Critical Reasoning

Frobisher, a sixteenth-century English explorer, had soil samples from Canada’s
Kodlunarn Island examined for gold content. Because high gold content was reported,
Elizabeth I funded two mining expeditions. Neither expedition found any gold there.
Modern analysis of the island’s soil indicates a very low gold content. Thus the methods
used to determine the gold content of Frobisher’s samples must have been inaccurate.
Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?
A. The gold content of the soil on Kodlunarn Island is much lower today than it was
in the sixteenth century.
B. The two mining expeditions funded by Elizabeth I did not mine the same part of
Kodlunarn Island.
C. The methods used to assess gold content of the soil samples provided by
Frobisher were different from those generally used in the sixteenth century.
D. Frobisher did not have soil samples from any other Canadian island examined for
gold content.
E. Gold was not added to the soil samples collected by Frobisher before the samples
were examined.

IMO;E


I know the assumption is quite funny... but i guess thats d only one that makes sense..

dont have solid reason but IMO C

IMO E

my pick is E as well. By using deinial test, if Gold was added before the sample test, then the "methods" used to find the gold are indeed accurate and the evidence that mining didnt help find any gold is also substantiated at the same time.

kiranlegend wrote:Frobisher, a sixteenth-century English explorer, had soil samples from Canada’s
Kodlunarn Island examined for gold content. Because high gold content was reported,
Elizabeth I funded two mining expeditions. Neither expedition found any gold there.
Modern analysis of the island’s soil indicates a very low gold content. Thus the methods
used to determine the gold content of Frobisher’s samples must have been inaccurate.
Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?
A. The gold content of the soil on Kodlunarn Island is much lower today than it was
in the sixteenth century.
B. The two mining expeditions funded by Elizabeth I did not mine the same part of
Kodlunarn Island.
C. The methods used to assess gold content of the soil samples provided by
Frobisher were different from those generally used in the sixteenth century.
D. Frobisher did not have soil samples from any other Canadian island examined for
gold content.
E. Gold was not added to the soil samples collected by Frobisher before the samples
were examined.

IMO E

The problem with D is -> If we use negation test ..i.e "Frobisher HAD soil samples from other Canadian islands..for gold content...",

1) argument does not specify whether or not those islands ACTUALLY had gold content...those islands might or might not had gold content...

I prefer C to E,
E seems have no relevance to passage.

Also E.

the passage doesn't say anything that the other mining expenditures. they could be done by Frobisher or by others with other methods.

since we don't know this for sure, I'll go with E.

ildude02 wrote:By using deinial test

Hi ildude02 - please can you explain how you use the denial test? I'm struggling with strengthen/assumption questions and I reckon this test would help me. What is it and how do I use the test?

Can you post the right answer and what prep material is this from.

I think it would be E as C Seems ti general/Vague.

It seems to me that the right answer is E