Please help me with this question of CR.

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aartig: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 2; Joined: Sun Feb 05, 2017 4:35 am

by aartig » Sun Feb 05, 2017 4:37 am

The peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is that it robs the human race. It takes from posterity, as well as existing generation, and from those who dissent from the opinion even more than those who hold it. if the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth; if it is wrong, they lose what is almost as great a benefit; the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error.

which one of the following best expresses the conclusion presented in the argument?

1) silencing the expression of an opinion is robbing the human race.
2) silencing the expression of an opinion harms those who dissent more than those who agree.
3) anyone who agrees with an opinion would not want to silence its expression.
4) gaining a clearer perception and livelier of truth is a great benefit.
5) the greatest benefit is the opportunity of exchanging truth for error.

I marked 2 as my option; however, the correct answer is 1. Can anyone give me an explanation why 2 is wrong?

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Critical Reasoning | Sun Feb 05, 2017 4:37 am

elias.latour.apex: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 228; Joined: Thu Apr 20, 2017 1:02 amFollowed by: 3 members; Location: Global; Thanked: 32 times; GMAT Score:770

by elias.latour.apex » Sun Apr 30, 2017 4:49 am

The first answer choice is clearly the best answer as it is well supported by the text.

What's wrong with the second answer choice? Well, if we carefully read the stimulus, we will see that the stimulus claims that people are most harmed if the opinion is correct (because they are deprived of the opportunity to exchange error for truth). People are also harmed if the opinion is wrong (although not as much) because they are deprived of the opportunity to more clearly perceive the truth.

The second answer choice says that more harm is done to those who dissent than to those who agree. This answer is not supported by the text. The text talks about the harm done depending on whether the opinion is true or false not based on who holds the opinion.

Thus, the second answer choice cannot be inferred from the above. Accordingly, it cannot be a restatement of the conclusion of the argument.

Elias Latour
Verbal Specialist @ ApexGMAT
blog.apexgmat.com
+1 (646) 736-7622

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ceilidh.erickson: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 2095; Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2012 3:22 pmFollowed by: 247 members; Thanked: 1443 times

by ceilidh.erickson » Wed May 03, 2017 11:38 am

aartig wrote:The peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is that it robs the human race. It takes from posterity, as well as existing generation, and from those who dissent from the opinion even more than those who hold it. if the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth; if it is wrong, they lose what is almost as great a benefit; the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error.

which one of the following best expresses the conclusion presented in the argument?

1) silencing the expression of an opinion is robbing the human race.
2) silencing the expression of an opinion harms those who dissent more than those who agree.
3) anyone who agrees with an opinion would not want to silence its expression.
4) gaining a clearer perception and livelier of truth is a great benefit.
5) the greatest benefit is the opportunity of exchanging truth for error.

I marked 2 as my option; however, the correct answer is 1. Can anyone give me an explanation why 2 is wrong?

What is the source of this question? It is not a very GMAT-like question at all.

When a GMAT CR asks about conclusions, it is almost always "what new statement can be correctly inferred from the above information?"

When the GMAT is asking about the role of a particular statement within an argument, it will almost always be "the boldface statements play which of the following roles?"

Remember - it is a copyright violation to post questions without posting your source.

Ceilidh Erickson
EdM in Mind, Brain, and Education
Harvard Graduate School of Education

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elias.latour.apex: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 228; Joined: Thu Apr 20, 2017 1:02 amFollowed by: 3 members; Location: Global; Thanked: 32 times; GMAT Score:770

by elias.latour.apex » Wed May 03, 2017 2:15 pm

ceilidh.erickson wrote:What is the source of this question? It is not a very GMAT-like question at all.

I agree that it doesn't seem that much like a GMAT question. It seems more like an LSAT question. It's been posted before at https://www.beatthegmat.com/gmat-lsat-cr ... 41008.html

Elias Latour
Verbal Specialist @ ApexGMAT
blog.apexgmat.com
+1 (646) 736-7622

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