In his most recent speech, my opponent, Governor Smith, accused me of

Question

In his most recent speech, my opponent, Governor Smith, accused me of having distorted the facts, misrepresenting his own position, suppressing information, and deliberately lying to the people.

Which of the following possible responses by this speaker would be LEAST relevant to his dispute with Governor Smith?

(A) Governor Smith would not have begun to smear me if he did not sense that his own campaign was in serious trouble.

(B) Governor Smith apparently misunderstood my characterization of his position, so I will attempt to state more clearly my understanding of it.

(C) At the time I made those remarks, certain key facts were not available, but new information uncovered by my staff does support the position I took at that time.

(D) I can only wish Governor Smith had specified those points he considered to be lies so that I could have responded to them now.

(E) With regard to the allegedly distorted facts, the source of my information is a Department of Transportation publication entitled “Safe Driving.”

Source:  Master GMAT

jawediqbal94 · Answer

In his most recent speech, my opponent, Governor Smith, accused me of having distorted the facts, misrepresenting his own position, suppressing information, and deliberately lying to the people.

Which of the following possible responses by this speaker would be LEAST relevant to his dispute with Governor Smith?

(A) Governor Smith would not have begun to smear me if he did not sense that his own campaign was in serious trouble.

(B) Governor Smith apparently misunderstood my characterization of his position, so I will attempt to state more clearly my understanding of it.

(C) At the time I made those remarks, certain key facts were not available, but new information uncovered by my staff does support the position I took at that time.

(D) I can only wish Governor Smith had specified those points he considered to be lies so that I could have responded to them now.

(E) With regard to the allegedly distorted facts, the source of my information is a Department of Transportation publication entitled ???Safe Driving.???

Roan4848 · Answer

Can anyone please explain why A and not D

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Sajjad1994 · Answer

Official Explanation

The question stem asks us to focus on the  “dispute”  between the two opponents. What will be relevant to it will be those items that affect the merits of the issues, or perhaps those that affect the credibility of the parties.

(C) and (E)  both mention items— facts and their sources—that would be relevant to the substantive issues.

(B) and (D)  are legitimate attempts to clarify the issues and so are relevant.

(A)  is not relevant to the issues, nor is it relevant to the credibility (e.g., where did the facts come from) of the debaters.  (A)  is the least relevant because it is an ad hominem attack (an attack on the person and not on an argument).

The correct answer is (A).

Hope it helps

RiyaJ0032 · Answer

how do you consider (D) a legitimate attempt to clarify the issue?

just because the author would respond to the claims made against him, does not mean his response would prove the claims to be false or without merit

(D) does not nothing to tell us that the claims made are untrue

on the other hand (A) is not a "personal attack" but is giving us info about Smith's party's condition, and with it , it is also telling us a possibility that because Smith's party is in trouble, Smith is targeting the author because he anticipates that he (Smith) might have slim chances of winning

and so he is targeting his opponent to not win with false claims against the author

napolean92728 , if you could enlighten us
 KarishmaB 
 IanStewart

DmitryFarberMPrep · Answer

Whatever this question is, it's not a GMAT CR question. A proper question needs to give a clear task. It can't give us a single-sentence text and then expect us to extrapolate to what's relevant. I can see where they're coming from with these answers, but given the limited nature of the text, there are multiple possible ways to respond, all of which might be relevant. Until we see a task like this on the GMAT, doing questions like this just distracts us from developing the reliable skill set we need to master real CR. They're not just a waste of time; they may actually leave you more confused about what is required to solve CR problems. Ignore!

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Manhattan Prep Instructor from 2009-2025

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RiyaJ0032 · Answer

Thanks  DmitryFarber

If it's ok for you, could you suggest some good sources to practice good level CR questions unlike these poorly worded Q's?

Thanks

In his most recent speech, my opponent, Governor Smith, accused me of

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