Discretionary Nonenforcement

Answer choices

1. A

   Too Strong: Most2% picked this

   Most water customers in the city are late paying their

   "Most" is very frequently a poisonous word, since it's so specifically claiming that we know something is at least 51% of a certain population. We can check the first paragraph for details on the prevalence of late paying. It only says that 231,000 customers are late. We don't know what % of the population that represents.

   2%
2. B

   Too Strong: most3% picked this

   Most of the residences with outstanding water bills are in the

   Similar to (A), we couldn't possibly speak to whether "at least 51% of the 231,000 late customers are from wealthy neighborhoods". Since the passage only brings up wealthy delinquents to say that, "the city plans to only target wealthy neighborhoods", this is compatible with the possibility that only 10% of the neighborhoods are wealthy. We have no idea what share of the 231,000 come from which type of neighborhood.

   3%
3. C

   Too Strong: a few days late12% picked this

   It is appropriate to turn off the water of high-income residents in the city who pay their water

   There's a line at the end of the first paragraph that would seemingly support this: It says that the city is shutting off the water of some wealthy delinquents, who are in no position to complain because they were cheating the water utility system. If the author thinks they're in no position to complain, that does sound like, "It is justified / appropriate to turn the water off for someone who is cheating the system." But this was talking about delinquents who hadn't paid in "months, or even decades". Saying that we should shut the water off people who are a few days late is crazy extreme.

   12%
4. D

   Correct67% picked this

   In recent years, the city has rarely, if ever, turned off the water of customers who were late

   Why this is right

   This is thinly supported by specific line references, but it appeals to a common sense understanding of who the writer of this passage is, and at what moment in time she would write an essay like this. She's learning about a problem, learning about the city's proposed solution, and writing an essay to suggest adopting a different course. Consider the counterfactual, that in recent years the city has frequently turned off the water of customers who were late. Would the 2nd sentence make sense? So [because of the delinquent bill problem], officials are planning to cut the water off rich people. If they were already doing it, then you wouldn't say that they're planning to do it. That connotes the future tense, not the present / present perfect. Similarly, the warning in the final sentence about "the political damage the city will take by deciding to shut off people's water" wouldn't make any sense if the city were already regularly engaging in this practice.

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

   67%
5. E

   Too Strong: the only15% picked this

   The only reasonable solution to the problem of overdue water bills in the city is to enact a law that

   The author is only saying that a more reasonable solution would be to address the law that precludes water bills from being subject to liens. Just because she thinks that changing the law is easier and politically smarter doesn't mean she thinks the inferior option is unreasonable. And even if we are to fix this by changing the law, we don't have to address it by classifying water bills as taxes. We could also address it by removing the loophole that says "if it's not a tax, you can't put a lien on it."

   15%