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gmatt1476
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The United States has never been a great international trader. It foun 31 Jul 2019, 19:24
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E
Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!

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25% (medium)

Question Stats:

74% (01:31) correct 26% (01:27) wrong based on 971 sessions

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The United States has never been a great international trader. It found most of its raw materials and customers for finished products within its own borders. The terrible consequences of this situation have become apparent, as this country now owes the largest foreign debt in the world and is a playground for wealthy foreign investors. The moral is clear: a country can no more live without foreign trade than a dog can live by eating its own tail.

In order to advance her point of view, the author does each of the following EXCEPT

(A) draw on an analogy
(B) appeal to historical fact
(C) identify a cause and an effect
(D) suggest a cause of the current economic situation
(E) question the ethical basis of an economic situation
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E
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The United States has never been a great international trader. It foun 02 Mar 2021, 12:00
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The United States has never been a great international trader. It found most of its raw materials and customers for finished products within its own borders. The terrible consequences of this situation have become apparent, as this country now owes the largest foreign debt in the world and is a playground for wealthy foreign investors. The moral is clear: a country can no more live without foreign trade than a dog can live by eating its own tail.

In order to advance her point of view, the author does each of the following EXCEPT

(A) draw on an analogy
(B) appeal to historical fact
(C) identify a cause and an effect
(D) suggest a cause of the current economic situation
(E) question the ethical basis of an economic situation
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Official Explanation



The argument opens by appealing to a historical fact, “The United States has never been a great international trader.” This eliminates (B). It then presents a cause, “It found most of its raw materials . . . within its own borders.” This eliminates (D). Then it presents an effect, “The terrible consequences of this situation have become apparent, as this country now owes the largest foreign debt in the world . . . .” This eliminates (C). Finally, the argument closes by drawing an analogy between a country consuming only its own natural resources and a dog eating its own tail. This eliminates (A). Hence, by process of elimination, we have learned the answer is (E).
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The United States has never been a great international trader. It foun 03 Aug 2019, 05:07
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A - the argument draws comparison in the last sentence between a dog that can live by eating a tail and a country without foreign trade.

B - sentence 1 on how the US was never a great international trader.

C - sentence 2 & 3 talks about the cause and effect relationship. how US found its raw materials and customers inside and the consequences it has led to.

D - again sentence 2

E - the author merely explains the facts, the cause and consequence and gives a suggestion. He never questioned anything.

Hence the correct answer is [b]E[/b]

[size=80][b][i]Posted from my mobile device[/i][/b][/size]
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The United States has never been a great international trader. It foun 25 Sep 2020, 06:35
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The United States has never been a great international trader.B It found most of its raw materials and customers for finished products within its own borders. The terrible consequences of this situation have become apparent, as this country now owes the largest foreign debt in the world and is a playground for wealthy foreign investors. C,D. The moral is clear: a country can no more live without foreign trade than a dog can live by eating its own tail.
A
In order to advance her point of view, the author does each of the following EXCEPT

(A) draw on an analogy
(B) appeal to historical fact
(C) identify a cause and an effect
(D) suggest a cause of the current economic situation
(E) question the ethical basis of an economic situation

Only E is not there in the stimulus So ANswer is E
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The United States has never been a great international trader. It foun 26 Sep 2020, 10:47
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The United States has never been a great international trader. It found most of its raw materials and customers for finished products within its own borders. The terrible consequences of this situation have become apparent, as this country now owes the largest foreign debt in the world and is a playground for wealthy foreign investors. The moral is clear: a country can no more live without foreign trade than a dog can live by eating its own tail.

In order to advance her point of view, the author does each of the following EXCEPT

(A) draw on an analogy
(B) appeal to historical fact
(C)identify a cause and an effect
(D) suggest a cause of the current economic situation

(E) question the ethical basis of an economic situation: No mention of any Moral basis for the current situation in argument
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The United States has never been a great international trader. It foun 30 Aug 2026, 08:36
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what does "question the ethical basis of an economic situation" mean? how does it strengthen the arument?

gmatt1476
The United States has never been a great international trader. It found most of its raw materials and customers for finished products within its own borders. The terrible consequences of this situation have become apparent, as this country now owes the largest foreign debt in the world and is a playground for wealthy foreign investors. The moral is clear: a country can no more live without foreign trade than a dog can live by eating its own tail.

In order to advance her point of view, the author does each of the following EXCEPT

(A) draw on an analogy
(B) appeal to historical fact
(C) identify a cause and an effect
(D) suggest a cause of the current economic situation
(E) question the ethical basis of an economic situation
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The United States has never been a great international trader. It foun 30 Aug 2026, 09:45
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what does "question the ethical basis of an economic situation" mean? how does it strengthen the arument?


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I’d say “question the ethical basis of an economic situation” means to argue that the situation is morally wrong, unfair, or ethically objectionable.

That does not happen here. The author criticizes the economic consequences of limited foreign trade, but never says the situation is unethical.

Also, remember this is an EXCEPT question. So (E) is correct precisely because it is not a method the author uses to advance the argument.
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The United States has never been a great international trader. It foun 01 Sep 2026, 11:29
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Hi MagicMeat,

Good question, and there's a small twist here worth untangling.

First, note this is an EXCEPT question, so we're hunting for the technique the author does NOT use. That means (E) isn't something that strengthens the argument - it's the one thing missing from it. So the real question is just: what would (E) look like, and is it there?

What "question the ethical basis of an economic situation" means: to challenge whether the situation is morally right or wrong - fair, just, ethical. If the author had written something like "It is unjust that foreign investors profit from our debt," that would be questioning the ethical basis. It's a judgment about right and wrong, not about what works.

Now here's the trap. The stimulus says "The moral is clear." That word moral looks like it points to ethics - but read what follows: "a country can no more live without foreign trade than a dog can live by eating its own tail." That's a practical lesson ("here's the takeaway"), not a statement about right and wrong. The author calls the results "terrible consequences" - bad in a practical, economic sense, not immoral.

So the author describes, explains causes, and warns - but never says the situation is ethically wrong. That's why (E) is the answer: it's the one technique not used.

Turn one knob to feel it: imagine the last line instead read -

- "It is shameful and unfair that we let this happen." - now (E) is used (an ethical judgment), and it would no longer be the answer.
- "The lesson is clear: trade or sink." - still just practical advice, so (E) stays absent.

Same word "moral" can mean ethics or a practical takeaway - here it's the second. That's the slip to guard against.

Answer: E

MagicMeat
what does "question the ethical basis of an economic situation" mean? how does it strengthen the arument?


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