The druid stones discovered in Ireland are very, very old. But this pa

Question

The druid stones discovered in Ireland are very, very old. But this particular druid stone was discovered in Scotland; hence, it must be of more recent vintage.

The argument is flawed because it

(A) allows a key term to shift in meaning from one use to the next

(B) takes the fact that most members of a group have a certain property to constitute evidence that all members of the group have that property

(C) takes for granted the very claim that it sets out to establish

(D) presumes without justification that what was true of the members of a group in the past will continue to be true of them in the future

(E) takes the fact that all members of a group have a certain property to constitute evidence that the members of the group are the only things with that property

roopika2990 · Answer

IMO E ... Since druid stones found in Ireland are old ... it assumes only droid stoned found in Ireland are old ... the rest are recent ... please post OA ...

ShubhamRastogi · Answer

Druid stones in Ireland are very very old, however this stone has been found in Scotland hence it must be of recent vintage.

The above reasoning is flawed as it assumes that only stones in Ireland are old, rest all are of newer vintage.

Option A : Meaning of druid stones does not change so incorrect
Option B : Incorrect because it states that if one member has a property the same property would be reflected in others as well. But this is incorrect as stone in Scotland has not been presumed to be very old.
Option C : Incorrect. No Circular reasoning
Option D : It does not presume anything from the past to relate to future
Hence Correct answer choice : Option E

Option E states that only members of the group depict certain property and the others do not which is true as in the reasoning above it assumes Ireland to have old stones but not Scotland.

unraveled · Answer

The druid stones discovered in Ireland are very, very old. But this particular druid stone was discovered in Scotland; hence, it must be of more recent vintage.

The argument is flawed because it

(A) allows a  key term to shift in meaning  from one use to the next - WRONG. No, no such shift is seen.

(B) takes the fact that most members of a group have a certain property  to constitute evidence that all members of the group have that property  - WRONG.

(C)  takes for granted the very claim  that it sets out to establish - WRONG.

(D) presumes without justification that what was true of the members of a group in the past  will continue to be true  of them in the future - WRONG.

(E) takes the fact that all members of a group have a certain property  to constitute evidence that the members of the group are the only things with that property  - CORRECT. This makes you question why such claim is made in the passage. What makes it say that Scotland druid stone is not old as Ireland druid stone. Possibly, it assumes that being old is for Ireland druid stones only.

Answer E.

napolean92728 · Answer

The correct answer is  (E) : takes the fact that all members of a group have a certain property to constitute evidence that the members of the group are the only things with that property.
Upon closer examination, the argument makes this error because:
 
 It establishes that druid stones found in Ireland are very old (a property of Irish druid stones) 
 Then it concludes that a druid stone found in Scotland must be more recent (not very old) simply because it was found in Scotland, not Ireland  
The flaw is assuming that only druid stones from Ireland can have the property of being "very, very old." The argument incorrectly assumes that because Irish druid stones are very old, any druid stone that is not from Ireland (in this case, from Scotland) cannot have the same property of great age.

Elimination of other options: 
(A) "allows a key term to shift in meaning from one use to the next"
 
 Elimination reason: The term "druid stone" maintains the same meaning throughout the argument. There's no evidence that the argument uses "druid stone" to mean one thing when referring to Irish stones and something different when referring to Scottish stones. The argument acknowledges they are the same type of artifact but makes a flawed assumption about their age based on location.  
(B) "takes the fact that most members of a group have a certain property to constitute evidence that all members of the group have that property"
 
 Elimination reason: The argument doesn't make a generalization from "most" to "all." It doesn't claim that most druid stones in Ireland are very old, therefore all are. Instead, it states that Irish druid stones are very old and then makes a comparison to Scottish ones.  
(C) "takes for granted the very claim that it sets out to establish"
 
 Elimination reason: The argument doesn't engage in circular reasoning. The conclusion (that Scottish druid stones are more recent) isn't assumed in the premises. Rather, the argument attempts to support this conclusion based on the location difference, albeit with flawed reasoning.  
(D) "presumes without justification that what was true of the members of a group in the past will continue to be true of them in the future"
 
 Elimination reason: The argument doesn't make any claims about future properties or how things will change over time. It's making a comparison between stones from different locations in the present, not comparing past attributes to future ones.

VerbalBot · Answer

Automated notice from GMAT Club VerbalBot:

A member just gave Kudos to this thread, showing it’s still useful. I’ve bumped it to the top so more people can benefit. Feel free to add your own questions or solutions.

This post was generated automatically.

The druid stones discovered in Ireland are very, very old. But this pa

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards

GMAT Critical Reasoning (CR) Questions

The druid stones discovered in Ireland are very, very old. But this pa

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards