PT8.S4.Q21 - so-called environmentalists have argued

time_to_gotime_to_go Alum Member
edited May 2016 in Logical Reasoning 276 karma
This is a sufficient assumption question but one of the forums I read to understand answer choice (A) explained that NEGATING (A) would demonstrate it to be a sufficient assumption. I totally see that negating (A) would weaken the argument, but I thought we use negation test for necessary assumption questions ...or am I not aware of some exceptions? I know that for some flaw questions that contain "takes for granted/assumes that" language, you can negate the answer choices, but I never heard of using negation test for sufficient assumption questions.

Comments

  • quinnxzhangquinnxzhang Member
    edited May 2016 611 karma
    I believe this is improperly labeled. It should be a necessary assumption question, not a sufficient assumption question. The question stem asks "...which one of the following MUST be assumed?" [emphasis mine]

    This is also why the negation test works here.
  • time_to_gotime_to_go Alum Member
    276 karma
    @"quinnxzhang" It's tagged as Sufficient Assumption question in the question bank...I'm confused! And doesn't "properly drawn" part of the question stem indicate that it's a sufficient assumption question? :(
  • kaila67hkaila67h Free Trial Member
    52 karma
    this is absolutely a necessary assumption question! the word "must" in the question stem is a key indicator of it being a necessary not sufficient assumption q. "properly drawn" could indicate either a sufficient or necessary ass. It's not a key word for determining the question type. The key word is "must". Sufficient assumption question stems frequently use the word "if". For example, "the above conclusion can be drawn if which one of the following is assumed." Such a q. stem sets up a sufficient ass. question because it doesn't indicate that the a.c. is required in order for the conclusion to be drawn. Words like "must," "necessary," and "depends" indicate that the assumption is necessary for the conclusion to be drawn and thus a necessary assumption question. In this particular example, we have the word "must" in the q. stem.
  • runiggyrunruniggyrun Alum Inactive Sage Inactive ⭐
    2481 karma
    Another vote here for it's been mislabeled as a Sufficient Assumption. It's a Necessary Assumption all day long, and that's why the negation works.
    I might not have paid sufficient attention, but think I've only encountered one other question where they use both "must be true" and "be properly drawn", and fell in the nicely laid trap by not reading the stem carefully. It is crucial to understand that "must be true" makes it by definition a "necessary" assumption - don't be tricked by the presence of "properly drawn" into confusing it with a sufficient assumption.
  • time_to_gotime_to_go Alum Member
    276 karma
    Got it! Thank you guys!!! I hope they change it in the question bank so people like me won't get confused :(
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