Necessary AssumptionDiff: Hardest
Logic Breakdown
Passage Summary: Cities are cloudier on weekends than during the week. Since nature doesn't follow a weekly calendar, the only explanation left is that human behavior—which does follow a weekly calendar—is changing the weather.
Conclusion: Human activity has a significant, large-scale effect on the weather.
Reasoning: There is a measurable difference in weather between weekdays and weekends, and since nature does not have significant seven-day cycles, the cause must be human activity.
Analysis: The argument relies on a 'process of elimination.' It says 'It's not nature, so it must be humans.' For this to work, the argument must assume that the seven-day weather pattern isn't caused by something else we haven't considered. Specifically, it assumes that there isn't some other non-human cycle that happens to last seven days. Look for an answer that rules out other potential causes for a weekly weather rhythm, ensuring that human activity is the only remaining culprit.
Conclusion: Human activity has a significant, large-scale effect on the weather.
Reasoning: There is a measurable difference in weather between weekdays and weekends, and since nature does not have significant seven-day cycles, the cause must be human activity.
Analysis: The argument relies on a 'process of elimination.' It says 'It's not nature, so it must be humans.' For this to work, the argument must assume that the seven-day weather pattern isn't caused by something else we haven't considered. Specifically, it assumes that there isn't some other non-human cycle that happens to last seven days. Look for an answer that rules out other potential causes for a weekly weather rhythm, ensuring that human activity is the only remaining culprit.
Passage Stimulus
Passage Redacted
Unlock Full Passage21.Which one of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?
Correct Answer
E
E connects effect to cause at the needed granularity: if a natural weather pattern shows a seven-day cycle, the natural cause must itself be seven-day. Negation test: suppose a natural cause without a seven-day cycle could still yield a seven-day weather pattern. Then the author cannot rule out natural explanations merely by noting that natural seven-day cycles are small, and the conclusion that human activity must be the appreciable cause no longer follows. So E is necessary.
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