Logical reasoning PrepTest 112 · Section 4 · Question 16

While the Shipping Manager does highlight other departments that are also necessary to the company’s success, she doesn’t claim that they’re all interdependent - she treats them each as individually necessary to the company’s success.

“Highest priority” isn’t an ambiguous term, and the Shipping Manager doesn’t try to argue that it is. Her argument, in fact, relies on the term meaning what it says - that there is one department that receives more priority than any other. (Which she shows to be impossible, if using the Sales Manager’s criteria for determining.)

The Shipping Manager doesn’t bring up that other departments are more critical to the company, just that there are others that are “also” critical.

This answer reflects the method of reasoning brought up by the Shipping Manager. The Sales Manager uses the necessity of the Sales Department to justify it receiving highest priority. The Shipping Manager shows that, using that criteria, several departments would receive highest priority - a logical impossibility, and thus something that’s absurd to argue for.

The Sales Manager discusses only the Sales Department, so there’s no generalization there. He may rely on a generalization as an assumption, but that’s different than making a generalization. Also, the Shipping Manager points out that the Sales Department isn’t atypical - it’s similar to other departments in that they are all necessary for the company to function.