Logical reasoning PrepTest 142 · Section 1 · Question 12

Incorrect. This answer is the inverse of what we're looking for—we need to know that not having a word for a metal means that metal wasn't smelted.

Incorrect. The premises don't establish that the Sals were unfamiliar with iron, so this answer doesn't necessarily apply.

Incorrect. This answer justifies the premises about copper and bronze, but it doesn't justify the conclusion about not having a word for iron guaranteeing they didn't smelt it. This answer is essentially the same answer as (A), only more limited, so it couldn't be correct.

Incorrect. This answer, similar to (B), is about familiarity with a metal, not about smelting it, making it suspect from the outset. Additionally, the argument concludes the Sals didn't smelt iron, so this answer has a sufficient condition that's not established as true (since premises are established as true, not conclusions).

Correct. Argument or Facts:
Argument

Valid or Flawed:
Flawed

Question Type:
Strengthen with Sufficient Premise

Stimulus Summary:
Sals culture Ð They smelted copper and bronze. They had words for copper and bronze, but not iron.
Conclusion Ð They did not smelt iron.

Answer Anticipation:
Strengthen with Sufficient Premise questions generally rely on a strong answer that directly connects a premise with the conclusion. When the premises and conclusion are conditional, you should start by looking for conditional connections. When the argument isn't conditional, you should start with the conclusion and see what premise is closest to justifying it, and then connect them (generally with a conditional).

Here, the conclusion is that the Sals culture didn't smelt iron. What's the closest premise supporting that idea? That the Sals culture didn't have a work for iron. To connect that, we should directly link not having a word for something with not having it:

If a culture doesn't have a word for something, then they must not have used it.

Answer Explanation:
Contrapositive: not Word for metal → not Smelt metal. The Sals didn't have a word for iron, so this answer guarantees they didn't smelt it, justifying the conclusion.

Key Takeaway:
Strengthen with Sufficient Premise questions rely on you connecting a premise to the conclusion with no wiggle room—it has to be airtight. As such, the correct answers tend to be conditional connections between a premise and the conclusion. If the argument itself isn't largely conditional, start with the conclusion, find the premise that most closely connects to it, and then find an answer that directly connects those two ideas.