LR Question 6 Explanation
QUESTION TEXT: Hana said she was not going to invite her brothers to…
QUESTION TYPE: Flawed Reasoning
CONCLUSION: At least some of Hana’s brothers must have been among the guests at her party.
REASONING: Hana was given a recording that she had expressed an interest in. Her brothers had planned to give her that recording.
ANALYSIS: This is a bad argument. Since Hana expressed an interest in the recording, maybe other people also planned to give it to her.
___________
- No one changed their mind in the argument.
- The argument didn’t say that the brothers had a reason to be there. The conclusion was just that they were there.
- This is like saying: “What a lovely failure of a kitchen you have.” I’m evaluating the place while pretending to describe it.
- CORRECT. The argument assumes that because the brother planned to give the recording they were therefore the only ones who planned to give the recording.
- This would have been the error if the argument had said “therefore Hana was not interested in any other recordings.”
More Resources for Flaw Questions
- Flaw drills: Use these to practice making examples of abstract flaws.
- Intro Course lesson: This intro course lesson covers Flaw questions.
- Mastery Seminar lesson: This LR Mastery seminar lesson covers flaw questions.
Why is answer choice A incorrect? The flaw in the stimlus could be that even though the brothers were planning on givong the recording, they changed their mind (and the argument overlooks the fact that a change in circumstance justified that change of mind)?
This is incorrect because the argument says it is *Hana* who must have changed her mind and invited her brothers. And we’re not told of any changed circumstances which could have changed Hana’s mind.
Note: This is an old comment but I wanted to clarify the point.