Logical Reasoning

PT106 · S3 · Q1 Flavonoids are a common component

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Flavonoids are a common component of almost all plants, but a specific variety of flavonoid in apples has been found to be an antioxidant.

Statements

quantifier (almost all)

Almost all plants have flavonoids.

A specific variety of flavonoid in apples is an antioxidant.

causal (X is a factor in Y)

Antioxidants are known to be a factor in the prevention of heart disease (i.e. antioxidants can help to prevent heart disease).

Evaluate

The #1 thing we're reading for on Inference paragraphs is Overlapping Concepts, because usually when two claims have an overlapping concept, we can infer something by combining them.

Claim 1 and 2 both mention "flavonoids". Almost all plants have them, and apples have a specific one that is an antioxidant.

We could infer: "some plants contain antioxidants"

Claim 2 and 3 both mention "antioxidants". Some Apple-flavonoids are antioxidants, and antioxidants can help prevent heart disease.

We could infer: .

Goal

Look for the safest, most provable claim we can find. It will probably make use of the antioxidant connection between apples/flavonoids and preventing heart disease.

1.

Which one of the following can be properly inferred from the passage?

  1. A diet composed largely of

    Too Strong

    Too Strong: Will Out of Scope: Largely Fruit/Veggie Diet We think that eating apples could help prevent heart disease but will help is a little stronger than what we know. This answer is talking about "a diet composed largely of fruits and veggies", but are apples included in that diet? Not necessarily. Apples are the only fruit we know that could have a causal impact on heart disease, so unless we know that apples are involved, we can't say for sure that this diet will help.

    1% picked this

  2. Flavonoids are essential to preventing

    Too Strong: Essential

    All we can say is that one specific variety of flavonoid could help prevent heart disease. This answer is saying, "If you don't have flavonoids, you cannot prevent heart disease". That's way too strong. There might be many, many ways to prevent heart disease, and this specific flavonoid is just one of them. After all, there are probably plenty of other foods that have antioxidants in them.

    2% picked this

  3. Eating at least one apple

    Too Strong: Will Prevent

    We don't have language this strong; if X is "a factor in the prevention of heart disease" then we can say that consuming more X can lessen your chances of heart disease, but we can't guarantee it will prevent heart disease.

    5% picked this

  4. Correct

    At least one type of

    Why this is right

    Instead of the overly charged "will prevent" that other answers had, this has the softer, more provable language of "helps to prevent". We know that at least one type of flavonoid is an antioxidant, and that antioxidants help to prevent heart disease, so we can "cancel out the middle-man" and derive that at least one type of flavonoid helps to prevent heart disease.

    Skill tested: Must be True · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

    90% picked this

  5. A diet deficient in antioxidants

    Out of Scope: Common Cause

    We don't have any information about what causes heart disease, so we can't derive any must be true idea about common causes of heart disease.

    2% picked this

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