vishalsinghvs08 wrote:
(C) A population remains settles only where the climate is fairly stable.
I would like to respectfully disagree with the OA. I feel all the answers are incorrect. For option C, here's my take.
Argument says -
Drastic changes in climate always results in XYZ.....We dont know anything about "not-drastic" changes. It may/may lead to migrations.
In this case, it appears that the question-writer is considering climate that does not go through drastic changes "fairly stable."
While it's true that climate that has non-drastic changes may be considered not fairly stable, if we just go with what appears to be the question-writer's position, we can get this question correct, and getting it correct is our goal.
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Also, the argument doesn't say that only drastic changes lead to migrations. It could very well be that the climate is stable but some random factors cause migration. We cannot pin down with certainty that the population will not migrate (or remain settled) if the climate is stable.
This is not an issue.
After all, choice (C) is not saying that a population always remains settled if in an area where the climate is stable. Rather, choice (C) says only that "population remains settled only where the climate is fairly stable." In other words, (C) communicates that fairly stable climate is a condition NECESSARY for a population to remain settled but not SUFFICIENT for a population to remain settled.
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Another question I have is for such question stems as " most strongly support", should I be looking for mere support or a must-be-true statement? I ask this because if it's mere support than I can live with option C, but if it's a must-be-true statement, then I feel option C wouldn't/shouldn't qualify.
When the question stem asks which choice the passage "most strongly supports" or is "most strongly supported by" the passage, the question is not an Inference question. It's a Conclusion question.
In a Conclusion question, the correct answer must be supported by, in other words must logically follow from, the statements in the passage, but it is not necessary for the correct answer to be something that must be true if the statements in the passage are true.