Self-study
Some paleontologists have suggested that . ████████████ █ ████ █████████ ███ ████ ██ ███████ █████ ████████ ██ █████████ ███████ █████████ █████ ████████ ████ ██████ █████████████ █████ ███████████ ████ ██████ █████ ████ ███ ████ ██████ ████ ███ █████████ ██████ █████████ ██ ██████ ████ ███████ ███ ████████ ███ ███████ ██ ███████████ ███ ██████ ██ ██ ████████ ██ █████████ ████ █████ █████ █████ ███ ████ █████████ ███ ███████ ██ ██████████
Summarize Argument: Counter-Position
Paleontologists who believe that Apatosaurus could gallop are probably wrong. Experiments with modern bones show that Apatosaurus’s leg bones could not have withstood the strains of galloping. These experiments show that galloping would probably have broken Apatosaurus’s legs. Therefore, it is unlikely that Apatosaurus galloped.
Identify Conclusion
The conclusion is the author’s opinion that some paleontologists are likely wrong in their belief that Apatosaurus could gallop.
9.
Which one of the following ████ ██████████ █████████ ███ ██████████ █████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ █ ██████
a
Galloping would probably ████ ██████ ███ ████ ██ ████████████
This is a sub-conclusion of the argument, not the main conclusion. The claim that galloping would likely have broken Apatosaurus’s legs supports the main conclusion that the paleontologists are probably incorrect in hypothesizing that Apatosaurus could gallop.
b
It is possible ██ █████████ ████ ███████████ ███ █████ █████ ███ ████ █████████ ███ ██████ ██ ██████████
This is an unstated premise—an assumption—that supports the argument’s sub-conclusion. Modern bone experiments only support the claim that Apatosaurus’s legs would have broken from galloping if it’s possible to calculate whether Apatosaurus’s leg bones could withstand the strain.
c
The claim of ███████████████ ████ ███████████ ███ ████ ██ ██████ ██ ██████ ██ ██ ██████████
This correctly captures the stimulus’s main conclusion. The stimulus concludes that the claim made by some paleontologists that Apatosaurus could gallop is “unlikely,” or as (C) states, “likely to be incorrect.”
d
If galloping would ████ ██████ ███ ████ ██ ████████████ ████ ███████████ ███ ████████ ██████ ██ ███████
This is an unstated premise supporting the main conclusion. The author concludes that Apatosaurus probably couldn’t gallop because galloping would likely have broken its legs. This conclusion assumes that Apatosaurus wouldn’t have galloped if doing so would have broken its legs.
e
Modern bones are █████ ███████ ██ █████████ ███ ████████ ██████████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ████████████
This is an unstated premise, which supports the stimulus’s sub-conclusion that galloping would likely have broken Apatosaurus’s legs. The experiments with modern bones support this sub-conclusion because the stimulus assumes that modern bones are similar to those of Apatosaurus.