To be considered for this year’s Gillespie Grant, applications must be received in Gillespie City by October 1. It can take up to ten days for regular mail from Greendale to reach Gillespie City. So if Mary is sending an application by regular mail from Greendale, she will be considered for the grant only if her application is mailed ten days before the due date.
Summarize Argument
The author concludes that, if she’s using regular mail from Greendale, Mary must mail her application ten days before the due date to be considered for the grant. He supports this with the following premises:
(1) Applications must arrive in Gillespie City by October 1 to be considered.
(2) Regular mail from Greendale can take up to ten days to reach Gillespie City.
Identify and Describe Flaw
The author concludes that Mary must mail her application ten days before the due date to be considered for the grant. But his premises state that regular mail from Greendale can take up to ten days to reach Gillespie City. So he overlooks the possibility that some mail might take less than ten days.
What if Mary’s application only takes five days to arrive? In that case, he can’t conclude that she’ll only be considered if she mails it ten days before the due date.
A
does not establish that Mary is applying for the Gillespie Grant or mailing anything from Greendale
It’s true that the author never establishes this, but he doesn’t need to. He’s only addressing what would happen if Mary sends in an application from Greendale. Whether she actually does apply is irrelevant.
B
does not determine how long it takes express mail to reach Gillespie City from Greendale
It doesn’t matter how long it takes express mail to reach Gillespie City from Greendale. The author is only addressing what would happen if Mary sends her application by regular mail from Greendale.
C
does not consider the minimum amount of time it takes regular mail from Greendale to reach Gillespie City
What if the minimum amount of time it takes regular mail from Greendale to reach Gillespie City is five days? In that case, Mary might not need to send in her application ten days before the due date in order to be considered.
D
presumes, without providing justification, that if Mary’s application is received in Gillespie City by October 1, she will satisfy all of the other requirements of the Gillespie Grant application
The author doesn’t assume that Mary will satisfy all the requirements if her application is received on time. She might mail her application on time and still not be considered for the grant. The author just argues that if she is considered, she must mail her application on time.
E
overlooks the possibility that Mary cannot be certain that her application will arrive in Gillespie City unless she sends it by express mail
The author only addresses Mary sending her application by regular mail; express mail is irrelevant. Also, even if she can’t be sure that it will arrive by regular mail, this doesn't impact the conclusion that if it is considered, she must send it ten days before the due date.
A
It is a conclusion drawn and used in turn as a premise to support a more general conclusion.
B
It is attributed to certain researchers as the main conclusion of their reasoning.
C
It is the main point of the psychologist’s argument.
D
It is used to refute the claim that infants have no knowledge of language.
E
It states the hypothesis to be explained by the psychologist’s argument.
A
Car thieves will tend to be less cautious if they are unaware that a car they have stolen contains a homing beacon.
B
Typically, the number of cars stolen in cities where the homing beacons are in use was below average before the device was used.
C
Before the invention of the homing beacon, automobile thieves who stole cars containing antitheft devices were rarely apprehended.
D
A large proportion of stolen cars are stolen from people who do not live in the cities where they are stolen.
E
In most cities the majority of car thefts are committed by a few very experienced car thieves.