PrepTest 143, Section 3, Question 3
Louise McBride, a homeowner, filed a complaint against(61 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(16 more words not shown)
- APeople who wish(14 more words not shown)
- BGovernment agencies should(17 more words not shown)
- CIt is unfair(18 more words not shown)
- DA government agency(16 more words not shown)
- EIt is unfair(28 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
The staff gave Louise the wrong form. Does that mean the complaint should count anyway?
I can see why Louise would feel mistreated. She went to the Licensing Bureau to file a formal complaint, and its employees handed her Form 5. She used what they gave her. But the regulations require Form 283, so the nightclub has identified a real procedural problem.
We still need to decide what should happen because of that problem. One response would be, “The complaint used the wrong form; please submit the correct one.” The author instead says dismissing it would be unfair. Blaming the Bureau for the mistake doesn't, by itself, establish that judgment.
What we’re looking for
We're asked for a principle that supports the author's position. Then connect those two ideas: when a government agency causes the error in someone's complaint, dismissing the complaint because of that error is unfair. That would explain why the nightclub's technical objection should not settle this case.
Working the answers
- A
Informing people of the rules might prevent mistakes, but this principle doesn't tell us what to do after the Bureau makes one. Even if Louise should have been better informed, we still need a reason dismissing her complaint would be unfair.
- B
Ease of completion isn't the problem. Form 5 might have been perfectly clear and easy to fill out; it was still the wrong form. Making forms straightforward doesn't determine whether a complaint filed on the wrong one should be dismissed.
- CCorrect
The Bureau's employees took the incorrect action: they gave Louise Form 5 when a formal complaint required Form 283. That action led to the defect the nightclub wants to use against her. C says dismissing someone's complaint because of a government agency's error is unfair, directly supporting the author's judgment.
- D
A staff mistake doesn't establish that the procedures were too complex to understand. Someone could understand a simple rule and hand over the wrong form by accident. And a rule against overly complex procedures still doesn't tell us whether dismissal is unfair here.
- E
This protects the business's opportunity to defend itself. The author's concern is the unfairness of dismissing Louise's complaint because the Bureau gave her the wrong form. We aren't told that using Form 5 deprived the nightclub of a defense, and E supplies no rule protecting Louise from the agency's mistake.
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