Critical Reasoning

Barnes: The two newest employees at this company have salaries that are too high for the simple tasks normally assigned to new employees and duties that are too complex for inexperienced workers. Hence, the
salaries and the complexity of the duties of these two newest employees should be reduced.
Which one of the following is an assumption on which Barnes's argument depends?
(A) The duties of the two newest employees are not less complex than any others in the
company.
(B) It is because of the complex duties assigned that the two newest employees are being
paid more than is usually paid to newly hired employees.
(C) The two newest employees are not experienced at their occupations.
(D) Barnes was not hired at a higher-than-average starting salary.
(E) The salaries of the two newest employees are no higher than the salaries that other
companies pay for workers with a similar level of experience.

[spoiler]OA : C[/spoiler]

One way of finding assumptions is to negate an objection to the argument. This argument is:

I "we should reduce their salary because it's too high for the tasks normally assigned to new employees."

and

II "we should simplify their tasks because their duties are too complicated for inexperienced workers"

When objecting to an argument, ask yourself: "what has the author not proven?"

For I, we can object by saying to ourselves: "perhaps there is an abnormal (or unusual) reason to provide these new employees with high salaries"--after all, the author hasn't proven that there isn't.

For II, we can object by saying to ourselves: "how do we know these new employees are inexperienced?" Again, the author hasn't proven that these new employees are inexperienced. "Perhaps they are experienced" is our second objection then.

These objections hurt the argument. An assumption is unstated evidence--something that helps the argument. That's why we should negate these objections. The author is assuming:

I)that there isn't an abnormal (or unusual) reason to provide these new employees with high salaries

and

II)that these new employees aren't experienced.

So, Barne's argument depends on assumption I and assumption II. But only one will show up in the answer choices (because there can only be one accredited response). So, we approach the answer choices, searching for one that matches either one of I or II. Choice [spoiler](C)[/spoiler] matches II spot-on, and is therefore correct.

Hi All,

I have update the original post with OA, conclusion in bold and premises underlined.
A very good practice question that helps us apply negation to assumption questions

Thanks to testluv for super good explanation.

The underlined premises helped to switch on the bulb ...

IMO C too . Awesome explanation Testluv.

Testluv wrote:One way of finding assumptions is to negate an objection to the argument. This argument is:

I "we should reduce their salary because it's too high for the tasks normally assigned to new employees."

and

II "we should simplify their tasks because their duties are too complicated for inexperienced workers"

after reading the stimulus i had the impression that tasks were different from duties since the author finds the task simple and the guties complex. Isnt it so ?