PrepTest 137, Section 3, Question 5
Dogs learn best when they are trained using(40 more words not shown)
The claim that dogs learn(23 more words not shown)
- AIt is an(5 more words not shown)
- BIt is an(5 more words not shown)
- CIt is a(14 more words not shown)
- DIt is a(10 more words not shown)
- EIt is an(13 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Better than voice commands alone doesn't mean best. What about hand signals alone?
The study compares two methods: voice commands with hand signals, and voice commands by themselves. Maybe dogs do even better when they can focus entirely on hand signals. We don't know. That possibility shows why winning the one comparison doesn't establish that the combination beats every training method.
What we’re looking for
But the question asks what the opening claim does in the argument, not how to repair it. That claim is exactly what we were questioning: dogs learn best using both methods. ‘After all’ introduces the study as evidence for it. So the opening claim is the conclusion, whether or not the evidence fully establishes it.
Working the answers
- A
A premise would supply support for another claim. Here the study supplies support for the claim about the best training method. A reverses those roles. Being explicitly stated doesn't make a sentence a premise; conclusions can be explicitly stated too.
- B
‘Implicit’ means unstated, but this claim appears in the first sentence. It is also the point the author tries to establish, rather than an unstated connection needed to get there. The argument may need assumptions about other training methods, but this stated conclusion isn't one of them.
- C
Background information helps set up a discussion without being the claim the evidence is meant to establish. This sentence does more than introduce dog training: it declares which method is best, and the author offers the study to persuade us of that declaration.
- DCorrect
This describes a conclusion without using the word ‘conclusion.’ The study is offered in support of the opening statement. Notice the careful wording: the argument claims the study supports it. We can identify that intended support even though we've found a gap between outperforming one method and being the best method.
- E
An intermediate conclusion would receive support and then help support a further conclusion. Imagine the author added, ‘Therefore, Janet should train her dog using both voice commands and hand signals.’ The claim about the best method could then support that recommendation. But there is no further conclusion here. The opening statement is the argument's final point.
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