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Weaken Question - Plz Explain

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by akashkumar1987 » Mon Oct 08, 2012 7:19 pm
Fairfield's postal service is badly managed. Thirty years ago first-class letter delivery cost only three cents. The price has increased sevenfold since then and the reliability and speed of service have declined as well.

All of the following would tend to weaken the conclusion of the argument above EXCEPT:

a. The volume of mail handled by the postal service has increased dramatically over the last thirty years.
b. Unprecedented increases in the cost of fuel for trucks and planes have put severe upward pressures on postal delivery costs.
c. Private delivery services usually charge more than does the postal service for comparable delivery services.
d. The average delivery time for a first-class letter three decades ago was slightly longer than it is today.
e. The average level of consumer prices overall has increased fourfold over the last thirty years.

Answer s E but why ????

Why cant C be the answer ...........
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Source: — Critical Reasoning |
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by gmat6087 » Mon Oct 08, 2012 10:52 pm
akashkumar1987 wrote:Fairfield's postal service is badly managed. Thirty years ago first-class letter delivery cost only three cents. The price has increased sevenfold since then and the reliability and speed of service have declined as well.

All of the following would tend to weaken the conclusion of the argument above EXCEPT:

a. The volume of mail handled by the postal service has increased dramatically over the last thirty years.
b. Unprecedented increases in the cost of fuel for trucks and planes have put severe upward pressures on postal delivery costs.
c. Private delivery services usually charge more than does the postal service for comparable delivery services.
d. The average delivery time for a first-class letter three decades ago was slightly longer than it is today.
e. The average level of consumer prices overall has increased fourfold over the last thirty years.

Answer s E but why ????

Why cant C be the answer ...........
A guiding principle in "weaken the conclusion of the argument above EXCEPT"
or "strengthen the conclusion of the argument above EXCEPT"

"weaken the conclusion of the argument above EXCEPT": 4 answer choices weaken the argument 1 doesn't weaken. It means one argument may strengthen or may not have any impact on the argument

Similarly in "strengthen the conclusion of the argument above EXCEPT" :4 answer choices strengthen the argument 1 doesn't strengthen. It means one argument may weaken or may not have any impact on the argument.

logical opposite of strengthen is not weaken (may strengthen or may be out of scope)
logical opposite of weaken is not strengthen (may weaken or may be out of scope)

Use this logic and answer will be e.
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by ktlee1981 » Mon Oct 08, 2012 11:11 pm
So, the question is asking us to identify the answer choice that does not weaken the conclusion. Let's look at the question stem first:

The conclusion: "Fairfield's postal service is badly managed."

The premises:
The price of first-class delivery has increased sevenfold from 30 years ago
The reliability and speed of the service have declined.

Now let's look at the answer choices:

A: The volume of mail handled by the postal service has increased dramatically over the last thirty years. This weakens the conclusion that the postal service is badly managed by pointing to another possible explanation for the delays and lack of reliability: the volume of mail has increased dramatically and this increase in volume is behind some of the problems experienced by the postal service. Reject and move on.

B: Unprecedented increases in the cost of fuel for trucks and planes have put severe upward pressures on postal delivery costs. This weakens the conclusion that the sevenfold increase in cost is a sign of poor management by pointing to an external cause beyond the control of the management. Reject and move on.

C: Private delivery services usually charge more than does the postal service for comparable delivery services. Again, this weakens the conclusion that the postal service is poorly managed by showing that other comparable firms in the industry are not providing the service at a cost equal to or below the cost of the postal service. (An unstated assumption here is that the private sector is generally more efficient and/or better managed.) Reject and move on.

D: The average delivery time for a first-class letter three decades ago was slightly longer than it is today. This weakens the conclusion by showing that the delivery times are better now than they were 30 years ago. Reject and move on.

E: The average level of consumer prices overall has increased fourfold over the last thirty years. How does this affect our conclusion? It doesn't, really. The fact that consumer prices have increased fourfold while the cost of sending a letter by first-class mail has increased by sevenfold does not weaken the conclusion. It may even strengthen it. This is the answer we're looking for.
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