LR Drill Set 14, Question 11
In casual conversation, people experience little psychological discomfort(50 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(7 more words not shown)
- AMost character flaws(8 more words not shown)
- BPeople admit to(11 more words not shown)
- CIn casual conversation,(10 more words not shown)
- DIn casual conversation,(17 more words not shown)
- EIn casual conversation,(16 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Someone can admit a flaw even when admitting it hurts.
The first claim is easy to picture. A person might casually say, “I work too much,” while privately treating that as almost a compliment. Admitting that flaw causes little discomfort because the person doesn't consider it especially serious. But something the person deeply dislikes about themselves could be much harder to discuss.
The argument goes a step further: if someone readily admits a flaw, that person must regard it as trivial. Why? What if the person speaks readily despite feeling considerable discomfort? How easily the words come out doesn't automatically tell us how the admission feels inside.
Keep the two ideas separate. The premise says little discomfort is possible only when the speaker regards the flaw as trivial. The conclusion starts with a ready admission. To use the premise, we need to establish that a ready admission comes with little discomfort.
What we’re looking for
That's the necessary assumption I'd look for. If someone could readily admit a flaw while finding the admission very painful, we couldn't use the stated rule to conclude that the flaw seemed trivial to that person. The missing connection concerns readily admitting, not every occasion on which someone eventually admits something.
Working the answers
- A
Most flaws could be considered serious by the people who have them. Those people could simply avoid readily admitting them in casual conversation. The argument concerns what we can infer from a particular kind of admission, not what proportion of all flaws people consider trivial.
- B
Other people's views don't supply the missing connection. The premise concerns whether the speaker considers the flaw trivial. A person might regard something as a serious personal failing even if most other people shrug at it. B switches whose judgment matters.
- C
Whether people admit flaws only when forced to do so doesn't tell us how much discomfort a ready admission causes. The argument needs a link between readiness and little discomfort, not a rule about what makes an admission unavoidable.
- DCorrect
This provides the missing link: a ready admission in casual conversation happens only when the admission causes little discomfort. The original premise then takes us from little discomfort to the speaker considering the flaw trivial. Together, the steps support the conclusion.
Test what happens without D. Suppose someone readily admits a flaw even though doing so causes substantial discomfort. The premise about admissions causing little discomfort no longer tells us how that speaker regards the flaw. That is exactly the case the argument needs to exclude.
- E
An unfavorable impression in other people's minds is different from the speaker's own judgment of the flaw. Someone might think a trait makes them look bad to others without personally considering it serious, or take it seriously while thinking others won't mind. E doesn't establish the link between a ready admission and little discomfort.
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