One year ago a local government

Answer choices

1. A

   No Impact10% picked this

   Residents of the locality have not increased their use of other tobacco products such as snuff and chewing tobacco since

   Whether or not residents have increased their use of other tobacco products does not directly address whether the advertisements, specifically, had an effect on cigarette smoking rates.

   10%
2. B

   No Impact23% picked this

   A substantial number of cigarette smokers in the locality who did not quit smoking during the campaign now smoke less than

   The conclusion is specifically about the number of people who smoke. If someone still smokes but smokes less, they are still recorded as a smoker. So it's irrelevant to the conclusion whether the smokers smoke less than they used to. Had the conclusion said, "The campaign has had a positive effect on smoking" or something generic like that, then it would have been a strengthener. .

   23%
3. C

   No Impact6% picked this

   Admissions to the local hospital for chronic respiratory ailments were down by 15 percent one year

   We don't know whether the decrease in chronic respiratory ailments has anything to do with smoking. And even if it did, we wouldn't know whether the decrease was related to the antismoking campaign or something else.

   6%
4. D

   Correct59% picked this

   Merchants in the locality responded to the local tax by reducing the price at which they sold cigarettes

   Why this is right

   This strengthens by ruling out an alternate explanation for the decrease in smoking. There was a Breadcrumb detail in there that there was a 20 cent tax added to cigs. If the price went up by 20 cents, that alone could explain a 3% decrease in number of smokers. But if merchants reduced prices to offset the tax, then the price of cigarettes didn't actually go up, so it rules out the idea that a price increase from the tax could be responsible for the decrease in smoking.

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

   59%
5. E

   Opposite (if anything)2% picked this

   Smokers in the locality had incomes that on average were 25 percent lower than

   It's hard to judge much from this income disparity, but if anything, the poorer that smokers are, the more likely that they would be dissuaded by a potential 20 cent tax on cigarettes, which would be supporting an alternate explanation for why the number of smokers decreased 3%.

   2%