The government will purchase

Answer choices

1. A

   Reversed Premise9% picked this

   If public safety in the event of severe weather is enhanced next year, it will be because new

   This reverses the second PSE → NS premise.

   9%
2. B

   Premise Support5% picked this

   The newspaper was correct in claiming that public safety in the event of severe weather would be enhanced

   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.

   5%
3. C

   Too Weak21% picked this

   The local company from which replacement parts for the old sirens were purchased last year was the only company in

   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.

   21%
4. D

   Correct64% picked this

   Replacement parts for the old sirens will be difficult to obtain if the government cannot obtain them from the company it

   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.

   64%
5. E

   Weakens2% picked this

   Because the local company from which replacement parts had been purchased went out of business, the only available parts are of such inferior quality

   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%