CRITICAL REASONING: INTRODUCTION

1. Critical Reasoning Questions: test you in the following areas.

a) Argument Construction
-Basic structure of the given argument
-Properly drawn conclusions
-Well-supported explanatory hypotheses
-Parallels between structurally similar arguments
b) Argument Evaluation
-Analyze a given argument
-Recognize factors that weaken or strengthen the given argument
-Reasoning errors committed in making the argument
-Method by which the given argument proceeds
c) Formulating/Evaluating a Plan of Action
-Recognize relative appropriateness, effectiveness or efficiency of different plans of action
-Recognize factors that would strengthen or weaken the prospects of success for a proposed plan of action

2. Points to be Noted while Answering Questions

a) The short paragraph or passage should be read very carefully, with close attention to:-
-What is put forward as factual information (Premise)
-What is not said but necessarily follows from what is said (Inference)
-What is claimed to follow from facts that have been put forward (Conclusion)
-How well substantiated are any claims to the effect that a particular conclusion follows from the facts that have been
put forward (Strength of the Argument)
b) Be careful to clearly identify the conclusion
-Conclusion does not necessarily come at the end in the text of the argument; it may come somewhere in the middle,
or it may even come at the beginning
-Be alert to clues in the text that one of the statements made is not simply asserted but is said to follow logically from
other statements in the text
c) Read the question stem first before reading the passage
d) Read all answer choices carefully before deciding on the best one

3. Deductive and Inductive Reasoning

a) A deductive argument is one whose conclusion is claimed to follow from its premises with absolute necessity, this
necessity not being a matter of degree. Such an argument is either valid or invalid.
b) In sharp contrast, an inductive argument is one whose conclusion is claimed to follow from its premises only with
probability, this probability being a matter of degree. Such an argument is either strong or weak. Some of the areas
in which inductive reasoning is applicable are:
-Formulating hypotheses from observations
-Establishing causes of observed phenomena
-Establishing analogical relationships

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 CRITICAL REASONING: AN INTRODUCTION
DIRECTIONS: The following questions ask you to analyze and evaluate the reasoning in short paragraphs or passages. For some
questions, all of the answer choices may conceivably be answers to the question asked. You should select the best answer to the
question, that is, an answer which does not require you to make assumptions which violate common sense standards by being
implausible, redundant, irrelevant, or inconsistent.

TYPE-1a: Summary/Main Point of the Passage

1. When young students first look at modernist abstract painting, their eyes are assailed by a seemingly meaningless mass of
squiggles. It is only after a study of the history of art and the forces which led up to abstraction that it is possible to appreciate
the intellectual sophistication of modern art. Thus, a high-school study of modern art should always begin with a study of the
history of art.
Which of the following is the main point of the passage above?
1. Young students are unable to appreciate fully the complexities of modern art.
2. An understanding of the history of art is essential to an understanding of modern art.
3. To understand abstract art, students must first study the history of art.
4. A high-school study of modern art will have little relevance to students who lack a historical perspective.

2. In a world of many trading countries, the trade between two countries need not be balanced for the trade of each to be in global
balance. Differing demands and productive capabilities among countries will cause a specific country to have trade deficits with
some countries and surpluses with other countries.
Which of the following conclusions best summarizes the passage above?
1. A country’s trade will always be in balance even though it runs a deficit with a single country.
2. A country’s trade deficits and surpluses with other countries always balance out.
3. Countries should not be concerned if they have trade deficits because they will eventually balance out.
4. A country’s global trade balance is determined by relative demand and productive capabilities.

TYPE-1b: Properly Drawn Conclusion/Argument Made

3. Stronger patent laws are needed to protect inventions from being pirated. With that protection, manufacturers would be
encouraged to invest in the development of new products and technologies. Such investment frequently results in an increase in
a manufacturer’s productivity.
Which of the following conclusions can most properly be drawn from the information above?
1. Increased productivity in manufacturing is likely to be accompanied by the creation of more manufacturing jobs.
2. Manufacturers will decrease investment in the development of new products and technologies unless there are
stronger patent laws.
3. The weakness of current patent laws has been a cause of economic recession.
4. Stronger patent laws would stimulate improvements in productivity for many manufacturers.

4. It is true that increasing demand for a limited number of products drives up the price of those products. However, if we cut tax
rates, then people will retain a higher percentage of their income and will be encouraged to work harder and produce more.
Therefore, the increase in demand resulting from greater disposable income will not result in higher prices for the products
available.
In the passage above, the author makes which of the following arguments?
1. Reducing taxes is likely to decrease demand.
2. Reducing taxes can fail to result in greater disposable income.
3. Reducing taxes will probably restrict the availability of certain products.
4. Reducing taxes will not necessarily lead to increased prices.

TYPE-2: Assumption

5. Many people believe that gold and platinum are the most valuable commodities. To the true entrepreneur, however, gold and
platinum are less valuable than opportunities that can enable him to further enrich himself. Therefore, in the world of high

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 finance, information is the most valuable commodity. The author of the passage above makes which of the following
assumptions?
1. Gold and platinum are not the most valuable commodities.
2. The value of information is incalculably high.
3. Information about business opportunities is accurate and will lead to increased wealth.
4. Only entrepreneurs feel that information is the most valuable commodity.
6. Twenty percent of all energy consumed in the United States is consumed by home appliances. If appliances that are twice as
energy-efficient as those currently available are produced, this figure will eventually be reduced to about ten percent.
The argument above requires which of the following assumptions?
1. Home-appliance usage would not increase along with the energy efficiency of the appliances.
2. Home-appliance manufacturers now have the technology to produce appliances that are twice as energy-efficient as
those currently available.
3. The cost of energy to the consumer would rise with increases in the energy efficiency of home appliances.
4. The percentage of energy consumed by home appliances will increase if existing appliances
are not replaced by more energy-efficient models.
7. In the 1960s, long-term studies of primate behavior often used as subjects tamarins, small monkeys that were thought ideal
because they require only small cages, breed frequently, and grow quickly. Field studies were not used because they were
costly and difficult. Tamarins were kept caged in male-female pairs, because otherwise serious fights erupted between unrelated
females. On the basis of the fact that breeding occurred, tamarins were viewed as monogamous.
The view taken by the researchers concerning the monogamy of tamarins depended on a questionable assumption. Which of
the following could have served as that assumption?
1. The suppression of fighting between related females serves to protect their common genetic inheritance.
2. The social system of tamarins requires monogamous pairing.
3. Male tamarin monkeys do not display aggressive behavior in the wild.
4. The way the tamarins were kept in cages did not affect their mating behavior.

TYPE-3: Inference

8. If an investment has produced no profit, tax relief predicated on having made the investment is no help; any corporate manager who
fears that a new asset will not make money is scarcely comforted by promises of reductions in taxes the corporation will not owe.
Which of the following is the most reliable inference to draw from the passage above?
1. An effective way to discourage unprofitable corporate investment is to predicate tax relief on
the making of profitable investments.
2. Corporate managers are likely to ignore tax considerations in deciding to invest in assets they
believe will be profitable.
3. The promise of tax benefits for making new investments will not in and of itself stimulate
new investment.
4. The less importance a corporate manager attaches to tax considerations, the more likely it is
that the manager will accurately predict the profitability of an investment.
9. The expression “the doctrine of unshakable foundations” was once used by a critic in an effort to illuminate the dogmatic nature
of certain economic and political philosophies whose adherents, when confronted with the failure of a policy designed to put
their philosophy into practice, can conceive of only one reaction: to design another, different policy for putting it into practice.
It can be inferred from the passage above that the critic would approve if the adherents
1. had the courage to try a failed policy again without any changes
2. had refrained from trying to put any of their philosophies into practice
3. allowed failure of a policy to lead them to question the underpinnings of their philosophies
4. concluded from the failure of a policy of theirs that the policy must not have reflected their philosophy adequately

Questions 10 &11 are based on the following.

Partly because of bad weather, but also partly because some major pepper growers have switched to high-priced cocoa, world
production of pepper has been running well below worldwide sales for three years. Pepper is consequently in relatively short supply.
The price of pepper has soared in response: it now equals that of cocoa.

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 10. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?
1. World consumption of pepper has been unusually high for three years.
2. World production of pepper will return to previous levels once normal weather returns.
3. Surplus stocks of pepper have been reduced in the past three years.
4. The profits that the growers of pepper have made in the past three years have been unprecedented.

11. Some observers have concluded that the rise in the price of pepper means that the switch by some growers from pepper to
cocoa left those growers no better off than if none of them had switched; this conclusion, however, is unwarranted because it
can be inferred to be likely that
1. those growers could not have foreseen how high the price of pepper would go
2. the initial cost involved in switching from pepper to cocoa is substantial
3. supplies of pepper would not be as low as they are if those growers had not switched crops
4. cocoa crops are as susceptible to being reduced by bad weather as are pepper crops

12. Voters who complain about a trusted politician’s betrayal remind me of the tale of the man who nursed a starving snake back to
health. Afterward, the snake bit the man, who then complained about the snake’s ingratitude. The snake responded to the
complaint by saying, “You knew I was a snake when you saved me.”
Which of the following can be inferred from the argument above?
1. Don’t cut off your nose to spite your face.
2. Things are not always what they seem.
3. Chickens always come home to roost.
4. Nature cannot be changed.

TYPE-4: Recognise Factors that Strengthen an Argument

13. Male bowerbirds construct elaborately decorated nests, or bowers. Basing their judgment on the fact that different local
populations of bowerbirds of the same species build bowers that exhibit different building and decorative styles, researches
have concluded that the bowerbirds’ building styles are a culturally acquired, rather than a genetically transmitted, trait.
Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the conclusion drawn by the researchers?
1. There are more common characteristics than there are differences among the bower-building styles of the local bowerbird
population that has been studied most extensively.
2. Young male bowerbirds are inept at bowerbuilding and apparently spend years watching their elders before
becoming accomplished in the local bower style.
3. The bowers of one species of bowerbird lack the towers and ornamentation characteristic of the bowers of most
other species of bowerbird.
4. It is well known that the song dialects of some songbirds are learned rather than transmitted genetically.

14. Superficially, college graduates in 1982 resemble college graduates of 1964; they are fairly conservative, well dressed, and
interested in tradition; they respect their parents. But there is a deep-seated difference: a majority of the members of the class of
1982 who were surveyed in their freshman year stated that making a good income was an important reason for their decision to
go to college.
The statements in the passage above, if true, best support which of the following conclusions?
1. The concerns of college graduates of 1964 were superficial compared to the financial worries of college graduates of
1982.
2. Fewer than half the students of the class of 1964 declared as freshmen that they entered college in order to increase
their earning potential.
3. The majority of the members of the class of 1964 revised their reasons for attending college between their freshman
year and college graduation.
4. College graduates of 1964 were actually less conservative than college graduates of 1982.

15. Luis has just seen two ravens; therefore, the next bird Luis sees will be a raven.
Which of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument above?
1. Ravens tend to move in flocks.
2. Ravens generally build their nests at a considerable distance from the nests of other ravens.
3. Luis is in California, and ravens are occasionally seen in California.
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 4. Luis has seen ravens in other places than the place where he is now.

16. Japanese factory workers are guaranteed lifetime jobs, bonuses paid on the basis of productivity and corporate profits, and a
wage rate that is not attached to a particular job. Paradoxically, these guarantees do not discourage factory owners from
introducing labor-saving machinery. Such innovations are to the factory owners’ advantage despite the fact that the owners
must protect the wages of their workers.
Which of the following, if true, logically explains why the introduction of labor-saving machinery is advantageous to factory
owners?
1. Before a Japanese factory worker is hired, he or she must present a record of his or her
previous productivity.
2. Labor-saving machinery increases productivity, thus yielding profits that more than cover the
cost of retraining workers for other jobs.
3. The purchase and maintenance of new machinery adds significantly to the final cost of the
goods produced.
4. Factory workers demand a change of procedure in the routine tasks they perform.

TYPE-5: Recognise Factors that Weaken an Argument.

17. A greater number of newspapers are sold in Town S than in Town T. Therefore, the citizens of Town S are better informed
about major world events than are the citizens of Town T.
Each of the following, if true, weakens the conclusion above EXCEPT:
1. Town S has a larger population than Town T.
2. Most citizens of Town T work in Town S and buy their newspapers there.
3. The average citizen of Town S spends less time reading newspapers than does the average
citizen of Town T.
4. The average newsstand price of newspapers sold in Town S is lower than the average price
of newspapers sold in Town T.

18. The excessive number of safety regulations that the federal government has placed on industry poses more serious hardships for
big businesses than for small ones. Since large companies do everything on a more massive scale, they must alter more
complex operations and spend much more money to meet governmental requirements.
Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the argument above?
1. Small companies are less likely than large companies to have the capital reserves for
improvements.
2. The operations of small companies frequently rely on the same technologies as the
operations of large companies.
3. Safety regulation codes are uniform, established without reference to size of company.
4. Large companies typically have more of their profits invested in other businesses than do
small companies.

19. Public education suffers from what can be diagnosed as the sickness of an overgoverned society. This sickness denies many
parents control over the kind of education their children receive. The power once held by parents has gravitated to professional
educators. The sickness has been aggravated by increasing centralization and bureaucratization of schools.
Which of the following, if true, would weaken the claim that there is continuing erosion of parents’ control over their children’s
education?
1. As a result of community pressure, growing numbers of school administrators follow recommendations made by
parents.
2. The number of professional educators has risen sharply over the last decade even though the number of students has
declined.
3. Parent’s organizations that lobby for changes in school curriculums are generally ineffectual.
4. More members of school boards are appointed by school administrators than are elected by the public.

20. Noting that the number of crimes committed in a certain city had decreased in 1982 by 5.2 percent in comparison with 1981, the
police chief of the city said, “We see here the result of the innovative police program put into effect in the city at the beginning of
1982.”

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 Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the conclusion drawn by the police chief?
1. Several cities that have recently increased spending for police programs experienced no decrease in crime in 1982,
as compared with 1981.
2. The number of crimes committed in the suburban areas surrounding the city rose by about 5 percent in 1982 over the
figure for 1981 and were nearly equal in number to those in the city in 1982.
3. The number of crimes committed in the city in 1982 was 10 percent higher than the number committed in 1972.
4. The size of the age-group most likely to commit crimes decreased considerably in the city in 1982, as against 1981,
because of a declining birth rate.

21. Contrary to the spin placed on his reelection, the MP did not achieve a convincing victory. He points out that 60 percent of the
voters cast ballots for him, but a mere 25 percent of eligible people voted for him. A substantial majority of registered voters
did not vote. Clearly, he has the support of only a small minority of the people he represents.
This point of view is most weakened by the ambiguous meaning of which of the following words?
1. spin 2. convincing 3. majority 4. support

TYPE-6: Logical Flaws

22. Around 1850 there were about 800 farms in Otsego County. By the 1950s the number of farms had dropped to around 400. By
1988 there were only 81 farms in operation. Therefore, the amount of land in the country that is devoted to farming has dropped
by about 90 percent in the past 140 years.
A major flaw in the argument above is that it
1. counts the number of farms only approximately
2. fails to say whether the use now being made of the land previously devoted to farming is income-producing
3. ignores the possibility that the average size of farms has changed
4. does not take into account the type of product or crop each farm yields

23. At its annual meeting, the chairman of the company responded to a question about the lack of women senior executives by
stating that 60 percent of the employees of the company are women. He then added that the company was committed to equal
employment opportunities for women.
The basic flaw in the chairman’s answer is that it:
1. confuses opportunity with action
2. deflects the question by describing the number of women employees
3. assumes that commitment meets the obligation of the company
4. interprets the question to focus on women executives

TYPE-7: Method by which the Argument Proceeds

Questions 24 & 25 are based on the following.

Contrary to the charges made by some of its opponents, the provisions of the new deficit-reduction law for indiscriminate cuts in the
federal budget are justified. Opponents should remember that the New Deal pulled this country out of great economic troubles even
though some of its programs were later found to be unconstitutional.
24. The author’s method of attacking the charges of certain opponents of the new deficit-reduction law is to
1. attack the character of the opponents rather than their claim
2. imply an analogy between the law and some New Deal programs
3. point out that the opponent’s claims imply a dilemma
4. show that the New Deal also called for indiscriminate cuts in the federal budget

25. The opponents could effectively defend their position against the author’s strategy by pointing out that
1. the lack of justification for the new law does not imply that those who drew it up were either inept or immoral
2. the practical application of the new law will not entail indiscriminate budget cuts
3. economic troubles present at the time of the New Deal were equal in severity to those that have led to the present law
4. the fact that certain flawed programs or laws have improved the economy does not prove that every such program can do so

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 TYPE-8: Logical Completion of a Passage

26. Compared to a carnivore, an herbivore needs relatively few pounds of plants as food to be able to produce a pound of protein.
Since carnivores feed on both herbivore and other carnivores, the accumulated consumption of thousands of pounds of plants is
needed for a carnivore to produce a pound of protein.

The argument is best completed by which of the following?

1. Herbivores produce protein faster than carnivores.
2. A pound of carnivore protein has more food value than a pound of herbivore protein.
3. The impact of people on plant resources would be much less if they substituted chicken for fish in their diets.
4. Carnivores’ diets consist of more plants than meat.

27. Which of the following best completes the passage below?

At large amusement parks, live shows are used very deliberately to influence crowd movements. Lunchtime performances
relieve the pressure on a park’s restaurants. Evening performances have a rather different purpose: to encourage visitors to stay
for supper. Behind this surface divergence in immediate purpose there is the unified underlying goal
of___________________________.
1. keeping the lines at the various rides short by drawing off part of the crowd
2. enhancing revenue by attracting people who come only for the live shows and then leave the park
3. encouraging as many people as possible to come to the park in order to eat at the restaurants
4. utilizing the restaurants at optimal levels for as much of the day as possible

SPEAKER 1: Those who oppose abortion upon demand make the foundation of their arguments the sanctity of human life, but this
seeming bedrock assumption is actually as weak as shifting sand. And it is not necessary to invoke the red herring
that many antiabortion speakers would allow that human life must sometimes be sacrificed for a greater good, as in
the fighting of a just war. There are counter-examples to the principle of the sanctity of life which are even more
embarrassing to pro-life advocates. It would be possible to reduce the annual number of traffic fatalities to virtually
zero by passing federal legislation mandating a nationwide fifteen-mile-per-hour speed limit on all roads. You see,
implicitly we have always been willing to trade off quantity of human life for quality.

SPEAKER 2: The analogy my opponent draws between abortion and traffic fatalities is weak. No one would propose such a speed
limit. Imagine people trying to get to and from work under such a law, or imagine them trying to visit a friend or
relatives outside their own neighborhoods, or taking in a sports event or a movie. Obviously such a law would be a
disaster.

28. Which of the following best characterizes Speaker 2’s response to the argument presented by Speaker 1?
1. Speaker 2’s analysis of the traffic fatalities case actually supports the argument of Speaker 1.
2. Speaker 2’s analysis of the traffic fatalities case in an effective rebuttal of the argument of Speaker 1.
3. Speaker 2’s response provides a strong affirmative statement of the antiabortionist position.
4. Speaker 2’s response is totally irrelevant to the issue raised by Speaker 1.

29. Which of the following represents the most logical continuation of the reasoning contained in Speaker 1’s argument?
1. Therefore, we should not have any laws on the books to protect human life.
2. So the strongest attack on his position is the contradiction posed by Speaker 2’s agreement that we should fight a just war
even at the risk of considerable loss of human life.
3. Even the laws against contraception are good examples of this tendency.
4. The abortion question just makes explicit that which for long has remained hidden from view.

30. Which of the following assumptions are made in the argument of Speaker 1?
I. It is not a proper goal of a society to protect human life.
II. The human fetus is not a human life.
III. The trade-off between the number of human lives and the quality of those lives is appropriately decided by society.
1. I only
2. II only
3. I and II only
4. III only
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