For several centuries there have been

Answer choices

1. A

   Too Strong24% picked this

   Hairless dogs have never been found anywhere except in the regions of western Mexico

   Too Strong: never Only Thing Mentioned ? Only Thing The author doesn't need to commit to some very extreme idea that the only place a hairless dog has ever been found are these two places. If there was one found in New Jersey last week, it wouldn't mess up her argument in the slightest. Just because she only mentioned those two places doesn't mean she's assuming those are the only two places where they were ever found.

   24%
2. B

   Too Specific: most5% picked this

   Most of the trade goods that came into western Mexico centuries ago were

   The part about "probably during trading expeditions" isn't any of our concern, since the author hasn't actually committed to that idea at all. Furthermore, even if the author were saying "the dogs must have been transported by boat during a trading expedition", we wouldn't care whether boats accounted for 10%, 49%, 51%, 100% of the trade goods that came into western Mexico. As long as there was ever a boat that came from one place to the other, the author's on solid ground. "Most" is wrong 99.9% of the time we see it on Necessary Assumption, because the argument almost never hinges on whether something is true at least 51% of the time or at most 49% of the time.

   5%
3. C

   Too Strong8% picked this

   Centuries ago, no one would have traveled between western Mexico and coastal Peru by boat except for the purposes of

   Too Strong: no one except for X The part about "probably during trading expeditions" isn't any of our concern, since the author hasn't actually committed to that idea. Furthermore, even if the author were saying "the dogs must have been transported by boat during a trading expedition", we wouldn't care whether boats also traveled that route for other reasons too. As long as some boats sometimes traveled that route on a trading expedition, the author's hypothesis could still be true.

   8%
4. D

   Out of Scope: trading dogs5% picked this

   If hairless dogs were at one time transported between western Mexico and coastal Peru by boat, they were traded

   The part about "probably during trading expeditions" isn't any of our concern, since the author hasn't actually committed to that idea at all. The author's argument is just about "the dogs must have been transported by boat". It doesn't matter to the author whether it was actually part of a trading expedition, whether the dogs enjoyed being part of a trading expedition, whether they were sold for a bucket of rice once they got to the other country. None of those are essential details, so the author doesn't need to assume anything about any of them. She's only committing to the idea that they traveled by some sort of boat.

   5%
5. E

   Correct58% picked this

   Centuries ago, it was easier to travel by boat between western Mexico and coastal Peru than to travel

   Why this is right

   In order for the author's hypothesis to be plausible, it needs to be more plausible than an option he already ruled out for being implausible. If we say, "Kevin wasn't strong enough to do it. I guess we'll need Marcus to do it", then we're assuming that "Marcus is stronger than Kevin", otherwise that suggestion is nonsensical. Similarly, the author is ruling out the possibility that the dogs could have traveled overland, because it would have been extremely difficult centuries ago. If we negate this answer, it's saying, centuries ago, it was at least as hard to travel by boat between those two countries as it was to travel by overland route. This question ends up testing both Curious Fact / Explanation concepts (this answer states something that would need to be true for the author's explanation to be plausible), as well as Assuming a Difference concepts (the author rules out X for a certain reason and then goes with Y instead, which means that the author is assuming that the certain reason that disqualified X doesn't also apply to Y).

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

   58%