Self-study
Amateur gardeners who plant based on the phases of the moon tend to get better results than those who do not. ████ █████ ██████████ █████ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ████ ██ ███ ██████ ███ ██████ █████ ██ ███████████ ████████ █████ █████ █████ ███████ █████████ ██ ██ █████ ██████ ███ █████ ████ █████ ██ ███████ █████ █████ ██ ████████ ████ █ █████ ████████ ███ ███████ █████████ ███ ███ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ████ ███ ████ ██████ ██ ████ ██████ ██ █ ██████
Summary
The author concludes that amateur gardeners who use the phases of the moon to plant are less likely to lose plants to a frost (than those gardeners who don’t plant by phases of the moon).
Why does the author think this?
Because gardeners who don’t plant by phases of the moon often plant during the first warm spell of spring. This can lead to problems when a frost follows that first warm spell.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that gardeners who plant by phases of the moon are more likely to wait until after the first warm spell of spring to plant.
23.
The argument requires assuming which ███ ██ ███ ██████████
a
Using the phases ██ ███ ████ ███████ █████ ███████ █████████ ██ █████ █████ ██ ███ ██████ ████ █████ ████████ ██ ███ █████ ████ ██████
Necessary, because if this were not true — if using the phases of the moon does NOT usually lead gardeners to plant later than those planting at the first warm spell — then the premises give us no reason to think that gardeners who plant by phases of the moon are less likely to lose plants to a frost.
b
The phases of ███ ████ ██████ ███████ █ █████ ███████ ███ █████ ████ █████ ██ ███████
Not necessary, because the author’s assumption relates to how the phases of the moon influence when a gardener plants. It’s not about any relationship between the moon phases and actual weather/climate conditions on Earth. If the phases of the moon do NOT affect whether a frost follows the first warm spell, they can still influence when gardeners first plant in the year.
c
Amateur gardeners who ███ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ██ █████ █████████ █████ ██ ██████ ████ ██ █████ ███████ ██████████
Not necessary, because even if the moon-gardeners use the same kinds of plants, the moon-gardeners could plant later in the year, which is what contributes to their lower chance of losing plants to frost.
d
Amateur gardeners cannot ███████ █████ ███████ ██████ ████ ██████████ ███ █████ ███████ ████ ██ ████ ███
Not necessary, because even if gardeners can improve their results without understanding how their methods work, that’s consistent with the reasoning. What matters is that moon-gardeners plant later in the year; whether they understand why this is more successful doesn’t change whether they plant later in the year.
e
Professional gardeners only ██████ █████ ██ ███ █████ ████ █████ ██ ███████
The argument doesn’t concern professional gardeners, only amateur gardeners.