PrepTest 118, Section 4, Question 3
Nylon industry spokesperson: Even though cotton and nylon(52 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(12 more words not shown)
- AA substance is(9 more words not shown)
- BA substance is(10 more words not shown)
- CA substance is(8 more words not shown)
- DOne substance can(14 more words not shown)
- EA substance is(10 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Coming from natural ingredients doesn't settle what we mean by “natural.” Cotton grows on a plant. Nylon is manufactured. Someone making that distinction could agree that nylon's ingredients ultimately come from nature and still refuse to call the finished material natural.
The spokesperson is using a different idea: trace the main ingredients back to natural sources, and the product counts as natural too. Nitrogen comes from the atmosphere; the petroleum comes from ancient plants. I understand the proposed connection. I just don't have a rule telling me that the origins of the ingredients decide how to classify the finished substance.
What we’re looking for
Now we're asked to strengthen the spokesperson's reasoning with a principle. We have to support this argument even if we prefer a different definition. Give us a rule saying that a substance counts as natural when its main components have natural origins. With that rule in place, the evidence about nitrogen and petroleum would lead where the spokesperson wants it to go.
Working the answers
- A
We don't know that the function nylon serves is natural. Being used for purposes similar to cotton's doesn't establish that fact. A bases the classification on function, while the spokesperson supplies evidence about where the ingredients come from. That leaves the needed connection missing.
- B
This compares the substance with the processes used to produce it. But the argument tells us about the origins of the ingredients, not whether the manufacturing processes are natural. We can't apply B just by pointing to the atmosphere and ancient plants. We'd still need information about those production processes.
- C
The least natural component could be a minor ingredient the spokesperson hasn't discussed. We only know about the main components. Moreover, “no more natural than” sets an upper limit; it doesn't establish that the finished substance actually reaches that limit. C doesn't guarantee that natural main ingredients make the substance natural.
- D
We aren't trying to prove that nylon is more natural than cotton, and we aren't told that only one of the two is wholly derived from natural substances. The spokesperson objects to classifying nylon as unnatural. A possible comparison between two substances doesn't establish the classification we need.
- ECorrect
This directly connects the given evidence with the conclusion. The main components have natural origins, and E says that having those origins is enough for the substance to count as natural. Applied to nylon, the rule supports the spokesperson's conclusion.
We don't have to adopt this definition for every discussion outside the question. Here the principle is supplied as valid, so we can use it to complete this particular argument.
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