Two years ago, the state of Lonsia declared the goal of reducing the

D is a weakening choice and not an assumption. Can someone explain please.

D is a perfect assumption. can you tell why you are considering it as a weakener, so that we can understand what is the flaw in your thinking?

Number of soda-cans per person might have reduced, but if the total number of people have increased, then the total number of un-recycled soda-cans could actually have increased.

I had a question. I understand that D is the best of the given choices, but it says that the total population of the state of Lonsia has not increased substantially in the past two years. "increased substantially" looks slightly generic to me. Should it have been that the total population of the state of Lonsia has not more than doubled in the past two years.

Two years ago, the state of Lonsia declared the goal of reducing the number of un-recycled soda cans to half. The un-recycled soda cans were about 10 per person then. Currently the soda cans that are un-recycled are only 5 per person. Clearly, the state has met its goal.

Type - assumption
Boil it down - suppose two years ago , total population was 10 and the number of un-recycled soda cans was 100 .
- What if the population has now increased to 20 , but the number of un-recycled soda cans is 100 . If this is true , then our claim will not hold water .

A) People are increasingly becoming aware of the harmful effects of drinking soda. - Irrelevant
B) There is little damage to the overall soft drink industry due to the negative publicity generated by the recycling campaign. - Irrelevant
C) Lonsia is not the only state that is concerned about recycling. - Irrelevant
D) The total population of the state of Lonsia has not increased substantially in the past two years. - Correct - negate this statement and the argument falls apart
E) The per-capita consumption of soda in the state of Lonsia has not increased during the past two years. ISWAT - even if per-capita consumption has increased of soda has increased , it does not matter since we are only concerned with the number of un-recycled soda cans.

Answer D

Hello from the GMAT Club VerbalBot!

Thanks to another GMAT Club member, I have just discovered this valuable topic, yet it had no discussion for over a year. I am now bumping it up - doing my job. I think you may find it valuable (esp those replies with Kudos).

Want to see all other topics I dig out? Follow me (click follow button on profile). You will receive a summary of all topics I bump in your profile area as well as via email.