Self-study
Columnist: Shortsighted motorists learn the hard way about the wisdom of preventive auto maintenance; Support such maintenance almost always pays off in the long run. ███ ███████ ████████████ ████ ███████ ██████ ██ ███████ ███ █████ ███████ ██████ ████ ████ █████ █ █████████ ████████ ███████████ ████████ ██ ██████ ████ ████████ ███ ███████ ████ ██ ██████████ ████ ██ ██████ ██ ████ █ ███ ██████ ██ ███████ ██████ █████ ██████ ██ ████ ██████ ████ ████ ███████ █████████ ██ ████████ ███████████ ████████ ████ ██████ █████ ███████ ██ ████ ██ ███████████
Summarize Argument
The author concludes that we should praise the council for hiring a long-term economic adviser. This is based on the subsidiary conclusion that the decision to hire the adviser is likely to have a big economic benefit in several years. The subsidiary conclusion is based on the fact that other cities in the region that have invested in economic development planning have earned large returns on those investments. In addition, the author supports that conclusion with an analogy to auto maintenance, which almost always is worth the cost.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that the other cities that got large returns on economic development are relevantly similar to the council’s city. The author also assumes that auto maintenance is relevantly similar to economic development in its general likelihood of paying off.
15.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ ███████ ███ ███████████ █████████
a
Even some cars ████ ███████ ███████ ██████████ ███████████ █████ █████ █████████ ██████ ████████
We still know that auto maintenance “almost always pays off in the long run.” The author already acknowledges that it might not pay off in every case. Pointing out something the author already acknowledges doesn’t weaken.
b
The columnist's city ███ █ ████ ███████ ██████████ ███ ███████ ████ ███ █████ ██████ ███ ████ ████ █████ ████████ █████████ ██ ████████ ███████████ █████████
This shows that the cities the author cites to might not be relevantly similar. Cities with a smaller population and economy might get more value from economic development than a city like the council’s. This weakens the support provided by the author’s comparison.
c
Most motorists who ████ ██ ███████ ██████████ ███████████ ██ █████ ████ ██ ██ ███ ████████████ ████████
The reason that some motorists fail to perform preventive maintenance doesn’t change the fact that auto maintenance “almost always pays off in the long run.” The argument concerns the value of maintenance, not the motivations behind failure to maintain.
d
Qualified economic development ████████ █████████ ██████ ██████ ████████ ████ ████ ████ ████████ ███ ███████ ██ ██████
This doesn’t suggest the adviser is unqualified. We have no reason to think the adviser was among those who demand more than many councils are willing to spend or that this city council wasn’t willing to spend to hire someone qualified. (D) also ignores the argument’s reasoning.
e
Cities that have ██████ █████ ███████ ███ ██ ██████ ████████ ███████████ ████████ ███ ███ ████ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ██ ███ █████████ █████ ███ █████ ██ ███████████
The author believes the investment in the adviser will pay off in the long run. That acknowledges that there might not be a payoff in the first few years. So, lack of payoff in the first few years is consistent with the author’s position.