an odd CR

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an odd CR

by diebeatsthegmat » Fri Oct 29, 2010 11:23 am
Ellen: All three of Shirley's children have the measles!
Lois: As a matter of fact, all three of Shirley's children are fine!

Accepting the assumption that nobody who has measles is fine, which of the following must be true about this exchange?

(A) It is possible that both Ellen and Lois are right about Shirley's children.
(B) It is possible that both Ellen and Lois are mistaken about Shirley's children.
(C) Either Ellen is right about Shirley's children, or Lois is right about them, but they cannot both be right.
(D) Ellen and Lois might both be right about Shirley's children, and they might both be wrong about them.
(E) None of these alternatives correctly identifies the possibilities for this scenario.

can you guy please explain me why the OA is B, why is not C??? i chose C and wrong and i dont understand, i also dont understand its OE too
here is the OE i found
T[spoiler]hese two statements are called 'contraries.' That is, they cannot both be true, but they can both be false. The latter would valid if, for example, two of Shirley's children had measles and the third one was fine. But no combination of illness and health in Shirley's children will allow both Ellen and Lois's statements to be true. (C) is incorrect because there is no reason why either one of them has to be correct. Both Ellen and Lois could be wrong.[/spoiler]
Source: — Critical Reasoning |

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by rkanthilal » Fri Oct 29, 2010 2:56 pm
Ellen: All three of Shirley's children have the measles!
Lois: As a matter of fact, all three of Shirley's children are fine!

Accepting the assumption that nobody who has measles is fine, which of the following must be true about this exchange?

(A) "It is possible that both Ellen and Lois are right about Shirley's children." This is not possible since the argument specifically states that "nobody who has measles is fine".

(B) "It is possible that both Ellen and Lois are mistaken about Shirley's children." This statement is true. It is possible for both of them to be wrong. The children may not have measles and they also may not be fine. For example, they have the flu.

(C) "Either Ellen is right about Shirley's children, or Lois is right about them, but they cannot both be right." The first part of this statement is wrong. Either one does not have to be right. As we saw in (B), they can both be wrong.

(D) "Ellen and Lois might both be right about Shirley's children, and they might both be wrong about them." Again, the first part of this statement is wrong. As we saw in (A) they cannot both be right.

(E) "None of these alternatives correctly identifies the possibilities for this scenario." This is not true since (B) identifies a correct possibility.

Where did you find this one?