A poor farmer was fond of telling his children: “In this world, you ar

Question

A poor farmer was fond of telling his children: “In this world, you are either rich or poor, and you are either honest or dishonest. All poor farmers are honest. Therefore, all rich farmers are dishonest.”

The farmer’s conclusion is properly drawn if the argument assumes that

(A) every honest farmer is poor
(B) every honest person is a farmer
(C) everyone who is dishonest is a rich farmer
(D) everyone who is poor is honest
(E) every poor person is a farmer

Bunuel · Accepted Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION (A) Yes. The passage defines categories: everyone is poor or rich, honest or dishonest, a farmer or a non-farmer. It then states that all poor farmers are honest; in other words, there are no dishonest poor farmers. It then concludes that all rich farmers are dishonest; in other words, there are no honest rich farmers. We can represent these statements as follows (where the crossed-out boxes indicate those combinations that do not exist): https://gmatclub.com/forum/download/file.php?id=60916 From the table, we see that the passage assumes that every farmer who is honest is also poor. (B) No. The passage defines categories: everyone is poor or rich, honest or dishonest, a farmer or a nonfarmer. It then states that all poor farmers are honest; in other words, there are no dishonest poor farmers. It then concludes that all rich farmers are dishonest; in other words, there are no honest rich farmers. We can represent these statements as follows (where the crossed-out boxes indicate those combinations that do not exist): https://gmatclub.com/forum/download/file.php?id=60916 From the table, we see that the passage allows for honest people who are not farmers—namely, some poor and rich non-farmers). (C) No. The passage defines categories: everyone is poor or rich, honest or dishonest, a farmer or a nonfarmer. It then states that all poor farmers are honest; in other words, there are no dishonest poor farmers. It then concludes that all rich farmers are dishonest; in other words, there are no honest rich farmers. We can represent these statements as follows (where the crossed-out boxes indicate those combinations that do not exist): https://gmatclub.com/forum/download/file.php?id=60916 From the table, we see that the passage allows for dishonest people who are not rich farmers—namely, some poor and rich non-farmers). (D) No. The passage defines categories: everyone is poor or rich, honest or dishonest, a farmer or a nonfarmer. It then states that all poor farmers are honest; in other words, there are no dishonest poor farmers. It then concludes that all rich farmers are dishonest; in other words, there are no honest rich farmers. We can represent these statements as follows (where the crossed-out boxes indicate those combinations that do not exist): https://gmatclub.com/forum/download/file.php?id=60916 From the table, we see that the passage allows for people who are both poor and dishonest—namely, some non-farmers). (E) No. The passage defines categories: everyone is poor or rich, honest or dishonest, a farmer or a nonfarmer. It then states that all poor farmers are honest; in other words, there are no dishonest poor farmers. It then concludes that all rich farmers are dishonest; in other words, there are no honest rich farmers. We can represent these statements as follows (where the crossed-out boxes indicate those combinations that do not exist): https://gmatclub.com/forum/download/file.php?id=60916 From the table, we see that the passage allows for poor people who are not farmers. 2021-03-14_23-47-08.png

SonalSinha803 · Answer

Except A all can be ruled out easily.

(A) every honest farmer is poor - correct

(B) every honest person is a farmer - we are only talking about honesty within farmers. Thus, we cannot say about every person.

(C) everyone who is dishonest is a rich farmer - incorrect. Same reason as for B.

(D) everyone who is poor is honest - incorrect. Same reason as for B.

(E) every poor person is a farmer - incorrect. Same reason as for B.

IMO A.

Sent from my Lenovo K53a48 using  GMAT Club Forum mobile app

Nightmare007 · Answer

It will be clear if you draw a venn diagram.
Answer is A

hongg7 · Answer

Experts can you help in determining how other answers are wrong?

I got confused by the wording of the answers and ended up choosing C.

Desertchampion · Answer

Can you please clarify how you draw a venn diagram in this scenario?

komalpatna · Answer

Pls help i could not solve this question

sharathnair14 · Answer

Hey There, Look at this question this way. 
We're given two scenarios by the farmer. Let me remind you that this is his opinion, and he thinks that there are no in-betweens.

1) Two Types of People (only) - Rich or Poor. Let me tell you again, there are no in-betweens. For eg: You cannot be Middle Class. You're either Rich or you're Poor. Applies to when You're a Farmer. 
2) Again, Two types of people- Honest or Dishonest. No in-betweens, for eg: You cannot be partially honest, partially dishonest. Also Applies to when You're a Farmer.

Pre thinking  - Look at what the farmer's done here, He says - All Poor Farmers are Honest. He specifically means If you're a poor farmer, you are honest. There's no way you can be dishonest. All the dishonesty is elsewhere in the other category, and you can see that in the conclusion when he says - All Rich Farmers are dishonest.

Explanation 
Since this Question is about Farmers, we'll have to consider these two scenarios for a farmer. One easy way to solve this is to observe that all the options other than option A are talking about People/A Person in general, and we're not worried about that here. We're trying to figure an assumption, given the two scenarios in the case of FARMERS ONLY. Hence, you can eliminate all the others out and blindly select option A.

The other way to solve this would be to take each option and negate them to see whether the negated version breaks the argument/conclusion. A is the best option because, it says -  every honest farmer is poor . The negated version of this would be Every Honest Farmer isn't poor. Think about it, doesn't this go against what we've seen so far? We were told that every poor farmer is honest, and from what I've said above about there being no in-betweens, that must mean that every honest farmer must also be poor. The negated version of A would mean that hey, there are rich farmers who are honest too, and this dismantles the argument.

Sure hope this helped!

unraveled · Answer

A poor farmer was fond of telling his children: “In this world, you are either rich or poor, and you are either honest or dishonest. All poor farmers are honest. Therefore, all rich farmers are dishonest.”

The farmer’s conclusion is properly drawn if the argument assumes that

(A) every honest farmer is poor
(B)  every honest person  is a farmer
(C)  everyone who is dishonest  is a rich farmer
(D)  everyone who is poor  is honest
(E)  every poor person  is a farmer

Three parameters based on which this passage can be understood:
1. Rich/Poor
2. Honest/Dishonest
3. Farmer

What we forget to think of is that there must be PEOPLE who are NON FARMERS. This is where this passage plays you out.
If you get that it becomes easy for you to pick A, otherwise making tables helps but again it would be correct only if you pick the people/non farmer part.

C and D are the choices that take most of the time among the four wrong ones - C is easier between them to eliminate. D took the toughness to another level by testing only honest and poor aspect.

HTHs.

Answer A.

Sahith_Manikanta · Answer

Hey Brunel,
Can you elaborate your idea here. I don't seem to understand your solution (cannot find any crossed out boxes).
Please help to explain, getting these types of questions wrong always.
Thanks in advance.

VerbalBot · Answer

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A poor farmer was fond of telling his children: “In this world, you ar

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