are transplanted to greenhouses in Texas University, overcrowding may lower the average growth rate of the hollyhocks there.
B. Thirty percent of the hollyhocks that have been transplanted to Texas University greenhouses have growth rates exceeding 20 centimeters per year.
C. Temperatures that favor hollyhock growth rates are more consistent in the greenhouses of Texas University than they are in the sites where hollyhocks are grown at Florida University.
D. Over the past three years, the growth rate of hollyhocks grown by Florida University has been rapidly increasing.
E. Statistics indicate that the growth rate for hollyhocks that are transplanted from Texas University greenhouses to outdoor sites at Florida University have roughly equal growth rates to hollyhocks that remain planted in Texas University greenhouses.
This a strengthen the argument type of question. The last sentence of the passage is the conclusion of the argument. In order to support the conclusion, we need to identify an option that adds information to show that the hollyhocks' growth rate will indeed be greater after transplantation from Florida University to the Texas University’s greenhouses than it would have been if the plants had been left where they were.
Most ‘strengthen the argument’ questions have one or two options that weaken the conclusion instead of supporting it. Option A is one such option that indicates that the growth rate of the hollyhocks, instead of increasing, might actually be lowered and might further affect the growth rate of the hollyhocks that are already in the greenhouses. So, Option A is wrong.
Option B does support the conclusion in a vague manner, but does not mention that the hollyhocks that are transplanted have come from Florida University. They could have come from anywhere. So, Option B does not provide evidence strong enough to support the conclusion.
Option D also weakens the argument in a roundabout way by stating that the growth rate of the hollyhocks grown by Florida University has been increasing. This indicates that the growth rate would be high even if they weren’t transplanted to the greenhouses of Texas University, thereby weakening the argument that the greenhouses are responsible for the improved growth rate.
Option E is irrelevant because it discusses transplantation in the reverse order.
Option C does state that temperatures in the greenhouses are more consistent than in the sites where hollyhocks are grown in Florida university; this is extra information that confirms that the growth rate is greater due to a specific reason. The temperatures are artificially controlled and kept consistent in a greenhouse and this process helps the growth rate of the hollyhocks.
Therefore, Option C adds most support to the conclusion.
Jayanthi Kumar.
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