PrepTest 120, Section 3, Question 6
Citizen: The primary factor determining a dog's disposition(62 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(9 more words not shown)
- AThe public would(10 more words not shown)
- BA good home(10 more words not shown)
- CThe home environment(9 more words not shown)
- DIrresponsible dog owners(14 more words not shown)
- EThe vicious-dog laws(18 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
A dog can be badly treated regardless of its breed. I can see why the citizen wants us to take the home environment seriously. Accepting that point, though, doesn't make breed completely irrelevant. Being a smaller influence isn't the same as being no influence at all.
The citizen says breed-specific laws miss the effects of how people raise and train dogs, then concludes that those laws could never effectively protect the public. Couldn't a law help with part of a problem while leaving another part unsolved? A law against violence doesn't have to prevent every violent act to do some good. Likewise, showing that some owners could still raise vicious dogs doesn't by itself establish that a proposed law could offer no effective protection.
We're asked for the main conclusion, so the claim we just questioned is what matters: breed-specific legislation would not effectively protect the public. The claims about upbringing and what the legislation fails to address are offered as reasons to believe it.
What we’re looking for
The last sentence adds that current laws are adequate. Don't pick it merely because it comes last. It's an additional opinion, introduced with “moreover.” The preceding reasons are directed at the effectiveness of breed-specific legislation.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
This is the claim supported by the discussion of home environment and the limits of breed-specific laws. The citizen argues that those laws miss an important source of vicious behavior and therefore cannot effectively protect the public. We can recognize that conclusion while still questioning whether incomplete protection must be ineffective protection.
- B
This gives the starting claim about what most determines a dog's disposition. The citizen uses that claim to explain why focusing on breed would miss the main influence. It is a reason for the conclusion about legislation, not the conclusion itself.
- C
This describes a limitation of breed-specific legislation. It helps connect the importance of upbringing to the prediction that the legislation won't work effectively. The argument still takes a further step from what the laws don't address to how well they would protect people.
- D
This supplies support for the importance of upbringing: a bad owner can undo the effect of careful breeding. The citizen uses that point to support the broader claim that laws focused on breed will be ineffective. D stops with the example of what owners can do.
- E
This changes which laws we're discussing. The passage says proposed breed-specific legislation wouldn't address the effects of human behavior. E assigns that limitation to the laws currently in effect. We aren't given the current laws' provisions, so this neither restates the main conclusion nor accurately repeats the stated limitation.
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