Self-study
Wife: The work of the artist who painted the portrait of my grandparents 50 years ago has become quite popular lately, so the portrait has recently become valuable. ███ █████ █████ █████ ██ ████████ ████ ████ ████████ ███ █████████ █████ ██ ██ █████ ██ ██ ████ ███ ████████ █████ ██ ██ █████ █████ ██████████ ███ ███████ ██████ ███ ████████ ██ ██████ ███ ███████ ███ ███ ███████
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Breakdown: Husband's Argument
The husband's argument points to the unstated conclusion that his wife should not sell a portrait of her grandparents. The rest of the husband's argument supports this idea: he points out that the painting is his wife's only heirloom from her grandparents, that it has sentimental value, and that his wife has a responsibility towards their daughter to keep this link to the past.
This approach allows the husband to counter the wife's argument that she should sell the painting to pay for their daughter's education. Where the wife prioritizes their daughter's college fund, the husband's argument is based on the portrait's sentimental value and its ties to the past. Each of them thinks that a different consideration is more important.
3.
Which one of the following ███████████ ██ ████████████ ████ ████ ██ ███████ ███ ███████████ ██████
a
Gifts offered as ███████████ ██████ ██ █████████ ██████ ███ ██ ████████ ██ ███ █████████ ███████ ██ ████ ████ █████ ███ ███████
The husband's argument isn't about whether the portrait should have been accepted as a gift—and we don't know if it was given as one anyway. (A) doesn't bridge to the correct conclusion about selling the portrait.
b
A beautiful work ██ ███ ██ ████ ████████ ████ ███ █████ ██ █████ ██ ████ ████ ████████ ███ ███████
(B) isn't triggered in the first place, because the husband
c
It is more █████████ ███ ███████ ██ ███████ █████ ████████ ████ ████████ █████ ██ ███ ██████████ ████ ████ ██ ██ ██ ██████ ████ ██ ██████ ███ ███████ ██ █████ ███████
The wife argues that she should sell the portrait to pay for their daughter's college. The husband's argument that she should instead keep the portrait as a tie to the family's past is justified if family ties are more important than college funds. (C) is an effective premise-to-conclusion bridge for the husband.
d
Children and grandchildren ████ █ ████ ██ ████████ ██████ █████████ ████ ██ ████ ████ ████████ █████ ███████ ██ ████████████ ████ ████ █████ ██ ███
Since as far as we know the wife didn't promise to keep the portrait, (D) actually works against the husband's argument. It certainly doesn't justify keeping the portrait.
e
Providing one’s children ████ ██ █████████ ██ ████ █████████ ████ █████████ ████ ████ ████████ ██████ ████ ██ ███ █████ ████ ███████████ ██████
(E) does the exact opposite of what we want: it justifies the wife's argument, and undermines the husband's.