Critical Reasoning

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.

imo :C

OA??

IMO C

NSNguyen wrote: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.

the 2nd premise of the stimulus" 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.”" clearly means that the police captain was likely responsible for death of the prisoner.
THe answer should be E.

in E

dont you think very likely is too strong...??

if it wud have been likely than it wud have been fine..


let me know if i am wrong..'


thx

Sunny22uk wrote:

NSNguyen wrote: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.

the 2nd premise of the stimulus" 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.”" clearly means that the police captain was likely responsible for death of the prisoner.
THe answer should be E.

I feel E is a trap. if we were to choose E as the conclusion, we would have to assume that police knows the cause of the death.. and this wasn't anywhere mentioned in the stimulus..

pls correct me if am wrong.

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.
Is not logically correct
(B) The opposition leader may not be dead at all.
Since one of the premises is a fact that the leader is dead, this statement is invalid
(C) It is unlikely that the head of the regime knows the true cause of the opposition leader’s death.
is out of scope,since "When the government of a nation announced " is the premise and head of regime is nowhere mentioned in the stimulus, this choice is a trap because most people will compare the head of the regime with the police captain thus making a false assumption.
(D) The opposition leader probably killed himself.
Is not logically correct
(E) The regime very likely was responsible for the death of the opposition leader.
as per the 2nd premise "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.” " which actually means that the government knew about the cause and thus can concluded that they were very much responsible for the leader's death, although this conclusion is weak, no other option is viable.

A

I believe the answer should be E

a. Making a note of the statement of the police captain, Reason for the death of prisoner is unclear.
b. Both the police and the government confirmed the prisoner to be dead and moreover, there is no clue given that the prisoner is still alive.
c. Head of the regime is never mentioned in the passage. So, could not be a conclusion.
d. . Making a note of the statement of the police captain, Reason for the death of prisoner is unclear.
e. This could be a conclusion as the passage mentions that "few seasoned observers were surprised" and not "a few", which means a handful of people were surprised and others were not surprised as they knew what had happened.
Hence, e is the answer.