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The lobbyist accused of offering a large cash bribe to the senator 25 Apr 2025, 00:30
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35% (medium)

Question Stats:

73% (01:23) correct 27% (01:36) wrong based on 254 sessions

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The lobbyist accused of offering a large cash bribe to the senator defended himself: "When I left the house that day, I was carrying no money with me, so I could not possibly have had anything to offer to the senator. Moreover, immediately before I met with the senator, I spent all my cash on lunch with a colleague at an upscale restaurant, which also explains why I was not in a position to offer the senator a bribe."

This argument is most vulnerable to what criticism?

(A) It offers a conclusion that is no more than a paraphrase of one piece of the pieces of information provided in its support.

(B) It presents as evidence in support of a claim information that is inconsistent with other evidence presented in support of the same claim.

(C) It does not preserve the proper time relationship between cause and effect.

(D) It presents two pieces of evidence that do not support the same conclusion.

(E) It confuses basic financial information with legal claims.


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B
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The lobbyist accused of offering a large cash bribe to the senator 25 Apr 2025, 00:49
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(B); he said he left with no money, but then used all his money to pay for lunch.
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The lobbyist accused of offering a large cash bribe to the senator 25 Apr 2025, 09:12
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The lobbyist makes two main claims to defend himself:

Bunuel
The lobbyist accused of offering a large cash bribe to the senator defended himself: "When I left the house that day, I was carrying no money with me, so I could not possibly have had anything to offer to the senator. Moreover, immediately before I met with the senator, I spent all my cash on lunch with a colleague at an upscale restaurant, which also explains why I was not in a position to offer the senator a bribe."

Let's Analyze -


  1. He left his house with no money, so he couldn't have offered a bribe.
  2. He spent all his cash on lunch before meeting the senator, so he couldn't have offered a bribe.
The problem is that these two pieces of evidence contradict each other:

  • The first claim says he had no money at all when he left home.
  • The second claim says he did have money (which he spent on lunch).
These two statements can't both be true - if he had no money when he left home, he couldn't have spent money on lunch. This inconsistency makes the argument vulnerable to criticism. Now, looking at the options

This argument is most vulnerable to what criticism?

(A) It offers a conclusion that is no more than a paraphrase of one piece of the pieces of information provided in its support.
Not correct - the conclusion isn't just a paraphrase of one piece of information.

(B) It presents as evidence in support of a claim information that is inconsistent with other evidence presented in support of the same claim.
Correct - this describes exactly the problem: the two pieces of evidence are inconsistent with each other.

(C) It does not preserve the proper time relationship between cause and effect.
Not correct - there's no issue with time relationships between cause and effect.

(D) It presents two pieces of evidence that do not support the same conclusion.
Not quite correct - both pieces do support the same conclusion (he couldn't have bribed), just in inconsistent ways.

(E) It confuses basic financial information with legal claims.
Not correct - there's no confusion between financial information and legal claims.


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The lobbyist accused of offering a large cash bribe to the senator 04 May 2025, 02:15
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Bunuel
The lobbyist accused of offering a large cash bribe to the senator defended himself: "When I left the house that day, I was carrying no money with me, so I could not possibly have had anything to offer to the senator. Moreover, immediately before I met with the senator, I spent all my cash on lunch with a colleague at an upscale restaurant, which also explains why I was not in a position to offer the senator a bribe."

This argument is most vulnerable to what criticism?

(A) It offers a conclusion that is no more than a paraphrase of one piece of the pieces of information provided in its support.

(B) It presents as evidence in support of a claim information that is inconsistent with other evidence presented in support of the same claim.

(C) It does not preserve the proper time relationship between cause and effect.

(D) It presents two pieces of evidence that do not support the same conclusion.

(E) It confuses basic financial information with legal claims.
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Official Explanation



The lobbyist presents a self-contradictory argument. He says

I. he left the house with no money

II. he spent all his cash on lunch

If he truly left the house with no money, he would not have had cash to spend on lunch. Both of these statements can't be true simultaneously. Yet, both of them are presented as evidence to the claim "I didn't bribe the senator."

(B) is the credited answer. Two pieces of evidence contradict each other. That's precisely the problem with this argument.

(A) is not correct. The conclusion, "I could not have bribed the senator" is not paraphrase of anything said previously in the argument.

(C) is not correct; there is no problem with time relationship --- leaving house, then having lunch, then seeing the senator. The "effect" for which he is arguing happens last, and the reputed causes happen before it: that is the proper time sequence for a causal chain.

(D) is not correct; each piece of evidence, by itself, would support the conclusion; they just contradict each other.

(E) is a wonderful distractor. Here, bribery is both a financial matter and a legal matter, so there is no confusion: consideration from both the financial and the legal spheres are appropriate.
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The lobbyist accused of offering a large cash bribe to the senator 10 Jun 2026, 08:35
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