PrepTest 140, Section 3, Question 19
Auditor: XYZ, a construction company, purchased 20 new(49 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(8 more words not shown)
- AAll of the(9 more words not shown)
- BXYZ did not(7 more words not shown)
- CXYZ did not(13 more words not shown)
- DNone of the(7 more words not shown)
- EXYZ no longer(11 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
What if XYZ bought a diesel truck three years ago and sold it two years ago?
That truck wouldn't appear among last year's sales. And selling all the diesel trucks it still owned last year wouldn't tell us about a truck that had already left the company. The auditor has left an earlier selling window open.
For a concrete example, suppose one of the twenty was diesel powered, but XYZ sold it the year after buying it. Last year the company sold every diesel truck it still had, while selling none of the other nineteen from the original purchase. The records described could all fit that history, yet the conclusion that none of the original twenty was diesel would be false.
What we’re looking for
The required assumption needs to close that earlier window. We need these twenty trucks not to have been sold before the year the auditor checks. Otherwise, last year's sale of the remaining diesels can't establish what kind of engines all twenty originally had.
Working the answers
- A
All diesel trucks were sold last year doesn't mean only diesel trucks were sold. XYZ could also have sold gasoline-powered trucks outside the twenty under discussion. That wouldn't undermine the auditor's intended reasoning. A restricts other sales instead of closing the earlier selling window.
- B
The conclusion concerns twenty particular new trucks. XYZ could also have bought used trucks three years ago, and those additional purchases wouldn't determine the engines in these twenty. New versus used is not the missing timing link.
- C
Later purchases concern other trucks. Buying more trucks after the original twenty doesn't settle whether any of those twenty was diesel powered or had already been sold. The auditor doesn't need to rule out later purchases to make the argument.
- DCorrect
This keeps any of the twenty from slipping out of the company's ownership through an earlier sale. Without that assumption, an originally diesel-powered truck could have been sold two years ago and be irrelevant to last year's disposal of the remaining diesels. D addresses the gap in the auditor's timeline.
- E
Trucks bought more than three years ago are outside the group in the conclusion. XYZ could still own some older trucks without telling us anything about the engines in the twenty bought three years ago. The key missing history is what happened to those twenty before last year.
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