PrepTest 104, Section 4, Question 17
The Green Ensemble, a nonprofit theater group, has(53 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(12 more words not shown)
- ANone of the(13 more words not shown)
- BEarlier this year(21 more words not shown)
- CDuring this year(10 more words not shown)
- DThis year corporate(13 more words not shown)
- ECorporate funding for(10 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
If losing even one corporate sponsor would have forced the theater group to disband, how could it still be operating after losing a sponsor?
It couldn't, given the rule we're told to accept. The Green Ensemble did continue operating throughout the year. So none of those sponsors withdrew their financial support this year. We don't need to invent a reason it survived; the stated dependency and its continued operation already settle that point.
What we’re looking for
For the conclusion question, that is my prediction: no corporate sponsor withdrew. Notice the word “any” in the original condition. We can say more than “the group kept some support.” Losing even one sponsor would have been enough to force it to close, and that didn't happen.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
Suppose a corporate sponsor had withdrawn support this year. The passage tells us the group would then have been forced to disband. But it continued operating throughout the year. Those facts rule out a withdrawal by any of its corporate sponsors. A captures exactly that conclusion.
- B
New funding for next year could exist, but we aren't told that it does. Announcing next year's schedule doesn't establish a new source of money or a reduced dependence on corporations.
Nor can we invent replacement funding to explain how the group might have survived a sponsor's departure this year. That would evade the explicit premise that any such withdrawal would have forced it to disband. B adds a funding development the passage never establishes.
- C
Keeping financial support is different from getting steadily increasing support. The sponsors could have continued giving the same amounts all year. That would fit the passage without any increase, much less a steady one. Continued operation doesn't establish a growth trend.
- D
Necessary funding need not provide most of the income. Imagine corporate support supplies only 10 percent of the money the group needs. If the other sources provide the remaining 90 percent and leave no cushion, losing that corporate support could still prevent the group from operating. Dependence tells us the money matters, not that it exceeds half of the total.
- E
We know about this theater group's survival, not a recent funding trend across similar groups. Other theaters could be losing donations while the Green Ensemble keeps its sponsors. E also adds an increase, which we haven't established even for the Green Ensemble itself. Neither expansion is supported.
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