PrepTest 156, Section 4, Question 2
The relationship between money and the things it(35 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(5 more words not shown)
- Amoney should be(9 more words not shown)
- Bany tool that(9 more words not shown)
- Cmoney is valueless(8 more words not shown)
- Dmoney should be(8 more words not shown)
- Ethe value of(10 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
A tool needs something to do. Money needs something to buy.
That is the comparison to keep in mind as we reach the blank. The passage pairs tools with the tasks they let us accomplish, and money with the things it lets us purchase. It then says a tool is useless when there is no task to do. Carry that same thought over to money: it would be useless if there were nothing to purchase.
What we’re looking for
The question asks us to finish this particular argument. We aren't shopping for any sensible remark about money. Try the prediction in the sentence and check that it preserves both pieces: the money has no use, and the things it would be used to buy are unavailable.
Working the answers
- A
This compares how useful money and tools are, but that isn't the comparison the final sentence needs. The passage identifies a circumstance in which a tool is useless. We need the corresponding circumstance for money, not a general ranking of money against tools.
- B
This stays on the tool side of the analogy. The argument has already given us the fact about tools and now needs the matching conclusion about money. B also changes the thought from having no task to having a task, so it doesn't finish the reasoning we were given.
- CCorrect
Nothing is for sale, so there is nothing for money to purchase. That matches having no task for a tool to accomplish. 'Valueless' captures the lack of use that our prediction identified: the money cannot serve the purpose used to explain its value in this comparison.
- D
Calling money a tool may sound consistent with the opening comparison. But the argument doesn't ask us to classify money or decide whether it is a commodity. It asks what follows when the thing money is used for is missing. D drops that part of the reasoning, and comparing money to a tool doesn't establish that it cannot also be a commodity.
- E
This offers a broad account of money's value. Even if it sounds plausible, it doesn't carry over the specific condition in the last sentence: there is nothing for the tool to do. We need a conclusion about money when nothing can be bought. C completes that thought directly.
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