Logical Reasoning

PT125 · S2 · Q26 The government will purchase

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The government will purchase and install new severe weather sirens for this area next year if replacement parts for the old sirens are difficult to obtain.

Evidence

The government will purchase DO → NS and install new severe weather sirens for this area next year if replacement parts for the old sirens are difficult to obtain.

The newspaper claims that NS → PSE public safety in the event of severe weather would be enhanced if new sirens were to be installed.

The local company from ~LC which replacement parts were purchased last year has since gone out of business.

Conclusion

If the newspaper is correct, (NS → PSE) → PSE the public will be safer during severe weather in the future.

Evaluate

The argument assumes that ~LC → DO replacement parts will be difficult to obtain if the government is unable to purchase replacement parts from the local company from which replacement parts were purchased last year.

26.

The argument's conclusion follows logically from its premises if which one of the following is assumed?

  1. If public safety in the

    Reversed Premise

    This reverses the second PSE → NS premise.

    9% picked this

  2. The newspaper was correct in

    Premise Support

    While this confirms the newspaper’s claim, the conclusion doesn’t rely on the the newspaper’s claim being true since it is conditioned on the claim being true. Furthermore, this fails to ensure that the replacement parts are in fact difficult to obtain.

    4% picked this

  3. The local company from which

    Too Weak

    This doesn’t quite ensure that the replacement parts will be difficult to obtain. The parts could still be easy to obtain from a company outside of the local area.

    20% picked this

  4. Correct

    Replacement parts for the old

    Why this is right

    This bridges the gap between ~LC → DO the local company going out of business and the replacement parts being difficult to obtain. So, if the newspaper’s claim is correct, this assumption would ensure that in the event of severe weather the public safety would be enhanced.

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

    65% picked this

  5. Because the local company from

    Weakens

    Just because the alternative ~LC → IQ parts are of inferior quality doesn’t mean they’re difficult to obtain. And since they’re inferior, it’s possible that the public would be less safe in the event of severe weather.

    2% picked this

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