Critical Reasoning

Source: Knewton

Even though it is expected that the chain restaurants along Highway 00 in Lowtown will close within three years due to competiton from the popular chain restaurant QuicknYum that just opened, those locations will not stay unoccupied for long. In the three years since the opening of Dinone, a non-chain restaurant, a new restaurant has opened at the location of every restaurant along Highway 00 that closed because it could not compete with Dinone.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

A: The strip of Highway 00 that passes through Lowtown currently has as many restaurants as it ever had.
B: It is projected that Lowtown will see more travelers passing through on Highway 00 in the next five years than it has in the past few decades.
C: The restaurants that have opened along Highway 00 since Dinone opened have increasingly been chain restaurants.
D: Many of Dinone's regular diners are expected to do less eating there than they did before the QuicknYum opened.
E: Many restaurants along Highway 00 in Lowtown serve types of food that are not served at either QuicknYum or Dinone.

OA: C

IMO: C

I am not completely sure though..Will appreciate if someone can post answers with explanations!!

OA Plz..??

akhpad wrote:Source: Knewton

Even though it is expected that the chain restaurants along Highway 00 in Lowtown will close within three years due to competiton from the popular chain restaurant QuicknYum that just opened, those locations will not stay unoccupied for long. In the three years since the opening of Dinone, a non-chain restaurant, a new restaurant has opened at the location of every restaurant along Highway 00 that closed because it could not compete with Dinone.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

A: The strip of Highway 00 that passes through Lowtown currently has as many restaurants as it ever had.
B: It is projected that Lowtown will see more travelers passing through on Highway 00 in the next five years than it has in the past few decades.
C: The restaurants that have opened along Highway 00 since Dinone opened have increasingly been chain restaurants.
D: Many of Dinone's regular diners are expected to do less eating there than they did before the QuicknYum opened.
E: Many restaurants along Highway 00 in Lowtown serve types of food that are not served at either QuicknYum or Dinone.

IMO C.

Firstly, others are purely Irrelevant.
Secondly, If Q has justopened then it is because the shop which was there before Q, could not compete with D. Hence there is a chance that Q can also be closed. Hence the conclusion is weakend. Even if Q survives , as denoted by the term "popular", there is no guarantee that other chain restaurants will get closed. Because the author gives a causal relationship between non-chain restaurants and (with answer choice C) chain restaurants. Where as the conclusion is based between chain and chain.
Thus it weakens from all aspects, I believe

I could not find any answer

can anyone elaborate

This question is very similar to an official GMAT question. I don't have the link to the actual question but I am 100% sure that this question is just a pattern.

paddle_sweep wrote:This question is very similar to an official GMAT question. I don't have the link to the actual question but I am 100% sure that this question is just a pattern.

Here, the important thing is that to provide explanation

Even though it is expected that the chain restaurants along Highway 00 in Lowtown will close within three years due to competiton from the popular chain restaurant QuicknYum that just opened, those locations will not stay unoccupied for long. In the three years since the opening of Dinone, a non-chain restaurant, a new restaurant has opened at the location of every restaurant along Highway 00 that closed because it could not compete with Dinone.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

A: The strip of Highway 00 that passes through Lowtown currently has as many restaurants as it ever had.
B: It is projected that Lowtown will see more travelers passing through on Highway 00 in the next five years than it has in the past few decades.
C: The restaurants that have opened along Highway 00 since Dinone opened have increasingly been chain restaurants.

The arguement cites example of a non-chain restaurant opening, and assuming that the trend that followed thereafter will continue in the case of the popular chain restaurant opening too. This should create a red flag since the comparison is not apples to apples. Choice C tells you that the restaurants that open AFTER the non-chain restaurant opened were all chain restaurants. So they weren't direct competitors of Dinone. No other choice brings out the difference between chain and non-chain restaurant.

D: Many of Dinone's regular diners are expected to do less eating there than they did before the QuicknYum opened.
E: Many restaurants along Highway 00 in Lowtown serve types of food that are not served at either QuicknYum or Dinone.

paddle_sweep wrote:This question is very similar to an official GMAT question. I don't have the link to the actual question but I am 100% sure that this question is just a pattern.

Knewton/veritas have this strategy...
Change the subject and you have a new question...
lol...