PrepTest 138, Section 2, Question 18
Every delegate to the convention is a party(26 more words not shown)
If the statements above are(11 more words not shown)
- AEvery party member(9 more words not shown)
- BAt least some(10 more words not shown)
- CAt least some(9 more words not shown)
- DAll speakers at(5 more words not shown)
- EEvery government official(7 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Start with one of the delegates who is also a government official. We know at least one such person exists because the passage says some delegates are officials.
What else must be true of that same person? Every delegate is a party member. Every government official at this convention is a speaker. So our person is a delegate, a party member, a government official, and a speaker. We don't have to build four separate groups and hope they overlap; the same person carries the connections.
What we’re looking for
That's enough to predict that some speakers are delegates. It doesn't tell us what every speaker is like. The convention could include other speakers or other party members who aren't delegates. For the must-be-true question, distinguish the overlap we've established from extra people who might, but needn't, exist.
Working the answers
- A
Every delegate belongs to the party, but that doesn't make every party member a delegate. A party member could attend without serving as a delegate. A gives the membership relationship in a direction the passage hasn't established.
- B
A guest speaker who is neither a delegate nor a party member is possible. But we're asked what must be true, and no statement requires such a guest. All the speakers could belong to the party and be delegates without violating the facts.
- CCorrect
Some delegates are government officials, and those officials are speakers because they're at the convention. Those very people establish the required overlap: at least some speakers are delegates. Notice that we keep the same people through both statements; we aren't assuming that two unrelated groups happen to overlap.
- D
Every government official at the convention speaks, but other people might speak too. A guest performer or another invited speaker need not hold government office. The rule includes the officials among the speakers; it doesn't limit the speakers to officials.
- E
We know that officials who are delegates are party members, because every delegate is a party member. But we aren't told that every official at the convention is a delegate. An official could attend in another capacity and belong to no party. E extends the membership claim beyond the group covered by the rule.
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