On Saturday Melvin suggested that Jerome take the following week off

Competition Mode Question

On Saturday Melvin suggested that Jerome take the following week off from work and accompany him on a trip to the mountains. Jerome refused, claiming that he could not afford the cost of the trip added to the wages he would forfeit by taking off without notice. It is clear, however, that cost cannot be the real reason for Jerome’s unwillingness to go with Melvin to the Mountains since he makes the same excuse every time Melvin asks him to take an unscheduled vacation regardless of where Melvin proposes to go.

The reasoning is most vulnerable to which one of the following criticisms?


(A) It attempts to forestall an attack on Melvin’s behavior by focusing attention on the behavior of Jerome.

(B) It fails to establish that Melvin could no more afford to take an unscheduled vacation trip to the mountains than could Jerome.

(C) It overlooks the possibility that Jerome, unlike Melvin, prefers vacations that have been planned far in advance.

(D) It assumes that if Jerome’s professed reason is not his only reason, then it cannot be a real reason for Jerome at all.

(E) It does not examine the possibility that Jerome’s behavior is adequately explained by the reason the gives for it.