PT140.S2.Q1

PrepTest 140 - Section 2 - Question 1

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The quantity and type of pollution that entered the river last Thursday night suggest that the local auto repair shop is responsible. ███ ███ ███████ ███ ████ ████ ██ █████████ ██ ██ ██████ █████ ██████ ████████ ████████ ██ ██████████ ██ ███ ███████████ ██████ ███████████████ ██ ██████ ██ ████████████ ███████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ███████ ████████ ███ ████████

Summary

Although evidence suggests the auto repair shop is responsible for polluting the river, we should not punish them without more evidence or a confession. This is because the punishment would be quite severe.

Notable Assumptions

The author presents the idea of a harsh punishment to suggest that more evidence is needed, but we don’t have a premise that tells us why this matters. The author is assuming the severity of the punishment means we need more evidence, so we are looking for a rule to clearly state this assumption:

Severe punishments require more evidence.

Show answer
1.

Which one of the following ███████████ ██ ██████ ████ █████ ██ ███████ ███ █████████ ██ ███ █████████

a

The more severe ███ ███████ ███ ██ ██████████ ███ ███ ████ ███████ ███ ████ ██ ██ ███ █████ ██ █ █████ ██████ █████ █████████ ██ ████████ ███ ███████ ██ ████ ██████

(A) establishes why the severity of the punishment for polluting the river means we need more evidence—the more severe the punishment, the more evidence you need.

90%
b

Penalties for crimes ██████ ██ ██████ ██████ ██ █████ ██████ ████ ██████████ █████ ███ ███ ██ ██████ ██ ██ █████████ █████ ███████████ ██ ██████ █████

(B) does nothing to connect severe punishments with the need for more evidence. It ignores evidence entirely and therefore does nothing to support the argument.

2%
c

The severity of ███ ███████ ███████ ███ ██ ██████████ ██████ ██ ████████████ ██ ███ ████ ██████ ██ ████ ███████████

We have no clue how much harm was caused by the pollution, so we can’t use this rule. (C) also does nothing to tell us why we need more evidence.

2%
d

The more severe ███ ███████ ███ ██ ███████ ███ ███ ████ ██████ ██ ██ ████ ███████ ████ ████ ███████ ███ █████ ██████████████ ███ ███ ████████

(D) seems to suggest that the perpetrator would be unlikely to admit to polluting the river, but this does not address the need for more evidence.

3%
e

The severity of ███ ███████ ███ ██ ███████ ██████ ███ ██ ██ █████ ████ ███ ███ █████ ██ ████████████ ███████ ██ █████ ██ ███████ ██████████ ███ ████ ████████

(E) might imply that the punishment for polluting the river should be less, but that is an entirely separate conclusion. We want something that links the severity of the punishment to a need for more evidence.

3%

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