Parallel ReasoningDiff: Hardest
Logic Breakdown
Passage Summary: Professor Alban's department has a rule: you can't teach more than one beginner class at a time. Therefore, Alban won't be teaching two beginner classes next term.
Conclusion: Professor Alban will not be teaching two introductory-level French classes next term.
Reasoning: There is a departmental rule forbidding anyone from teaching more than one introductory class per term, and the only language classes available next term are advanced.
Analysis: This argument uses a general restrictive rule ('no more than one') to prove that a specific violation of that rule ('both' or 'two') cannot happen. Interestingly, the stimulus provides two separate reasons why the conclusion is true: the general rule and the specific fact that next term's language classes are advanced. When looking for a parallel, prioritize an argument that uses a formal rule to exclude a specific possibility, especially one that might provide multiple overlapping reasons to reach that same conclusion.
Conclusion: Professor Alban will not be teaching two introductory-level French classes next term.
Reasoning: There is a departmental rule forbidding anyone from teaching more than one introductory class per term, and the only language classes available next term are advanced.
Analysis: This argument uses a general restrictive rule ('no more than one') to prove that a specific violation of that rule ('both' or 'two') cannot happen. Interestingly, the stimulus provides two separate reasons why the conclusion is true: the general rule and the specific fact that next term's language classes are advanced. When looking for a parallel, prioritize an argument that uses a formal rule to exclude a specific possibility, especially one that might provide multiple overlapping reasons to reach that same conclusion.
Passage Stimulus
Passage Redacted
Unlock Full Passage19.The pattern of reasoning displayed in the argument above is most closely paralleled by that in which one of the following arguments?
Correct Answer
D
D uses two independent rules—new buildings with public space are exempt for two years, and all new buildings in Alton are exempt for five. The specific building is both new-with-public-space and in Alton, so either rule alone ensures it won’t be taxed next year. That mirrors the stimulus’s two-independent-reasons structure.
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