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John Works 5 Days

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by madhukumar_v » Sun Nov 08, 2009 10:17 am
John works five days each week except when on vacation or during weeks in which national holidays occur. Four days a week he works in an insurance company; on Fridays he works as a blacksmith. Last week there were no holidays, and John was not on vacation. Therefore, he must have worked in the insurance company on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday last week.

Which one of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?

A. John never takes a vacation of more than one week in length.

B. Every day last week that John worked, he worked for an entire workday.

C. John does not take vacations in weeks in which national holidays occur.

D. Last week John worked neither on Saturday nor on Sunday.

E. There were no days last week on which John both worked in the insurance company and also worked as a blacksmith.

Please explain your choice. Appreciate it.
Source: LSAT
Answer: D
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Re: John Works 5 Days

by raghavakumar85 » Sun Nov 08, 2009 11:33 am
madhukumar_v wrote:John works five days each week except when on vacation or during weeks in which national holidays occur. Four days a week he works in an insurance company; on Fridays he works as a blacksmith. Last week there were no holidays, and John was not on vacation. Therefore, he must have worked in the insurance company on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday last week.

Which one of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?

A. John never takes a vacation of more than one week in length.

B. Every day last week that John worked, he worked for an entire workday.

C. John does not take vacations in weeks in which national holidays occur.

D. Last week John worked neither on Saturday nor on Sunday.

E. There were no days last week on which John both worked in the insurance company and also worked as a blacksmith.

Please explain your choice. Appreciate it.
Source: LSAT
Answer: D
IMO D.
A: not stated anywhere in the argument about John taking leave more than a week. Eliminated.
B: Not stated anywhere in the argument about John working for a full day or half day or for few hours. Eliminated.
C:Not stated again about leaves on national holidays. Eliminated.
D: Correct. Because John worked at insurance company on Mon, Tue, Wed n Thu, and the argument states that on fridays he will be working as blacksmith. Also he did not take any leave last week. As he works only for 5 days a week, sat n sun must be his days off.
E. Not stated in the argument and doesn't look like an assumption. Eliminated.
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Re: John Works 5 Days

by Testluv » Sun Nov 08, 2009 2:55 pm
madhukumar_v wrote:John works five days each week except when on vacation or during weeks in which national holidays occur. Four days a week he works in an insurance company; on Fridays he works as a blacksmith. Last week there were no holidays, and John was not on vacation. Therefore, he must have worked in the insurance company on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday last week.

Which one of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?

A. John never takes a vacation of more than one week in length.

B. Every day last week that John worked, he worked for an entire workday.

C. John does not take vacations in weeks in which national holidays occur.

D. Last week John worked neither on Saturday nor on Sunday.

E. There were no days last week on which John both worked in the insurance company and also worked as a blacksmith.

Please explain your choice. Appreciate it.
Source: LSAT
Answer: D
Hi madhukumar,

In arguments, it is important to understand the conclusion precisely, and what the evidence establishes. Then look for the difference.

The author is concluding that John MUST have worked at the insurance company on Mon, Tues, Wed, and Thurs of last week...but the evidence neer did stablish that Joh only workes on weekdays. Fine he works four days at the insruance company, but those days could have included Saturday and Sunday. Choice D matches this.

We can also use the denial test on choice D to check whether it is correct: what if John DID work on either of Saturday or Sunday? Then the author's argument--that John MUSThave worked on Mon/Tues/Wed/Thurs falls apart. Because, in the absenece of choice D, the argument falls apart, choice D is a necessary assumption for the argument to hold.
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by palvarez » Sun Nov 08, 2009 3:09 pm
Choice E can be inferred from what is already in the argument: "John works five days each week: four days a week he works in an insurance company; on Fridays he works as a blacksmith."

Inference is not an assumption. Another trap: put an inference as a wrong choice!
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by Testluv » Mon Nov 09, 2009 8:21 pm
palvarez wrote:Choice E can be inferred from what is already in the argument: "John works five days each week: four days a week he works in an insurance company; on Fridays he works as a blacksmith."

Inference is not an assumption. Another trap: put an inference as a wrong choice!
That's an excellent tip Palvarez!

In general, in assumption questions, if an answer chioce re-states or contradicts evidence, then it is automatically wrong.

An assumption is something that is UNstated so if an answer chioce to an assumption question restates evidence, it is, by definition, wrong.

And answer choices that contradict evidence are necessarily wrong in assumption questions: it would be very odd that, in order for the author's argument to be correct, he would have to assume something that contradicts the evidence he has already given.

So, in assumption questions, avoid choices that restate evidence or that tend to weaken the argument.
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by punitkaur » Fri Nov 13, 2009 7:39 am
Hi Testluv,

I was confused between D & E too. I can understand why D fits in, But when I try to negate E, I see that it kind of weakens the argument too. Pls correct me..

E: There were no days last week on which John both worked in the insurance company and also worked as a blacksmith.

Negation-There were some days last week on which John worked in insurance company and also worked as a blacksmith.

So john must have worked as both[blacksmith + insurance] on a friday since that is when he works as a blacksmith too. Again to conclude this, I am assuming that friday is the only day he can work as blacksmith. Is that the reason why this choice cannot be assumed? If it is ok to assume that friday is the only day possible for john to work as a blacksmith, and he can totally work at insurance for 4 days, then it weakens the conclusion.

Do you think this is why E is wrong, because for it to be as assumption we need another assumption that friday is the only day that he can work as blacksmith. Or is there another reason for E to be wrong?
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by james33 » Sun May 15, 2016 10:12 pm
I would go for E as well. It seems the best and safest among the rest.
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