PrepTest 159, Section 3, Question 5
Researcher: Some scholars maintain that the first government(76 more words not shown)
The researcher's conclusion is properly(9 more words not shown)
- AThe playing cards(12 more words not shown)
- BThe Chinese government(8 more words not shown)
- CPlaying cards were(10 more words not shown)
- DThe Massachusetts colony's(11 more words not shown)
- EEvery government that(12 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Were the playing cards made of paper?
The dates work: 1685 comes before 1690. The cards also functioned as currency. The government assigned them an official value, paid soldiers with them, and allowed people to use them to buy goods. So we have an earlier example of a government issuing money.
But the scholars' claim is specifically about paper money. Calling an object a playing card doesn't tell us what it was made of. Imagine, for example, that these cards were thin pieces of wood. They could still be used as money, but they wouldn't be paper money. Without the material connection, the story about New France might be true while Massachusetts remained the first government other than China to issue paper currency.
What we’re looking for
We're asked for an assumption that makes the researcher's conclusion follow. Fill that particular hole: these cards were paper. We don't need to establish exactly which government came second worldwide. One non-Chinese government issuing paper currency before Massachusetts is enough to disprove the scholars' claim.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
The cards were made of paper. Combine that with the facts that New France's government issued them as pay in 1685 and they could buy goods. Now we have government-issued paper currency outside China before Massachusetts issued its currency in 1690. That earlier example establishes that the scholars are incorrect.
- B
China is already excluded from the scholars' claim. Whether its government issued paper currency during the 1600s doesn't tell us which other government issued it first. China could have used it earlier, and we would still need to determine whether the New France example was paper currency.
- C
What cards were available in Massachusetts doesn't establish what the cards in Quebec were made of. Massachusetts also needn't have used playing cards to issue paper currency. This leaves the missing connection untouched.
- D
Why Massachusetts issued paper currency doesn't decide whether another government did so earlier. Its reason could differ completely from New France's coin shortage, and the question of which came first would remain.
- E
Records could help someone research the history, but the existence of records doesn't tell us what these cards were made of. The answer gives no contents of those records that would establish an earlier issue of paper currency. A supplies the missing fact directly.
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