Inference Question

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Inference Question

by reply2spg » Tue Aug 03, 2010 7:50 pm
When the government of a nation announced recently that a leader of the nation's political opposition had died of a mysterious illness in prison, few seasoned observers of the regime were surprised. As the police captain in an old movie remarked when asked about the condition of a prisoner, "We're trying to decide whether he committed suicide or died trying to escape."

The statements above invite which of the following conclusions?

(A) The opposition leader was probably killed trying to escape from prison.
(B) The opposition leader may not be dead at all.
(C) It is unlikely that the head of the regime knows the true cause of the opposition leader's death.
(D) The opposition leader probably killed himself.
(E) The regime very likely was responsible for the death of the opposition leader.

OA Later
Sudhanshu
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Source: — Critical Reasoning |

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by selango » Tue Aug 03, 2010 8:07 pm
Option A-We don't know the nature of death.So invalid.

Option B-Stimulus states that leader died of mysterious illness.This option is invalid.

Option D-We don't know the nature of death.So invalid.


Option C and E are close.

In option C "Head of regime" is mentioned..Nowhere in stimulus it's mentioned..Only "government of nation" is mentioned in argument.

Option E

Opposition Leader died of mysterious illness..

Police captain remarked "We're trying to decide whether he committed suicide or died trying to escape"

It means leader died when he/she is in police custody.But nature of death is unknown.So E is better option.
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by DanaJ » Tue Aug 03, 2010 8:12 pm
I'd say the correct answer here is E, although I'd argue that this is not your typical GMAT CR question.

So the argument goes as follows:
- an opponent of the current regime dies in prison under mysterious circumstances
- observers (journalists, for example) are not surprised by this
- a quote from a movie is added, suggesting that police is trying to figure out the most "plausible" way to explain his death. That being said, the two scenarios they present are markedly different: taking his own life or being shot by the guards. The huge difference is a sign that the truth is being withheld

A and D actually play on the same card: trying to distract your attention from the correct answer by appealing to something in the argument. You should notice that the second sentence in the argument is actually a quote from a movie and not about the current situation.

B contradicts the argument in the sense that there are clear signals that the opposition leader is dead: he was declared dead and the movie quote is about "methods of dying".

C is more subtle, but I'd say you need to eliminate this one as well because of line three pointed out above: the police knows the cause of death, but they're trying to find out a more "manageable" explanation to it.

This cover up is probably why E is the correct answer: the regime knows and is clumsily trying to hide the truth.

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by reply2spg » Tue Aug 03, 2010 8:19 pm
Since DanaJ and Anand already gave very good explanation and answer, I don't have to post an answer. Anyways OA is E.

DanaJ - Good to see you back.....So this time aiming for 800 :). I am sure you can
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by selango » Tue Aug 03, 2010 8:33 pm
Dana ur explanations are clear and perfect..
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by DanaJ » Tue Aug 03, 2010 8:49 pm
Glad you like it! :) I'll try to post more these days.