i feel that answer sud be C
what is the OA?

When a district attorney (DA) leaves office in the middle of the term for whatever reason, the political party to which the outgoing DA belonged when he or she took office is allowed to choose a replacement. Since our DA will leave in the middle of her term to become the state's attorney general, her replacement will be a member of the Federal Party.

Which of the following most strengthens the argument above?

The outgoing DA has not changed her party affiliation during her time in office. - Doesn't impact the argument as change in party affiliation during the term anyhow doesn't impact which party chooses the replacement

The DA now leaving in the middle of her term was a member of the Federal Party when she took office. [spoiler](seems to be the correct one)[/spoiler]

The party to which the outgoing DA belongs always chooses a member of the Federal Party when replacing elected officials. Officials has been replaced by Elected officials

When the state's attorney general leaves in the middle of the term, the replacement is decided by the state senate. State Senate is outside the scope of argument

The Federal Party plans to choose to replace the outgoing district attorney with a close associate of the former DA. - Outside the scope

OA is C

This is a Veritas question from the free question bank. https://www.veritasprep.com/gmat-question-bank/

It is a tough question. Looks like about 25% of people are getting the correct answer at this point.

And yet, Mission2012 points out a potential problem with this one! It looks like it does say "elected officials" in C. And nowhere does it say that the DA is elected. So, I need to suggest that this be changed. With that change C becomes the correct answer.

Was that your concern Himu?

Hi David,

Thanks so much for your time;After reading the premise& pre-phasing an ans I came to :
"The DA should be a member of the Federal Party when she took office. " then it should strengthen the conclusion & that's what I found in B.
But surprisingly the ans is C.
As, Mission2012 pointed out I too feel it is B.
Pls correct us if we are wrong.
Also in C, always chooses a member of the Federal Part seems that every time a DA leaves for whatever reason, a member is chosen from Federal party *irrespective of whether he belongs to the Federal Party*

So I am confused between B & C & feel B is the one which MOST STRENGTHENS THE ARGUMENT.


Thanks & Regards,
~Himu.

the reason why B is wrong is as follows:
B says :The DA now leaving in the middle of her term was a member of the Federal Party when she took office.
look at the modifier at the end .the fact that this DA was a member of a Federal party when she took the office is no where guarantee that she is a member of a Federal party at the time of leaving !!this makes B outright wrong .in fact precisely for this reason i never thought B even as contender.!!

himu quote:Also in C, always chooses a member of the Federal Part seems that every time a DA leaves for whatever reason, a member is chosen from Federal party *irrespective of whether he belongs to the Federal Party*

u are not parsing C correctly : its not every time in the sense that u taking .its a fact that The party to which the outgoing DA belongs always chooses a member of the Federal Party .ur missing that "outgoing DA belongs" part

neha24 wrote:the reason why B is wrong is as follows:
B says :The DA now leaving in the middle of her term was a member of the Federal Party when she took office.
look at the modifier at the end .the fact that this DA was a member of a Federal party when she took the office is no where guarantee that she is a member of a Federal party at the time of leaving !!this makes B outright wrong .in fact precisely for this reason i never thought B even as contender.!!

himu quote:Also in C, always chooses a member of the Federal Part seems that every time a DA leaves for whatever reason, a member is chosen from Federal party *irrespective of whether he belongs to the Federal Party*

u are not parsing C correctly : its not every time in the sense that u taking .its a fact that The party to which the outgoing DA belongs always chooses a member of the Federal Party .ur missing that "outgoing DA belongs" part

Hi Neha,

For me option B is fine as even if the DA changes his or her party during the term, the right to choose the replacement stays with the party to which he or she belonged at the beginning of the tenure

and C is not fine as there is twist in scope by bring in "elected members"

i hope that helps

Himu -

Mission 2012 is right. The way that it is currently worded C is not the best, but only because of the use of the word "elected" as in "elected officials."

Now, I can guarantee you that based on this information, I will get this question edited and it will no longer say "elected officials" but will just say "officials."

Now with that change made, the answer is C. This is surprising because B is what you are looking for and B is a pretty good answer.

Neha - Mission is right, B is not incorrect because of the possibility of switching parties, the stimulus does say that what matters is what political party the DA belonged to "When she took office."

The reason that the answer is C is that with the correction mentioned, C is even better! You see, with choice B we still have the possibility that even though the Federal Party gets to choose the replacement, they may not choose a member of their own party. The fact is that we do not know that the Federal Party will nominate a member of the Federal Party to be DA. It seems logical, but it is not as good as C. If C where not available this would be the answer since it only requires the assumption that the Federal Party appoints District Attorneys from the Federal Party.

But if we correct C it requires no assumptions! It literally guarantees that they appoint a member of the Federal Party. So this is tricky - B is what you anticipate, but once C is edited of that one word, C is better!

Does that make sense?

So Mission, thanks very much for pointing that out to me I will get it changed. So that now we can deal with Choice C as it should be written without "elected" officials. And I think that you will agree that now C is unexpected, but better.

Hi, just wanted to give my opinion...

"B" --- "The DA now leaving in the middle of her term was a member of the Federal Party when she took office." ===> This tells us that the "Federal Party" will be choosing the replacement. It does not give us any indication that the "Federal Party" will choose a "Federal Replacement" (Although you would assume so).

"C" --- "The party to which the outgoing DA belongs always chooses a member of the Federal Party when replacing elected officials." ===> This guarantees a "member of the Federal Party", therefore, best answer.