Self-study
Support The average 40-year-old North American will have watched more than one million TV commercials in his or her lifetime. ██ ███ ██████ █████████ ██████████ ████ ███ ██ ██████████ ███ ██████████ █████ ████████ ██████ ██ ████████
Summary
TV commercials influence what people think. This is because people see a lot of TV commercials.
Missing Connection
How can we be sure that watching TV commercials influences people's thinking? If people don’t care what commercials say, they might not have any influence. Thus, the author must assume that frequent exposure alters habitual thoughts.
4.
The conclusion above follows logically ██ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ████████
a
The habits of ███████ ████ ██████ ███████ ███ ███████ ██████████ ██ ████████ ███████████
This doesn’t ensure that TV is one of the external influences determining habits of thought. Consequently, (A) doesn’t guarantee the author’s conclusion.
b
Anything people are ███████ ██ ██ █████ ████████ ████ █████████ █████ ██████ ██ ████████
If true, frequent exposure to television commercials would necessarily influence people's habits of thought. Consequently, (B) guarantees the author’s conclusion.
c
It is impossible ██ █████ ██ ██████ ██████████ ████████████
The stimulus already told us that people don’t avoid commercials. It isn’t enough for people not to ignore commercials: they need to be influenced by them. (C) doesn’t guarantee that.
d
Some people find ██████████ ███████████ ████ ███████████ ██ █████ ████ ███ ████████ ███████████
You can find something interesting without it influencing your habitual thoughts. Consequently, (D) does not guarantee the author’s conclusion.
e
Certain forms of █████████████ ██ █████ ██████ ███ █████████ ████ ██████ █████ ██████ ██ ████████
We don’t know whether TV commercials are among the forms of communication that affect habits of thought. Consequently, (E) does not guarantee the author’s conclusion.