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Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!
Difficulty:
35%
(medium)
Question Stats:
68% (01:29) correct
32%
(01:27)
wrong
based on 3417
sessions
History
Date
Time
Result
Not Attempted Yet
No nation can long survive unless its people are united by a common tongue. For proof, we need only consider Canada, which is being torn asunder by conflicts between French-speaking Quebec and the other provinces, which are dominated by English speakers.
Which of the following, if true, most effectively challenges the author’s conclusion?
(A) Conflicts over language have led to violent clashes between the Basque-speaking minority in Spain and the Spanish-speaking majority.
(B) Proposals to declare English the official language of the United States have met with resistance from members of Hispanic and other minority groups.
(C) Economic and political differences, along with linguistic ones, have contributed to the provincial conflicts in Canada.
(D) The public of India, in existence sine 1948, has a population that speaks hundreds of different, though related, languages.
(E) Switzerland has survived for nearly a thousand years as a home for speakers of three different languages.
Which of the following, if true, most effectively challenges the author’s conclusion?
(A) Conflicts over language have led to violent clashes between the Basque-speaking minority in Spain and the Spanish-speaking majority.
(B) Proposals to declare English the official language of the United States have met with resistance from members of Hispanic and other minority groups.
(C) Economic and political differences, along with linguistic ones, have contributed to the provincial conflicts in Canada.
(D) The public of India, in existence sine 1948, has a population that speaks hundreds of different, though related, languages.
(E) Switzerland has survived for nearly a thousand years as a home for speakers of three different languages.
pmenon
Agree with beckee529.
What does author say ?
That NO nation can survive if people don't speak a common language.
Why does the author say so ?
because Canada as conflicts between French and Eng speaking people.
The Questions stems asks us to weaken the authors argument.
2 ways :
a) If we can find another reason for conflicts in Canada.
b) If we can give eg of another country which is surviving in spite of multiple languages.
Lets look at the options :
A - Out of scope.
B - Strengthens
C - Could have right if had not included along with linguistic ones . So in a way strengthens the authors argument.
D - Can't say.. May be India also might be having similar conflicts due to language .. We cannot assume things in GMAT.
E - Correct. Weakens the author properly.
General Discussion
reply2spg
Focus on how the claim is made. The claim is generalized by basing on a specific case. If you show that there is another one that contradics the claim, you successfully damage the argument.
E is the best
Posts: 222
E for me.......
D states that "The public of India, in existence sine 1948, has a population that speaks hundreds of different, though related, languages"--since the argument already mentions that no nation can long survive unless its people are united by a common language.
So D in other way strengthens the arguments since the languages are relates despite being different.
E is the best answer which weakens the argument.
D states that "The public of India, in existence sine 1948, has a population that speaks hundreds of different, though related, languages"--since the argument already mentions that no nation can long survive unless its people are united by a common language.
So D in other way strengthens the arguments since the languages are relates despite being different.
E is the best answer which weakens the argument.
reply2spg
This is the argument of the passage. The remainder of the passage serves as the author's premise. Option E directly challenges the author's assertion.
It has been over a year, yet the OA has not been posted.
Posts: 30
Option A and option B strengthen the argument.Option C tells us why Canada had problems but it doesn't directly attack the main conclusion i.e. no country can survive unless people have a common tongue. Option D tells us that the languages are related. So it doesn't weaken the conclusion. Option E gives evidence to directly attack the main conclusion. Hence (e).
SUNILAA
Joined: 09 Apr 2018
Last visit: 21 Nov 2021
Posts: 26
Location: India
Schools: IIMA PGPX"20
GPA: 3.5
Schools: IIMA PGPX"20
Posts: 26
Amit05
not agrred with u
your reasoning for d goes with e also and youe reasoning for e applies to d also.
if u are nt assuming that "India also might be having similar conflicts due to language", same also applies for swizerland
Gladiator59
Joined: 16 Sep 2016
Last visit: 18 Mar 2026
Posts: 829
Status:It always seems impossible until it's done.
GMAT 1: 740 Q50 V40
GMAT 2: 770 Q51 V42
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GMAT 2: 770 Q51 V42
Posts: 829
Hey SUNILAA,
Welcome to the GMAT Club.
In this case D is not as good an option as E. Few reasons why...
1. The laguanges if India are mentioned as "tough related" which weakens it a bit
2. The argument says - no nation can survive long. India is said to have existed since 1948 which could be around 70 years but E is saying Switzerland has survived for thousands.
In light of these two small differences.. E stands stronger than D. Afterall, in a GMAT question we are looking for the best among the lot.
Hope this helps.
Kind Regards,
Gladi
Posted from my mobile device
Welcome to the GMAT Club.
In this case D is not as good an option as E. Few reasons why...
1. The laguanges if India are mentioned as "tough related" which weakens it a bit
2. The argument says - no nation can survive long. India is said to have existed since 1948 which could be around 70 years but E is saying Switzerland has survived for thousands.
In light of these two small differences.. E stands stronger than D. Afterall, in a GMAT question we are looking for the best among the lot.
Hope this helps.
Kind Regards,
Gladi
SUNILAA
Posted from my mobile device
TheNightKing
Joined: 18 Dec 2017
Last visit: 20 Mar 2024
Posts: 1,119
Location: United States (KS)
GMAT 1: 600 Q46 V27
GMAT 1: 600 Q46 V27
Posts: 1,119
pmenon
Nice Question.
I was confused between C and E. I fell for C but clearly the OA is E. The author considers only one country. The best weaken will be to provide an example of other country which has survived with different languages.
Posts: 168
pmenon
I suppose it's a good example of GMAT style question
Usually on reading the Question stem we expect something regarding India in the options. The same happened here but Option D has a trap set for you.
A) "Conflicts over language have led to violent clashes between the Basque-speaking minority in Spain and the Spanish-speaking majority." -> Strengthens the argument. so eliminated
B) "Proposals to declare English the official language of the United States have met with resistance from members of Hispanic and other minority groups". -> Okay, this is giving another instance, but how is it weakening the conclusion?
C) "Economic and political differences, along with linguistic ones, have contributed to the provincial conflicts in Canada." -> Conclusion of question explicitly states "No nation can long survive unless its people are united by a common tongue" & author wants us to weaken the same. So contribution of econoimc & political differences might be the causes but correct option must explicitly reject something on common tongue
D) "The public of India, in existence sine 1948, has a population that speaks hundreds of different, though related (Trap), languages." -> initialyy i was skeptical between option D & E, but eliminated D only based on the above trap. We certainly don't know the effects if languages are different but related.
E) "Switzerland has survived for nearly a thousand years as a home for speakers of three different languages." - Correct answer
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