Photographs show an area

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TopicsRole

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Stimulus

Photographs show an area of Europa, a moon of Jupiter, where the icy surface appears to have buckled as a result of turbulent water moving underneath. This photographic evidence indicates that there is a warm sea beneath Europa’s icy surface. The presence of such a sea is thought by scientists to be is reason to believe that there may be life on Europa.

What this question is testing

Role

Your task

Break the argument into its conclusion and evidence, then do exactly what the question stem asks with that structure.

Common trap

Answers that sound relevant to the topic but don't connect to the argument's actual reasoning.

Winning move

Predict what a right answer must do, then test each choice against the conclusion-evidence gap.

Reading along? Open the full official question in LawHub — we show a fragment here and keep the reasoning in our own words.

The question

17.

The claim that there is a warm sea beneath Europa’s icy surface figures in the argument in which one

Answer choices

Correct68% picked this
It is a subsidiary conclusion used by the argument to support
Why this is right
Why should we believe that there's a warm sea beneath Europa's icy surface? Because, there's photographic evidence of ice buckling as though water is running beneath it. (If it's supported, it's a Conclusion). And because there's a warm sea on Europa, there might be life on Europa. (so it does support the overall conclusion). If it is both supported and supporting, we can call it an Intermediate or Subsidiary Conclusion.
Skill tested: Role · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.
68%
Wrong Role1% picked this
It is the overall conclusion of
The overall conclusion is the final claim, "There may be life on Europa". The claim that there's a warm sea beneath Europa's surface is part of the evidence for the claim that there may be life on Europa.
1%
Out of Scope0% picked this
It is used to discredit a theory that the
Out of Scope: theory the argument disputes There isn't any other theory being talked about or disputed in this argument.
0%
Too Strong: only11% picked this
It is the only consideration presented in support of the argument’s
All three claims leading up to the final conclusion (prefaced by "so") are supporting ideas. So it's wrong to this claim is the only consideration supporting the conclusion. It would have been correct to say that this claim is a consideration supporting the overall conclusion.
11%
Wrong Role20% picked this
It is presented as support for a subsidiary conclusion drawn in
This claim is the subsidiary conclusion. The claim in the argument that is support for a subsidiary conclusion is the first sentence. The photographic evidence is support for the intermediate conclusion that there's a warm sea under the surface of Europa, and the warm sea is support for the overall conclusion that there may be life on Europa.
20%

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