Logical reasoning PrepTest 107 · Section 1 · Question 16

Question prompt

We can learn about Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: B

The notes below walk through why it fits the stem and how to eliminate the rest.

Argument or Facts

Argument

Valid or Flawed

Flawed

Question Type

Weaken Questions

Stimulus Summary

Proto-Indo-European has no word for sea but has words for winter stuff, so they probably lived in the cold away from the sea.

Answer Anticipation

The conclusion here is about where people lived, and it’s based on what words they have. Once you cut away all the high-level language, that’s what it boils down to.
While the argument does establish that you can learn about living conditions by looking at the language, it doesn’t highlight specifics - maybe it’s not the climate or location you can determine, but whether they lived with family or individually. It also doesn’t get into what aspects of the language tell you information about living conditions - is it vocabulary, as the argument assumes, or is it something like verb tenses?
Any answer that calls into question these two connections will serve to weaken the argument. Let’s find something that does that!

Answer choices

  1. A
    A word meaning "fish" Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited
    The conclusion is that this group of people lived away from the sea or ocean. They could have developed a word for “fish” because they lived by a lake. Since this answer doesn’t run counter to the conclusion, it doesn’t weaken the argument.
  2. B
    Some languages lack words Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B matches the stem
    This answer directly calls into question whether studying a people’s vocabulary lets you determine something about where they lived. If a lack of words for prominent elements of a living environment doesn’t show that a group didn’t live in an area with those elements, then the lack of words for “sea” doesn’t suggest they lived away from the sea/ocean, weakening the conclusion.
  3. C
    There are no known Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited
    This answer raises the possibility that people can have a word for an environmental element they don’t live by (since there are land-locked countries), which doesn’t speak to whether there are people who don’t have a word for an element they do live by. This answer is a bit of an illegal negation of the situation in the stimulus.
  4. D
    Proto–Indo–European possesses words for Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited
    “Heat” can be present in a cold climate, so this answer doesn’t really add anything to the argument.
  5. E
    The people who spoke Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    This is an interesting trap answer! It’s trying to get you to think that the group moved around, so they probably didn’t stay in cold areas isolated from the sea. However, they could have roamed around the middle of a land-locked, freezing cold country.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 27%
  2. B Credited 56%
  3. C 2%
  4. D 8%
  5. E 6%

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