Critical Reasoning

Hope I can get some help with the following questions

1.Law enforcement officials and other experts on crime cautioned that the latest report which shows that violent crime increased in the United States for the first time in four years, up 2.5 percent in 2005 from the year before, does not necessarily mean that crime would start to run rampant again. The increases in violent crime came after years of successful crime reduction efforts all over the country in the 1990's. According to experts, after the sharp decreases during the 1990's, the crime rate from 2000 to 2004 was almost constant. The seven good years of crime decline ended when the 1990's ended. Now the challenge isn't so much to make the crime rate go down more, because that's not necessarily realistic, but the challenge is to make sure that the small blip doesn't become a big one."

The author is arguing that.......

(A)crimes rates will not decrease after a seven-year period, and hence, there is no point in trying to reduce crime.
(B)after a certain point crime rate will not decrease, and efforts should be directed at not allowing it to rise again.
(C)the number of crimes committed remains constant after a certain period, and the challenge would be to not allow it to rise again.
(D)the crime rate might not fall below a certain level, and hence, the challenge would be to ensure that it does not rise above that level.
(E)as the crime rate becomes constant the methods to combat crime should be changed.

2.Thirty years ago, the percentage of British people who vacationed in foreign countries was very small compared to the large percentage of the British population who travel abroad for vacations now. Foreign travel is, and has always been, expensive from Britain. Therefore, British people must have, on average, more money to spend on vacations now than they did 30 years ago.

All of the following weaken the conclusion made in the passage above, EXCEPT:

(A)Thirty years ago, Britain was connected to less than a third of the foreign tourist places it is connected to now.
(B)Thirty years ago, the percentage of British people who considered vacationing abroad safe was only 5 while today it is 40.
(C)The incomes of British people today, when adjusted for inflation, are only marginally better than those of 30 years ago, but the rate of savings today is substantially lower than what it was 30 years ago.
(D)Only 20% of British people surveyed 30 years ago expressed vacationing abroad as their main holiday plan compared to today's 70%.
(E)Compared to today, a huge chunk of the British population was unwilling to vacation beyond its borders as they were reluctant to adjust to foreign climates, languages and food.



3.Agricultural societies cannot exist without any staple crops. Several food plants, such as eggplant and tomato, are known to have been domesticated in Central America but they are all supplemental foods, not staple. All the recorded staple crops grown in Central America were introduced from elsewhere, beginning at some unknown date with wheat and potato. Therefore, establishing when wheat and potato were introduced into Central America would give us the earliest date at which agricultural societies could have formed there.

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

(A)People in Central America did not indigenously develop staple crops that they stopped cultivating once wheat and potato were introduced from outside.
(B)There are no plants native to Central America that, if domesticated, could serve as staple food crops.
(C)Wheat and potato were grown as staple crops by the earliest agricultural societies outside of Central America.
(D)Eggplant and tomato are better suited to growing conditions in Central America than domesticated wheat and potato are.
(E)Eggplant and tomato were domesticated in Central America before wheat and potato were introduced there.

4.The inflation in Gambonia last year was 7 percent, but this year it has dropped to 5 percent. We can thus conclude that the inflation is on a downward trend in Gambonia, and that the inflation will be even lower next year.

Which of the following, if true, most weakens the argument given above?

(A)The inflation figures were based on a statistical sample and not the entire data.
(B)Last year, a crop failure of essential commodities had led to a hike in inflation.
(C)Decrease in the rate of growth of prices and wages can lead to lesser inflation.
(D)Last year's inflation figure was an all-time high.
(E)Exports can help in stabilizing inflation to a great extent.


5.The parliament is currently debating a legislation, which if passed, would force manufacturers to increase the number of paid vacation days for employees, to pay higher overtime wages, and to pay all day-care expenses for children of each employee. This legislation is being supported by members of various employee groups whose demands we know will always be opposed to the benefits of their employers, and hence, it should not be heeded.

The columnist's argument is flawed because it:

(A)attacks the legislation by calling into question the integrity of the originators of the legislation.
(B)assails the proposed legislation on the basis that it is bound to be opposed instead of evaluating its merits and demerits.
(C)attempts to discredit the legislation by appealing to those who would be adversely affected.
(D)presupposes that legislation is bad legislation whenever it has only a small number of supporters outside the country's national legislative body.
(E)rejects the legislation on the grounds that its supporters are inconsistently seeking to place burdens on manufacturers upon whom the supporters depend.

My choices 1.B, 2.D, 3.A, 4.B, 5.B. please post the OA

1. D
2. D
3. A
4. E
5. B

Chitra ur absolutely right. I unfortunately do not have the explanations for these answers. Hoping u can elaborate on them for me. Thanks

Ok Brent. Will definitely post them as separate questions. Can u if possible answer any one of them on this post. That way I can repost the other 4 questions separately. Thnx

@sivaelectric: Can you please explain Q4.

The inflation in Gambonia last year was 7 percent, but this year it has dropped to 5 percent. We can thus conclude that the inflation is on a downward trend in Gambonia, and that the inflation will be even lower next year.

Which of the following, if true, most weakens the argument given above?

(A)The inflation figures were based on a statistical sample and not the entire data.
(B)Last year, a crop failure of essential commodities had led to a hike in inflation.
(C)Decrease in the rate of growth of prices and wages can lead to lesser inflation.
(D)Last year's inflation figure was an all-time high.
(E)Exports can help in stabilizing inflation to a great extent.

7 is the initial inflation and then it reduces to 5. so it's said to take a downward trend. The question is which weakens the argument most? Now look at the B answer. When there is a crop failure, there will be high prices due to more demand. So inflation would be high. But this need not necessarily mean that the inflation will go down after that. There is no relation between them. Hope I am right with the explanation. Please correct me if I am wrong.

1.Law enforcement officials and other experts on crime cautioned that the latest report which shows that violent crime increased in the United States for the first time in four years, up 2.5 percent in 2005 from the year before, does not necessarily mean that crime would start to run rampant again. The increases in violent crime came after years of successful crime reduction efforts all over the country in the 1990's. According to experts, after the sharp decreases during the 1990's, the crime rate from 2000 to 2004 was almost constant. The seven good years of crime decline ended when the 1990's ended. Now the challenge isn't so much to make the crime rate go down more, because that's not necessarily realistic, but the challenge is to make sure that the small blip doesn't become a big one."

The author is arguing that.......

(A)crimes rates will not decrease after a seven-year period, and hence, there is no point in trying to reduce crime.
(B)after a certain point crime rate will not decrease, and efforts should be directed at not allowing it to rise again.
(C)the number of crimes committed remains constant after a certain period, and the challenge would be to not allow it to rise again.
(D)the crime rate might not fall below a certain level, and hence, the challenge would be to ensure that it does not rise above that level.
(E)as the crime rate becomes constant the methods to combat crime should be changed.

Answer B is clearly mentioned in the argument. See the last two lines.

2.Thirty years ago, the percentage of British people who vacationed in foreign countries was very small compared to the large percentage of the British population who travel abroad for vacations now. Foreign travel is, and has always been, expensive from Britain. Therefore, British people must have, on average, more money to spend on vacations now than they did 30 years ago.

All of the following weaken the conclusion made in the passage above, EXCEPT:

(A)Thirty years ago, Britain was connected to less than a third of the foreign tourist places it is connected to now.
(B)Thirty years ago, the percentage of British people who considered vacationing abroad safe was only 5 while today it is 40.
(C)The incomes of British people today, when adjusted for inflation, are only marginally better than those of 30 years ago, but the rate of savings today is substantially lower than what it was 30 years ago.
(D)Only 20% of British people surveyed 30 years ago expressed vacationing abroad as their main holiday plan compared to today's 70%.
(E)Compared to today, a huge chunk of the British population was unwilling to vacation beyond its borders as they were reluctant to adjust to foreign climates, languages and food.

The question which does not weaken the argument or in other words, which strengthens the argument. The argument says that the number of travels have increased today. In D, its exactly the same. 30 years ago, only 20% of the British people expressed vacationing abroad but its 70% today. this statistics strengthens the argument.

@Knight247 Please put up one question per post.

sivaelectric wrote:@Knight247 Please put up one question per post.

Will surely do that my friend. Just new to the forum. lol. If u don't mind can u give a slightly more detailed explanation about the 2nd problem, the one about the British ppl and also the 5th one. Much Appreciated.

@knight247 I have edited my initial post and explained Q #2 and I am not sure about how to explain the Q #5?

sivaelectric wrote:

The inflation in Gambonia last year was 7 percent, but this year it has dropped to 5 percent. We can thus conclude that the inflation is on a downward trend in Gambonia, and that the inflation will be even lower next year.

Which of the following, if true, most weakens the argument given above?

(A)The inflation figures were based on a statistical sample and not the entire data.
(B)Last year, a crop failure of essential commodities had led to a hike in inflation.
(C)Decrease in the rate of growth of prices and wages can lead to lesser inflation.
(D)Last year's inflation figure was an all-time high.
(E)Exports can help in stabilizing inflation to a great extent.

7 is the initial inflation and then it reduces to 5. so it's said to take a downward trend. The question is which weakens the argument most? Now look at the B answer. When there is a crop failure, there will be high prices due to more demand. So inflation would be high. But this need not necessarily mean that the inflation will go down after that. There is no relation between them. Hope I am right with the explanation. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Ur reasoning sounds logical. And it is the correct answer. Doesn't option D give the same reasoning that inflation need not go down after last years all time high? Hope u can clarify that for me

My thoughts, Its already given in the argument that inflation was high. We don't have to see whether it was high or an all time high. But in the answer choice B, there is a reason given for the high inflation. I am sorry that I can't explain better than this.


Expert Explanation requested please.