PrepTest 106, Section 3, Question 14
If citizens do not exercise their right to(105 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(9 more words not shown)
- APeople in a(6 more words not shown)
- BDishonest acts and(6 more words not shown)
- CThere is a(10 more words not shown)
- DA single person's(13 more words not shown)
- ELarge-scale dishonesty and(12 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
One person's choice may have a tiny effect. The author still wants that person to consider what happens when many people make the same choice.
The argument gives us a chain: widespread failure to vote leads to the collapse of democratic institutions and the loss of valuable social cohesion. Then it concedes that one vote makes only an imperceptible difference to an election. The author isn't trying to deny that small individual impact; the author gives a rule for deciding what to do despite it.
The rule says an act or omission is wrong if large numbers doing it would damage society. Apply that to voting. Widespread nonvoting would cause the stated harm, so an individual shouldn't omit voting merely because that individual's effect is tiny.
The theft comparison illustrates the rule. I might object that a theft can directly hurt its victim in a way not voting doesn't. But the comparison concerns effects on society as a whole: a single act may have little overall impact while the widespread practice is destructive. It doesn't require every detail of theft and nonvoting to match.
What we’re looking for
We need the main conclusion, and it isn't neatly stated in one standalone sentence. Put the reasoning together: people should vote. The harms, the concession about one vote, the general rule, and the theft example all lead to that individual recommendation.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
“Should not neglect to vote” means people should exercise the right rather than leave it unused. This is the recommendation reached by applying the general rule to the social harm of widespread nonvoting.
A explains why the passage discusses both the tiny individual effect and the damaging collective effect. The author wants the latter to guide the individual's decision despite the former.
- B
Using theft as a comparison doesn't establish equal amounts of damage. The author needs both widespread practices to be socially harmful, not equally harmful. B substitutes a precise comparison that the argument never makes.
- C
The argument doesn't require other people to imitate an individual's behavior. It asks what would happen if many people acted that way, regardless of why they did so. That hypothetical collective test is different from predicting that one person's action will spread by imitation.
C also leaves out the recommendation about voting. The conclusion concerns what an individual should do under the stated rule.
- D
The author concedes that an individual vote has only an imperceptible effect on the election and that a single dishonest act is likely to have an insignificant effect on society. D claims a large individual effect instead. That is not the route the author uses to reach the recommendation.
- E
This describes the harmful large-scale consequences that support the argument. It leaves out the next step: because such conduct would be damaging if widespread, an individual should not engage in it. The conclusion applies that step to voting; E remains at the level of the supporting social consequences.
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