Official GMAT question - Assumptio

This topic has expert replies
Legendary Member
Posts: 768
Joined: Mon Nov 30, 2009 3:46 am
Thanked: 21 times
Followed by:7 members

Official GMAT question - Assumptio

by GMATMadeEasy » Thu Oct 14, 2010 3:38 am
Many people suffer an allergic reaction to certain sulfites, including those that are commonly added to wine as preservatives. However, since there are several wine makers who add sulfites to none of the wines they produce, people who would like to drink wine but are allergic to sulfites can drink wines produced by these wine makers without risking an allergic reaction to sulfites.

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

A. These wine makers have been able to duplicate the preservative effect produced by adding sulfites by means that do not involve adding any potentially allergenic substances to their wine.
B. Not all forms of sulfite are equally likely to produce the allergic reactions.
C. Wine is the only beverage to which sulfites are commonly added.
D. Apart from sulfites, there are no substances commonly present in wine that give rise to an allergic reaction.
E. Sulfites are not naturally present in the wines produced by these wine makers in amounts large enough to produce an allergic reaction in someone
who drinks these wines.

Could someone explain the answer choice A in detail please.
Source: — Critical Reasoning |

User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 2193
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2010 6:30 pm
Location: Vermont and Boston, MA
Thanked: 1186 times
Followed by:512 members
GMAT Score:770

by David@VeritasPrep » Thu Oct 14, 2010 7:43 am
This question was discussed before back in June, but I think that it could use a little fuller explanation.

This is an assumption question. So we are looking to protect the evidence that we have, rather than acquire new evidence. This is an important difference between an assumption and a regular strengthen question.

The evidence that we have is that some wine makers do not add sulfites to their wines. From this evidence the conclusion is reached that people who are allergic to sulfites can drink these wines without a reaction. So the implication here is that there are no sulfites in the wine. Now we need to protect the evidence that we have - which is that no sulfites are added and therefore the wine is sulfite free. What would weaken this? If the wine naturally has sulfites those with allergies could not drink it at all. So we want to protect against this. Answer choice E does this - it states that sulfites are not naturally in the wines in large amounts. This preserves the link between our evidence and our conclusion.

None of the other answer choice are absolutely required.

Here is the previous discussion.

https://www.beatthegmat.com/many-people- ... 59917.html
Veritas Prep | GMAT Instructor

Veritas Prep Reviews
Save $100 off any live Veritas Prep GMAT Course

GMAT Instructor
Posts: 1302
Joined: Mon Oct 19, 2009 2:13 pm
Location: Toronto
Thanked: 539 times
Followed by:164 members
GMAT Score:800

by Testluv » Thu Oct 14, 2010 11:38 pm
GMATMadeEasy wrote:Could someone explain the answer choice A in detail please.
Choice A reads:
A. These wine makers have been able to duplicate the preservative effect produced by adding sulfites by means that do not involve adding any potentially allergenic substances to their wine.
We don't care whether or not they're able to duplicate the preservative effect without adding any allergenic substances. I can understand why this choice is tempting. If they aren't able to duplicate the preservative effect without adding any allergenic substances, then it suggests that they are adding allergenic substances in which case the argument falls apart. However, we can't assume they are still interested in duplicating the preservative effect in the first place--that's outside the scope of the argument. Also, the conclusion is about allergic reactions TO THE SULFITES--thus, allergic reactions to substances other than sulfites is also outside the scope (that's also why choice D is wrong).
Kaplan Teacher in Toronto