Critical Reasoning

16.A reason Larson cannot do the assignment is that she has an unavoidable scheduling conflict. On the other hand, a reason Franks cannot do the assignment is that he does not quite have the assertiveness the task requires. So, the task must be assigned to Parker, the only supervisor in the shipping department other than Larson and Franks.

The argument depends on assuming which one of the following?
(A) Larson has the assertiveness the task requires.
(B) The task cannot be assigned to anyone other than a supervisor in the shipping department.
(C) Franks would be assigned the task if Franks had the assertiveness the task requires.
(D) The task cannot be assigned to anyone who has any kind of scheduling conflict.
(E) No one who is not a supervisor in the shipping department has the assertiveness this task requires.

Good Question...

I was torn between A and B but I chose A

Reasoning
Assumption questions - Negate assumption and the arguement falls apart.
COnclusion - Assigned to parker the only supervisor in the shipping department.

A - It clearly states that the ONLY reason Larson cannot do it is because of the scheduling conflict.

B - Close IMO since the last line says its given to Parker since he is the only other supervisor..but I did not chosoe this since you get the task only if you are assertive enough...else Franks could have done it...so this means Larson was assertive enough to do that task.

C - Does not apply since we are assuming franks ability

D - Does not apply since Larson had a "unavoidable" conflict.

E - Out os scope since we are not alking about others ...

Curious to hear other inputs...

hemant_rajput wrote:16.A reason Larson cannot do the assignment is that she has an unavoidable scheduling conflict. On the other hand, a reason Franks cannot do the assignment is that he does not quite have the assertiveness the task requires. So, the task must be assigned to Parker, the only supervisor in the shipping department other than Larson and Franks.

The argument depends on assuming which one of the following?
(A) Larson has the assertiveness the task requires.
(B) The task cannot be assigned to anyone other than a supervisor in the shipping department.
(C) Franks would be assigned the task if Franks had the assertiveness the task requires.
(D) The task cannot be assigned to anyone who has any kind of scheduling conflict.
(E) No one who is not a supervisor in the shipping department has the assertiveness this task requires.

The first thing to note is that this is an Assumption question

(A) Incorrect. "Larson has the assertiveness the task requires." It is true that it may be reasonably inferred that Larson does have the assertiveness to perform the task considering that the task was assigned to Larson and he could not complete it only because of a scheduling conflict. However, the question is not asking what information can be inferred from the passage, but on what information is the conclusion being drawn in the passage based? The conclusion drawn is that "the task must be assigned to Parker" because of a scheduling conflict by one employee and a lack of assertiveness by another employees. We know this is the conclusion being drawn in the argument because of the use of the word "So", which tells us that this is a conclusion being drawn from a given set of conditions (namely that Larson and Franks cannot perform the task). Therefore, the question is not asking for information that can be supported or inferred form the passage, but rather, why is it that the assignment MUST be assigned to Parker? Which of the following statements supports the conclusion that the task MUST fall to Parker?": thus, the correct answer must reflect either a scheduling conflict or lack of assertiveness. A is incorrect because although it may be true that Larson is assertive, it does not answer what the question is asking, which is the reason or supposition behind the argument that the task must fall to Parker.The statement is therefore out of the scope of what the question is asking.

(B) Incorrect. "The task cannot be assigned to anyone other than a supervisor in the shipping department." Here again we get the same problem we found in A. Although it may be true that the task must be performed by a supervisor, it does not answer the scope of what the question is specifically asking for, namely, Why MUST the task fall to Parker? Again, the correct answer choice will have to reflect either a scheduling conflict or lack of assertiveness.

(C) Incorrect. "Franks would be assigned the task if Franks had the assertiveness the task requires." This information cannot be determined: we are only given enough information as to determine why it must fall to Parker: if Franks were assertive, then this would simply put both Parker and Larson on the same level of potentially doing the task but it does not mean that Franks would in that case necessarily be chosen over parks. Therefore, the statement cannot be determined by the information given in the passage, making the passage out of scope.

(D) Correct. "The task cannot be assigned to anyone who has any kind of scheduling conflict." This is the only statement that provides a reason (one of two, the other being a lack of assertiveness) that is listed as a reason as to why the task MUST have necessarily fallen to Parker. In this case, anyone who has a scheduling conflict cannot do the task. Now, although the statement does leave out Franks' lack of assertiveness, answer choice D does not preclude it as a possible answer: the answers are not mutually exclusive, which means that choosing D does not preclude the other being an assumption upon which the conclusion that the task must fall to Parker is based. Remember, we are looking for the BEST answer and not necessarily a COMPLETE answer. Answer choice D is therefore correct because it correctly identifies an assumption behind the conclusion, even if partial. So we always have to pay attention to what the question is asking in order to avoid choosing misleading answers such as A and B.

(E) Incorrect. "No one who is not a supervisor in the shipping department has the assertiveness this task requires." E states that in the shipping department, there is not a single person that works under a supervisor that has the assertiveness for the task, or rather, there is not a single non-supervisor that has the necessary assertiveness. Because we are dealing with the responsibilities of Larson, Franks, and Parker as supervisors, the statement is irrelevant to the topic under discussion.

Hope this clarifies,

Albert

Ah....great explanation..Guess I misunderstood what was asked...