Critical Reasoning

A politician can neither be reelected nor avoid
censure by his or her colleagues if that politician is
known to be involved in any serious scandals.
Several prominent politicians have just now been
shown to be involved in a conspiracy that turned into
a serious scandal. These politicians will therefore not
be reelected.

If the statements above are all true, which one of the
following statements must also be true?

(A) The prominent politicians cannot escape
censure by their colleagues.
(B) If there had been no scandal, the prominent
politicians would be reelected.
(C) No politician is censured unless he or she is
known to be involved in a serious scandal.
(D) The prominent politicians initially benefited
from the conspiracy that caused the scandal.
(E) Some politicians who are involved in
scandalous conspiracies avoid detection and
censure.

Please explain. Thanks a bunch.

D and E are out of scope.

Down to A,B,C.

I would go with A

(A) The prominent politicians cannot escape
censure by their colleagues.

This must be true based on the facts stated in the argument.

If a politician is involved in a scandal 2 things happen:

1) No relection to the position possible
2) Censured by his/her colleagues.

This choice looks like a parapharse of whats given in the argument so must be true

(B) If there had been no scandal, the prominent
politicians would be reelected.

This could be true but not must be true

(C) No politician is censured unless he or she is
known to be involved in a serious scandal.

This could be true but not must be true

(A) The prominent politicians cannot escape
censure by their colleagues.
As per passage above, several prominent politicians but not all.. So A out

(B) If there had been no scandal, the prominent
politicians would be reelected.
Same reason as above B out

(C) No politician is censured unless he or she is
known to be involved in a serious scandal.
If politician is censured, he is involved in scandal. Hence C correct.

(D) The prominent politicians initially benefited
from the conspiracy that caused the scandal.
There is no talk abt initially. D out

(E) Some politicians who are involved in
scandalous conspiracies avoid detection and
censure.
There is no talk abt detection. E out.

Hence I opt for C. OA plz.

cramya wrote:D and E are out of scope.

Down to A,B,C.

I would go with A

(A) The prominent politicians cannot escape
censure by their colleagues.

This must be true based on the facts stated in the argument.

If a politician is involved in a scandal 2 things happen:

1) No relection to the position possible
2) Censured by his/her colleagues.

This choice looks like a parapharse of whats given in the argument so must be true

(B) If there had been no scandal, the prominent
politicians would be reelected.

This could be true but not must be true

(C) No politician is censured unless he or she is
known to be involved in a serious scandal.

This could be true but not must be true

IMO E

(A) The prominent politicians cannot escape
censure by their colleagues -> Applicable to only those politicians who have committed scandals.

B. same reason as stated by CR

C. same reason as stated by CR

D. same reason as stated by CR

E. from argument

Several prominent politicians have just now been
shown to be involved in a conspiracy that turned into
a serious scandal. These politicians will therefore not
be reelected.

seems some politicians managed to escape from scandals. IMO.

OA pls?

wht is the OA

I agree with piyush_nitt. My answer is also E.

piyush_nitt wrote:
(A) The prominent politicians cannot escape
censure by their colleagues -> Applicable to only those politicians who have committed scandals.

Think once again. Premise never talks about committing the scandal. It just talks about involvement. So we cannot refute option (A).

IMO (A)

Why (E) is wrong?

(E) Some politicians who are involved in scandalous conspiracies avoid detection and censure.


Some politicians can avoid detection and censure ---> WHO knows that? Nothing such mentioned in the premise. Hence INCORRECT CHOICE to follow.

interesting CR. Kanha81, what is the OA?

snsubbu wrote:interesting CR. Kanha81, what is the OA?

OA is [spoiler][A][/spoiler]

Cramya's explanation makes perfect sense. At first instance, when I answered this question, I chose [E] as the answer; however, after careful examination, one will come to realize that the conclusion states "the politician will not be reelected", which means that "the politician will certainly be censured due to the involvement in the serious scnadal."

Answer [E] is wrong for the basic reason that we do not know that some politicians avoid detection and censure. We're interpreting too much in that case.

Take-away:
In conditional relationship stimulus for MBT (must be true) questions, if one of the necessary conditions fails, the other necessary condition must occur. In this case, the other necessary condition is politician censure by his/her colleagues, if found involved in the scandal.

I hope this helps.

Guys please help me understand the reason for A.

Last line says of argument says "Several prominent politicians".... but several doesnt mean ALL Prominent politicians. I thought C should have been the answer.

A vs C
If X happens, Y happens.
But it is not true that, If X does not happen, Y will NOT happen.

In A, X happened, so Y must happen.

In C, we cannot say, if politician is not involved in scandal, censured will not happen.