Critical Reasoning

Most household appliances use electricity only when in use. Many microwave ovens, however, have built-in clocks and so use some electricity even when they are not in use. The clocks each consume about 45 kilowatt-hours per year. Therefore, households whose microwave oven has no built-in clock use 45 kilowatt-hours per year less, on average, than do comparable households shoes microwave oven is other-wise similar but has a built-in clock.
Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?
A. Households that do not have a microwave oven use less energy per year, on
average, than do households that have a microwave oven.
B. Microwave ovens with a built-in clock do not generally cost more to buy than
microwave ovens without a built-in clock.
C. All households that have a microwave oven also have either a gas oven or a
Conventional electric oven.
D. Households whose microwave oven does not have a built-in clock are no more
likely to have a separate electric clock plugged in than households whose
microwave oven has one.
E. There are more households that have a microwave oven with a built-in clock
than there are households that have a microwave oven without a built-in clock.

IMO it's D.
If households also buy electric clocks, then they consume electric no less than households who use microwave with build-in-clock.

Yes D

IMO D

D is the one.

crackgmat007 wrote:Most household appliances use electricity only when in use. Many microwave ovens, however, have built-in clocks and so use some electricity even when they are not in use. The clocks each consume about 45 kilowatt-hours per year. Therefore, households whose microwave oven has no built-in clock use 45 kilowatt-hours per year less, on average, than do comparable households shoes microwave oven is other-wise similar but has a built-in clock.
Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?
A. Households that do not have a microwave oven use less energy per year, on
average, than do households that have a microwave oven.
B. Microwave ovens with a built-in clock do not generally cost more to buy than
microwave ovens without a built-in clock.
C. All households that have a microwave oven also have either a gas oven or a
Conventional electric oven.
D. Households whose microwave oven does not have a built-in clock are no more
likely to have a separate electric clock plugged in than households whose
microwave oven has one.
E. There are more households that have a microwave oven with a built-in clock
than there are households that have a microwave oven without a built-in clock.

I'd go D. Assumptions are about closing logic gap. The author assumes that households that have a microwave without a clock burn less electricity than households that have a microwave with a clock. This ceterius paribus (all things equal) assumption. We have to assume that houses with microwave without clocks will not compensate for a clock anymore than houses that have microwaves with clocks. Otherwise all things would not be equal and the argument would not work.

you got this man!!

IMO B

I am leaning more towards B