PrepTest 153, Section 2, Question 21
City official: Landowners must clear the snow from(83 more words not shown)
If all of the official's(11 more words not shown)
- AIf the city(26 more words not shown)
- BAll landowners who(23 more words not shown)
- CAll sidewalks in(16 more words not shown)
- DNearly all landowners(18 more words not shown)
- ELandowners who can(14 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
You have a day to clear the sidewalk. What happens if you don't?
After 24 hours, the city has permission to clear it and charge you for the work. That isn't a promise of free snow removal, and it isn't a promise that the city will actually show up. The bill comes when the city does the work.
The 48-hour rule adds something different. If the sidewalk still hasn't been cleared, the owner receives a citation. That citation ordinarily leads to a fine, but the owner can avoid the fine by demonstrating extenuating circumstances. Perhaps a serious family emergency would qualify. We aren't told what qualifies, so we can't automatically excuse anyone on that basis.
Keep those consequences separate. A bill pays for the city's snow removal. A citation records the violation. A fine is the penalty associated with the citation, subject to the stated exception. The deadlines are different too: the city can act after 24 hours, while the citation rule concerns sidewalks still uncleared at 48 hours.
What we’re looking for
For the must-be-true question, I don't have one particular conclusion to predict. I want to apply these rules exactly.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
At 50 hours, both deadlines have passed. The city actually clears the sidewalk, so the owner gets a bill for that service. The sidewalk also remained uncleared past 48 hours, so the owner receives a citation.
Notice what A leaves out: a guaranteed fine. The owner might establish extenuating circumstances and avoid that penalty. That possibility doesn't prevent either the service bill or the citation, so both things A promises follow.
- B
The city has the right to clear a sidewalk after 24 hours. It might exercise that right, or it might not. Imagine the owner clears it at hour 30 before a city crew arrives. The owner missed the deadline, but the city performed no snow-removal service to bill for. B turns an available action into an action the city always takes.
- C
A right to clear snow doesn't establish a completion deadline. Perhaps a crew is delayed and some sidewalks remain covered after 50 hours. The rules tell us what the city may do and what consequences follow; they don't guarantee that every sidewalk will be cleared by this time.
- D
We don't know how many owners can establish extenuating circumstances. If many can, many might avoid fines despite receiving citations. 'Nearly all' requires information about how often the exception applies, and the passage never supplies it.
- E
The exception concerns the fine, not the charge for snow removal. An owner could have an accepted excuse, avoid the fine, and still owe the city for clearing the sidewalk. The words 'fined' and 'billed' describe different consequences here.
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