PrepTest 144, Section 3, Question 17
Meteorologist: Heavy downpours are likely to become more(54 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(30 more words not shown)
- AIt is the(5 more words not shown)
- BIt is the(18 more words not shown)
- CIt is a(19 more words not shown)
- DIt is used(8 more words not shown)
- EIt provides a(26 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
A warmer atmosphere means heavier rain? Explain how. The meteorologist does. Warmer air heats the oceans, which speeds evaporation and helps rain clouds form more quickly. The warmer atmosphere also holds more moisture, producing larger clouds. Then comes the last connection: when water vapor in those larger clouds condenses, heavier downpours are more likely.
That gives us a sensible path from warming to the predicted change in rainfall. The final sentence helps explain why the larger clouds matter. Without it, we'd know something about cloud size but would still need the connection to heavier downpours.
What we’re looking for
The question asks for that last sentence's role. It is a reason to accept the forecast in the first sentence. The passage doesn't give separate evidence establishing this claim about larger clouds; it uses the claim as part of its support for the forecast.
Working the answers
- A
The main conclusion is that heavy downpours are likely to become more frequent if the atmosphere becomes significantly warmer. The statement about larger clouds helps support that forecast. Being the last sentence doesn't make it the conclusion.
- B
This again calls the statement the argument's main conclusion. But the argument's larger point connects atmospheric warming with more frequent heavy downpours. The statement we are evaluating supplies one part of the reasoning for that point.
- C
Where does the passage give evidence that condensing water vapor in larger clouds makes heavier downpours more likely? It doesn't. It takes that relationship as a fact and uses it. Evidence from a study establishing this particular relationship would make the sentence something the argument supports, but no such support is supplied here.
- DCorrect
The statement helps support the one conclusion: significant atmospheric warming is likely to make heavy downpours more frequent. It completes part of the causal path by connecting larger clouds to heavier rainfall. The other sentences supply facts used in that explanation, rather than separate conclusions argued for in their own right.
- E
The first part fits: the claim contributes to a causal explanation. But the second part says it isn't meant to support the main conclusion. It is. Explaining how atmospheric warming would produce heavier downpours gives us a reason to believe the prediction. Providing an explanation and providing support aren't mutually exclusive.
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