PrepTest 113, Section 4, Question 22

What we’re looking for

Working the answers

• A

  The argument doesn't change what “old” means. “More recent vintage” is another way of talking about age. The problem is the unsupported comparison between the stones, not a word quietly taking on a different meaning.

• B

  We aren't moving from most Irish stones to all Irish stones. The conclusion is about a different stone, found in Scotland. B describes an unsupported expansion within a group; this argument assumes the property can't also belong to something outside the group.

• C

  The author doesn't start by assuming that this Scottish stone is younger. The stated reason concerns the Irish stones' age. That reason doesn't establish the conclusion, but a bad reason isn't automatically circular reasoning.

• D

  There is no prediction that a group's past characteristics will persist into the future. The movement is from stones in one place to a stone in another place. D describes a different comparison.

• E
  Correct

  The group is the druid stones discovered in Ireland; the property is being very old. The author treats those stones as the only ones with that property, and so concludes that a stone outside the group must be younger.

  But all the Irish stones could be old and the Scottish stone could be equally old. The premise tells us what is true of the group, not what is false of everything outside it.