PrepTest 7 - Section 2 - Question 19 | Explanation & Discussion

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Can any research be found to validate the contention that those who spend time plucking out their gray hairs have more negative attitudes toward the elderly than those who shrug their shoulders about their gray hairs. ██████ █ ██████████ ███████████████ █████ ███ ██ ███ ██ ███████████████ █████ ██ ██ █████████ ███████████ █████████ ██ ██ ██████████ ██ ████ ███ ███████ ███ ███████ ███ ████ ██ ████████ ████████ ███ ████████ ████████████ ███████ ████████ █████████ ██████ █████ ██████ ██████ ███████ ████ ███ ███ ██ ████████ █████████ ██ ██████ ███████████ ████████ ███████ ██████████ ███ █████ ██ ███████ ███████ █████ █████████ ████ ████████████ ██ ███ █████ ████████

Argument Breakdown

The argument opens with a rhetorical question: is there any research showing that people who pluck their gray hairs have more negative feelings about elderly people? The argument then says that there's no necessary connection between plucking gray hairs and disliking the elderly. This is supported by the implied answer to the rhetorical question: no, there's no such research.

The rest of the argument also supports the claim that plucking gray hairs doesn't necessarily relate to disliking the elderly, making that claim the main conclusion. This further support includes a further example of the aging-related issues of impaired eyesight and hearing: one can dislike both of those things while liking the elderly. Finally, the argument states that disliking the elderly is immoral, while disliking certain traits associated with aging is not immoral—further separating these two dislikes.

19.

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

Question Type

Main conclusion or main point

Everything in the argument is designed to convince us of the idea that one can dislike one's own gray hairs without disliking elderly people. This is the main conclusion supported by the argument. Our goal is to find an answer that expresses or paraphrases this conclusion.

It cannot be ███████ ████ ██████ ███ ███████ ████ ██ ███ ████████ ████████████ ██ ███████ ███ ███████████ ████ ████████ ████████ ██████ ███ ████████

(A) paraphrases the argument's main conclusion, that people who pluck their gray hairs (a concomitant of growing old) don't necessarily dislike the elderly. We know this is the main conclusion because it's the claim supported by the rest of the argument.

72%

To dislike some ██ ███ ████████ ████████████ ██ ███████ ███ ██ ███████████ █████ ██ ███████ ███ ███████ ██ ████████

The argument states that it's reasonable to dislike concomitants of growing old, and that it's immoral to dislike the elderly just due to their age. However, neither of these claims is supported by anything else in the argument. They're both just stated as facts.

In fact, these claims go on to support the claim that disliking one's own gray hairs doesn't imply that one dislikes the elderly. That's the true main conclusion, because it receives support from the argument as a whole. The claims identified in (B) are premises.

22%

Since no one █████ ███ ████████ ████████████ ██ ███████ ████ ██ ██ █████ ██ ███████ ███ ███████ ██████ ███████ ██ █████ ████████ ████████████████

The argument never claims that "no one" likes the traits associated with growing old. It also doesn't offer a reason for the claim that disliking the elderly just because they're elderly is immoral; that's simply stated as a fact.

Being elderly is █████ ███ ███ ███████ ██ ████████ ███████ ██ ████ ███ ██████ ████ ██ ██████████ ████ ███████████ ███████ ███ ████

The argument doesn't claim that the process of becoming elderly is "not fine", just that it's reasonable to dislike some traits associated with growing old.

To dislike the ███████ ██ ████████ ███ ██ ██ ██ ████ ███████ ███ ████████ ████ ██ ███ ████████ ████████████ ██ ███████ ███ ██ █████████████

The argument states that it's immoral to dislike the elderly just due to their age, which isn't quite the same as what (E) is saying. However even if it were, this claim is given without support, meaning it can't be the main conclusion.

PrepTest 7 - Section 2 - Question 19

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