Logical reasoning PrepTest 138 · Section 3 · Question 15

Incorrect. The conclusion is that people won't be surprised Ellsworth is offended by reports that he's unethical, not that they won't be surprised he's unethical. A subtle but key difference.

Incorrect. This answer doesn't connect to the offense he feels.

Incorrect. Ellsworth's unethical practices don't necessarily make him a hypocrite—they may not be based in greed. Additionally, this doesn't address the offense Ellsworth feels.

Incorrect. The conclusion of the argument addresses people's surprise at Ellsworth's reaction to a charge, which doesn't take into account whether he's innocent or not.

Correct. Argument or Facts:
Argument

Valid or Flawed:
Flawed

Question Type:
Strengthen with Sufficient Premise

Stimulus Summary:
Everyone knows that Ellsworth is self-righteous, so no one is surprised he's offended by bad news stories.

Answer Anticipation:
Strengthen with Sufficient Premise questions task us with finding an answer that justifies the conclusion of the argument. This is most easily done by finding a new term in the conclusion and connecting it to something in the premises. While there will occasionally be a gap between premises instead of from the premises to the conclusion, that's much rarer than the premise/conclusion gap—especially when there's a new term in the conclusion.

Here, the conclusion is a bit wordy, and it's important to identify the key part of it. It's easy to misinterpret it to be about Ellsworth's actions, but that's not who it's about. The conclusion is about those who know him—and the conclusion says that they won't be surprised that he's offended by something. That's a new concept that isn't in the premises, so we need to connect a premise to it.

Why does the argument state that people who know him won't be surprised by this? Because they know he's self-righteous. So the answer should connect those ideas—if someone believes someone is self-righteous, they won't be surprised when that person is offended.

Answer Explanation:
This answer connects the premise to the conclusion. People think Ellsworth is self-righteous. If everyone expects self-righteous people to be easily offended, then no one would be surprised when this self-righteous person is offended.

Key Takeaway:
Strengthen with Sufficient Premise questions will quite often feature a new term/concept in the conclusion. The correct answer will connect that term/concept to an idea raised in the premises. If you can identify this gap, then the correct answer will be rather easy to find!