Self-study
Manufacturers of writing paper need to add mineral "filler" to paper pulp if the paper made from the pulp is to look white. ███████ ████ ███████ █████ ████████ ████ ████████ ██ ████ ███████ █████ ████ █████ █████ ████ ████████ █████ ████████ ████ ██████ ████ ██ ████████ ██ ████ ████ █████ ████ █████ ████████ ██████████ ███████ ███ ████ █████████ ███ ██ ███████ ██ █████ █████████████ ██ ███ ███████████ ██ ███████████████ ████████████ ████ ██ ███ ███████ ███████ ████████ ██ ███████ █████ ████ ████ ████████ █████ █████ ██ ███████ █████ █████ ██ ███████ ██████ █████ █████████████ ████ ████ ██ ███ ████ ██████ ████ ████ ███ ████
Summary
If recycled writing paper replaces non-recycled, there will be more filler used than is currently. Why? Because recycled writing paper requires more filler than non-recycled in order to appear white,
Notable Assumptions
The author’s conclusion only holds if we actually need writing paper to appear white. If not, then there’s no support that we would use more filler, because we wouldn’t care about how the paper looks.
6.
Which one of the following ██ ██ ██████████ ██ █████ ███ ████████ ████████
a
Certain kinds of █████ ██████ ██ ████████████ ████ ████████ ██████
Irrelevant. We’re specifically discussing writing paper that can be made from recycled or non-recycled paper.
b
The fillers that ███ ████ ██ ████ █████ █████ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ████████████
The argument is not about harm to the environment. The conclusion is only comparing amount of filler currently used versus amount of filler possibly used in the future.
c
Grayish writing paper ████ ███ ██ █ ███████████ ██████████ ███████████ ██ █████ ███████ ██████
This is necessary for the argument, and it is what we predicted. If negated, then grayish writing paper will be universally accepted, and there’s no reason that we would use more filler to make recycled paper white—we can just let it be gray.
d
Beyond a certain ██████ ██████████ ███ ██████ ██ ██████ █████ ██ █████ ████ ████ ███ ████████ ███ █████████ ██ ███ █████ ████ ████ ███ █████
(D) is essentially saying that there is a maximum level of whiteness that paper can achieve. That is not necessary to the argument; whether there’s a ceiling or not, the conclusion could still be true.
e
The total amount ██ ███████ █████ ████████████ █████████ ████ ████████ █████████████ ██ ███ ███████
It is unnecessary for paper production to increase. Paper production could stay the same or even decrease, and the distribution of recycled vs. non-recycled paper in the present vs. future could be toggled in such a way that the conclusion is still true.