Columnist: Shortsighted motorists learn

Answer choices

1. A

   Very Weak21% picked this

   Even some cars that receive regular preventive maintenance break down, requiring

   "Some" means at least one, so this tries to make the objection that investing in preventative maintenance isn't effective 100% of the time. At least one car that had preventative maintenance still needed repairs. Be very wary of "some" / "not all" (any language that only means "at least one") on Strengthen, Weaken, and Paradox.

   21%
2. B

   Correct60% picked this

   The columnist's city has a much smaller population and economy than the other cities did when they began devoting

   Why this is right

   This points out a potentially salient difference between this author's city and the cities she's using as evidence. It's not a super appealing answer in that we don't necessarily have a common sense reason by having a smaller population and economy makes it less likely that you'd benefit from economic development advisers. But, there's some strong language (much smaller pop / economy) that at least creates doubt because we realize we are definitely talking in the author's case about a city that's very different from the ones she is citing as evidence that this strategy will work. When an argument rests on a comparison, we almost always weaken it by pointing out an important difference between the things being compared.

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

   60%
3. C

   Irrelevant / Strengthens5% picked this

   Most motorists who fail to perform preventive maintenance on their cars do so

   The opening analogy was not important to the author's argument. But if anything, this answer helps the author. She is trying to use that opening analogy as an example of wise, long-term thinking (paying for preventative maintenance). If it turned out that most people who didn't pay for preventative maintenance just couldn't afford it in the first place, then it wouldn't make the people who did pay for it seem particularly wise, just wealthier.

   5%
4. D

   Out of Scope5% picked this

   Qualified economic development advisers generally demand higher salaries than many city councils are

   Out of Scope: willing to spend Too Weak If we learned that this adviser was way more expensive than the ones those other cities hired (if they even hired an adviser), that would weaken by making this author's city seem importantly different. But this answer doesn't tell us about how much this city paid its adviser. It's just about what salaries advisers demand in general. And the fact that what they demand is higher than what many (at least 10?) city councils are willing to spend is not very compelling.

   5%
5. E

   Unclear Impact9% picked this

   Cities that have earned large returns due to hiring economic development advisers did not earn any returns at all in the advisers'

   This author promises a big payoff in several years, i.e., "In 3 or 4 years, we'll see a big payoff". This detail says that there wasn't a payoff for those other cities in the first 3 years. That's totally compatible with the author's prediction.

   9%