Pundit: The only airline providing service for our town announces that

Ques - The Pundit’s reasoning is most vulnerable to criticism on the grounds that it presumes, without providing justification, that

Let's analyse the statement made by Pundit -
To continue the airline services, Town officials have urged the community to use the airline’s service more frequently. But, last week these town officials drove instead of flying hence there is no reason to comply because what officials said.
The Pundit's assumption that since officials themeselves are not following their own advice hence the community also need not to comply it.

Lets analyse the choices now :
(A) Increasing the number of tickets sold without increasing ticket prices will be sufficient to make continued air service economically feasible. - Incorrect as the assumption by Pundit is not related to the no. or price od tickets.

(B) Suspending service and losing money by continuing service are the airline’s only options. - Incorrect not inline with what Pundit has assumed.

(C) The town officials paid for their trip with taxpayers’ money rather than their own money. - Incorrect, While this could be true or false, this is a new information and not related to the assumption.

(D) Ground transportation is usually no less expensive than airplane transportation. Incorrect, While this could be true or false, this is a new information and not related to the assumption.

(E) If the town officials did not follow their own advice, then that advice is not worth following. - Correct, this is the correct assumption made by Pundit and I have pointed out this during the analysis of argument.

How is answer E most vulnerable to criticism.

IMO E


Pundit: The only airline providing service for our town announces that because the service is unprofitable, it will discontinue this service next year. Town officials have urged the community to use the airline’s service more frequently so that the airline will change its decision. There is no reason to comply with their recommendation, however, for just last week these same officials drove to an out-of-town conference instead of flying.

The argument tries to convey that airline is unprofitable and Pundit argues to not follow the recommendation of officials. This is really an assumption question and we have to try to weaken the argument by finding out the right assumption.

The Pundit’s reasoning is most vulnerable to criticism on the grounds that it presumes, without providing justification, that

(A) Increasing the number of tickets sold without increasing ticket prices will be sufficient to make continued air service economically feasible. : It never touches the pricing strategy. Instead the number of people travelling is at issue here.

(B) Suspending service and losing money by continuing service are the airline’s only options. This doesn't disagree with the author's argument. It is out of scope at best.

(C) The town officials paid for their trip with taxpayers’ money rather than their own money. It doesn't matter about the source of the money and matters about the mode of transportation

(D) Ground transportation is usually no less expensive than airplane transportation. If they are of the same price, the town officials should take the airlines. It strengthens the argument.

(E) If the town officials did not follow their own advice, then that advice is not worth following. Correct

The pundits' reasoning is that because the town officials preferred to drive, rather than fly out of town, then their suggestions of using the airlines is of no value.
(A) Increasing the number of tickets sold without increasing ticket prices will be sufficient to make continued air service economically feasible.
--Wrong. There is nothing about increasing the prices in the argument.
(B) Suspending service and losing money by continuing service are the airline’s only options.
--Wrong. No such thing implied in the argument.
(C) The town officials paid for their trip with taxpayers’ money rather than their own money.
--Wrong. It's of no consequence(in this argument) how the officials funded their trip.
(D) Ground transportation is usually no less expensive than airplane transportation.
--Wrong. Irrelevant.
(E) If the town officials did not follow their own advice, then that advice is not worth following.
---Correct. Matches with the reasoning.

Pundit: The only airline providing service for our town announces that because the service is unprofitable, it will discontinue this service next year. Town officials have urged the community to use the airline’s service more frequently so that the airline will change its decision. There is no reason to comply with their recommendation, however, for just last week these same officials drove to an out-of-town conference instead of flying.

The Pundit’s reasoning is most vulnerable to criticism on the grounds that it presumes, without providing justification, that

(A) Increasing the number of tickets sold without increasing ticket prices will be sufficient to make continued air service economically feasible. - WRONG. Irrelevant as it doesn't impact the conclusion.

(B) Suspending service and losing money by continuing service are the airline’s only options. - WRONG. Irrelevant as it doesn't impact the conclusion.

(C) The town officials paid for their trip with taxpayers’ money rather than their own money. - WRONG. Irrelevant as it doesn't impact the conclusion.

(D) Ground transportation is usually no less expensive than airplane transportation. - WRONG. Irrelevant as it doesn't impact the conclusion.

(E) If the town officials did not follow their own advice, then that advice is not worth following. - CORRECT. Exactly what we are looking for. Pundit makes clear that officials themselves didn't follow their own advice in the last sentence of the passage.

Answer E.

i just wonder if this question should be categorized into Assumption instead of Weaken?