PrepTest 108, Section 3, Question 13
Mall manager: By congregating in large groups near(86 more words not shown)
The merchant's response to the(7 more words not shown)
- Adisputing the truth(10 more words not shown)
- Bgiving information that(12 more words not shown)
- Csuggesting that the(6 more words not shown)
- Dcontending that the(14 more words not shown)
- Eusing the information(16 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
I can see why the manager is worried. If adults feel uncomfortable and spend less time shopping, the mall might lose business. Discouraging the groups of teenagers could seem like a way to protect sales.
But the merchant adds something the manager leaves out: those teenagers are customers too. Their spending is a significant part of the stores' total. If discouraging them also drives away their purchases, the proposed cure could create another loss.
We don't yet know which effect would be larger. Perhaps adults would spend much more; perhaps the loss of teenage customers would outweigh that gain. The merchant's point is that the recommendation has to be judged against the mall's goal of preserving overall sales. Focusing on one set of customers doesn't settle the total.
What we’re looking for
The question asks what the merchant's response does. I'd describe it as adding a relevant consideration: the people the manager wants to discourage contribute to the sales the manager wants to protect.
Working the answers
- A
The merchant does not deny that adults feel uncomfortable or spend less time shopping. Both could be true while teenagers also spend substantial amounts. The response adds information about another source of sales rather than declaring the manager's supporting claims false.
- BCorrect
The manager's recommendation is to discourage teenagers from gathering near stores. The mall's goal is to avoid a significant loss of overall sales. The merchant connects them by pointing out that the targeted teenagers supply a significant share of those sales.
That matters to whether the recommendation achieves the goal. Driving away their business could undermine the very financial result the manager wants. The merchant need not calculate the exact loss to identify a consequence that should be considered.
- C
The merchant doesn't object to protecting sales. The objection concerns whether this proposed method serves that goal. A person can agree with an objective while pointing out that a plan for reaching it may backfire.
- D
The merchant doesn't endorse the recommendation and then replace the manager's reason with a different one. The new information gives us a reason to hesitate before discouraging teenagers. It questions the recommendation's financial wisdom rather than defending it on another basis.
- E
No additional plan is proposed. The merchant does not say how to rearrange the mall, attract more adults, or manage the groups. The response introduces new information about teenage spending to question the existing proposal. E incorrectly describes both the source of the information and the kind of response made.
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