PT23.S2.Q19

PrepTest 23 - Section 2 - Question 19

Show analysis

Even in ancient times, Support specialized farms (farms that grow a single type of crop or livestock) existed only where there were large commercial markets for farm products, and such markets presuppose urban populations. █████████ ███ █████████ █████ ██ ███ ██████████████ ████ ██ ███████ ███ ████████ ███ ███████ ██ █ ███████ ███████████ ██████████ █████████ ██████ ████ ██ █ ███████ █████████ █████ █████ ███ ████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ███████ █████ █████ ████ █████████ ███ █████ ██████ █████ ██████ █████ ████ █ ███████ ██ █████ ███ ██████████

Argument Summary

The argument starts by pointing out that, even in ancient times, specialized farms existed only where there were large commercial markets for farm products, and such markets presupposed (i.e., required) urban populations. The argument therefore concludes that Kadshim was probably a largely uninhabited ceremonial site rather than a populated city, because its land could only have supported mixed farms, not specialized ones.

Notable Flaws

The first sentence gives us a set of necessary conditions. Specialized farms required large commercial markets, and such markets required urban populations. We infer that specialized farms required urban populations.

specialized farm → commercial market

commercial market → urban pop.

specialized farm → urban pop.

The conclusion, meanwhile, states that because a certain area could only support mixed farms (i.e., it had no specialized farms), it must not have been a populated urban area. In other words:

/specialized farm → /urban pop.

This is a classic sufficiency/necessity confusion flaw. Just because specialized farms require the existence of urban populations doesn't mean that urban populations cannot exist without specialized farms. The tricky part of this Flaw question, beyond identifying the flaw itself, will be recognizing it from the convoluted language in the answer choices.

User Avatar Analysis by ArdaschirArguelles
Show answer
19.

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

a

taking the fact ████ █████████ ██ ████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ █ █████ ██ ██████ ██ ████████ ████ ███ ████ ██ ████ ██ ███ ██████ █████ ██ ██████

b

taking the nonexistence ██ █████████ ██ ████████ ████ █ █████████ ████████████ ███ ████ █████ ████ ███ ███ █████

c

interpreting an ambiguous █████ ██ ███ ███ ██ ███ ████ ██ ███ ████████ ███ ██ ███████ ███ ██ ███████ ████ ██ ███ ████████

d

supposing that because ███ ██████ ███████ █████ ██ ███████████ ████ ███ ████████ ███ ██ ████ ████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ███ █████

e

drawing a conclusion ████ ██ ██████ █ ███████████ ██ ███ ██ ███ ████████ ██ █████ ███ ████████ ██ █████

Confirm action

Are you sure?