amysky_0205 wrote:Hii E-Gmat,
thank u for ur explanation! it's really clear!
I would like to ask if strengthen questions can use the same tip too?
The following is an example.
A study followed a group of teenagers who had never smoked and tracked whether they took up smoking and how their mental health changed. After one year, the incidence of depression among those who had taken up smoking was four times as high as it was among those who had not. Since nicotine in cigarettes changes brain chemistry, perhaps thereby affecting mood, it is likely that smoking contributes to depression in teenagers.
Which of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument?
A. Participants who were depressed at the start of the study were no more likely to be smokers after one year than those who were not depressed.
B. The study did not distinguish between participants who smoked only occasionally and those who were heavy smokers.
C. Few, if any, of the participants in the study were friends or relatives of other participants.
D. Some participants entered and emerged from a period of depression within the year of the study.
E. The researchers did not track use of alcohol by the teenagers.
OA:A
thank u so much!
Hi,
The same tip generally doesn't apply to strengthen question. Again, the reason is the same. A strengthener is not a "must be true" statement, thus negating it might or might not undermine the conclusion.
In the given question, negating option A is weakening the conclusion but it is not always the case.
Consider below OG question posted on BTG (
https://www.beatthegmat.com/doubt-in-cr-t59335.html)
Several industries have recently switched at least partly from older technologies powered by fossil fuels to new technologies powered by electricity. It is thus evident that less fossil fuel is being used as a result of the operations of these industries than would have been used if these industries had retained their older technologies.
Which of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument above?
(A) Many of the industries that have switched at least partly to the new technologies have increased their output.
(B) Less fossil fuel was used to manufacture the machinery employed in the new technologies than was
originally used to manufacture the machinery employed in the older technologies.
(C) More electricity is used by those industries that have switched at least partly to the new technologies than by those industries that have not switched.
(D) Some of the industries that have switched at least partly to the new technologies still use primarily technologies that are powered by fossil fuels.
(E) The amount of fossil fuel used to generate the electricity needed to power the new technologies is less than the amount that would have been used to power the older technologies.
Here, the answer is option E. Let's negate this. We get:
The amount of fossil fuel used to generate the electricity needed to power the new technologies is
not less than the amount that would have been used to power the older technologies.
Now, this does not undermine the conclusion, even though on the face of it, it may look so.
Why does it not undermine?
Because it eliminates only one of the reasons which could have supported our conclusion. However, there could be other reasons which make our conclusion stand e.g.
A lot of energy was wasted in cleaning the air caused by pollution due to the use of fossil fuels in older technologies.
If this is true, our conclusion still stands very much true, even when we negate the strengthener.
The key difference between an assumption and a strengthener is that an assumption is always a part of reasoning to support the conclusion, while a strengthener is not always required for the reasoning to support the conclusion.
Therefore, negation test won't always help in case of strengtheners.
Hope this helps
Thanks,
Chiranjeev
