WillGetIt wrote:
Student: After the disappointingly uncompetitive volleyball matches of yesterday's gym class, our teacher resolved that the four star players from the winning team would no longer be able to play together. This resolution has clearly not been followed: the teacher split us up into four teams today, but my team does not have a star player on it.
Which of the following is an assumption upon which the student's argument relies?
(A) For a team game to be fair, skill must be evenly distributed among the teams.
(B) A teacher who breaks his or her promises has failed to live up to his or her professional responsibilities.
(C) Volleyball stars are born, not made.
(D) To be satisfyingly competitive, gym class volleyball must feature more than four teams.
(E) All of yesterday's star players are in gym class again today.
Premise: After the class was split into four teams today, our team lacked a star player.
Conclusion: Our teacher broke her promise that yesterday's four star players would no longer be allowed to play together on team.
The conclusion is valid only if two or more of yesterday's star players are playing together on one of today's teams.
Apply the NEGATION TEST.
When the correct answer choice is negated, the conclusion will be invalidated.
E, negated:
Not all of yesterday's star players are in gym class today.Here, at most three of yesterday's star players are in class today, with the result that the other three teams could each have exactly one star player (or even NO star players).
Thus, the argument cannot conclude that two or more star players are playing together on a team today and that the teacher broke her promise.
Since the negation of E invalidates the conclusion, E is an ASSUMPTION: a statement that MUST BE TRUE for the conclusion to hold.
The other options, negated:
(A) Skill does not need to be evenly distributed among the teams.
(B) A teacher who breaks his or her promises may still be living up to his or her professional responsibilities.
(C) Volleyball stars are made, not born.
(D) Gym class volleyball does not need to feature more than four teams.
None of these negations has any bearing on whether two or more players are playing together on a team today.
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