PrepTest 143, Section 4, Question 24
One is likely to feel comfortable approaching a(34 more words not shown)
The reasoning in the argument(5 more words not shown)
- Apresumes, without warrant,(17 more words not shown)
- Binfers that a(18 more words not shown)
- Coverlooks the possibility(29 more words not shown)
- Dpresumes, without warrant,(12 more words not shown)
- Efails to address(16 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Maybe people are comfortable approaching older and younger strangers too.
The first sentence tells us that a stranger's being roughly our age makes a comfortable approach likely. It doesn't compare that situation with approaching someone of a different age. Perhaps a friendly person is comfortable approaching strangers across a wide age range.
What we’re looking for
Now accept that most long-term friendships begin with a comfortable approach. That still doesn't tell us the friends' ages. If comfort can occur across age groups, those friendships could begin across age groups too. The flaw answer should point to the different-age strangers the argument never addresses.
Working the answers
- A
The argument doesn't say we can feel uncomfortable only with strangers. Someone might feel uncomfortable approaching a person they already know. That possibility doesn't address the inference from a comfortable approach to the ages of the people involved.
- B
This describes taking a feature found in most cases and assigning it to a particular similar case. Here, the author combines a claim about likely comfort with a claim about how most friendships begin to infer an age pattern among long-term friends. There is no particular friendship being classified from a known pattern of same-age friendships. B misses the unstated link from comfort back to age.
- C
This compares two people of our approximate age: one is a stranger, and one isn't. We could be more comfortable with the familiar person and still have the same gap in the argument. The comparison we need is between strangers of our age and strangers of other ages. C varies familiarity instead of age.
- D
The author says most long-term friendships begin because someone felt comfortable approaching a stranger. That leaves room for approaches made despite discomfort, whether or not they produce long-term friendships. The argument doesn't require a rule that nobody ever approaches an unfamiliar person while uncomfortable.
- ECorrect
We aren't told how likely a comfortable approach is when the stranger is a different age. If it is common, the evidence about comfort won't establish that long-term friends are probably the same age.
Compare: “If I finish work before six, we can go to dinner.” That doesn't say dinner is impossible if I finish after six. Maybe we can eat later. The statement describes one situation without settling what happens outside it.
The age statement works the same way, though it describes what is likely rather than guaranteed. Knowing that people are likely to be comfortable with same-age strangers doesn't establish discomfort with different-age strangers. The author relies on that missing comparison to reach the conclusion about friends' ages.
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