PT11.S4.Q20

PrepTest 11 - Section 4 - Question 20

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Support If the majority of the residents of the apartment complex complain that their apartments are infested with ants, then the management of the complex will have to engage the services of an exterminator. ███ ███ ████████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ████████ ████ █████ ██████████ ███ █████████ ████ ██ █████ ██████████ ███ ██████████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ███ ████ ██ ██████ ███ ████████ ██ ██ █████████████

Denying The Sufficient

The stimulus exhibits a textbook fallacy in formal logic – denying the sufficient condition:

English
If people complain*, we’ll need an exterminator.
People aren’t complaining.
________
We won’t need an exterminator.
Logic
Complaints* → Exterminator
/Complaints
________
/Exterminator

The right answer must mirror this structure exactly. Wrong answers will either present valid arguments, or present arguments that are flawed for other reasons.

*Notice how I’ve cut out the concept of the majority, which is a quantifier term that usually demands our attention. In this argument, the “mostness” of the claim isn’t relevant to the argument’s structure – it’s fully contained inside the term “most people complain about ants,” and the argument never demands we dissect that term. In other words, if we treat the whole thing like a black box, the question never requires us to look inside.

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20.

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

a

A theater will ██ ███████████ ██ ███ ████ ██ █████ █████████ ███ ██ █████ ██████████ ██ █████ ███ █████ ██ █████ ███ █████ █████████ ██████ ███ ███████████ █████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ██ ███████████ ██ ███ █████

b

The number of ███████ ████████ ██ ███ ████████ ██████ ██ ███████ ██████ ███ ████████ ███ ███████ ██████ █████████ ███ ██████ ████ ███ ███ ██████ █████████ ██ ██ ██ ███ ███ ████ ████ ███ ██████ ██ ███████ ████ ██ ████████

c

In order for ███ ███████ ██ █████ ███ ████████ ████████ ████████ ████ ███ ████ ███████ ███ ███ █████ ████ ████████ █████ ███ █████ ███ ███████ █████████ ███ ████████ ███████ ████ ██ ███████ █████

d

Most employees will ██████ ███ ███████ ██████ ██ ███ █████████████ █████████ ██ ██████████ ██ ███████ █ ███████ ████ ██ ████ ██ ███ ███████ ███ ████ ████ ████ ██ ███ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ███ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ██ ██ ███ ████ ████ ████ █████████ ████ ███████

e

Either the school’s █████████ ██ ██████████ ██ ███ ██████ ███████ ████ ███████ █ ██████ ██ ███ ██████ █████ ████ ██ █████ ███ ███ ████ ██ ██ ████████ █████ ███ █████████ ████ ███ ███████ █ ██████ ██ ███ █████ █████ ███ ████ ████ ███ ██ ████████

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