Journalist: The new mayor is undeniably bold. His assertions are made with utter certainty and confidence. While thes...

shunhe on December 22, 2019

Hi @amandapaige,

The problem with (D) is that it essentially negates the answer we are looking for - it is an illegal negation. Hope this helps.

ulino23 on February 9, 2020

I thought the conclusion was the first sentence of the stimulus. How is the last part the conclusion??

shunhe on February 10, 2020

Hi @ulino23,

Thanks for the question! Take a look at the wording here: it’s the two previous sentences that “demonstrate that” the mayor is not an introspective person. In other words, were we to diagram this, we would diagram it:

P1) Mayor is undeniably bold
P2) Assertions are made with utter certainty and confidence (this could be a premise supporting P1 as a subsidiary conclusion, but the argument still makes sense like this)

C) Mayor is not introspective

The alternative interpretation would be:
P1) The mayor is not an introspective person
P2) Assertions are made with utter certainty and confidence
C) New mayor is undeniably bold

But it’s not the fact that the mayor is not introspective that supports the idea that he’s bold. It’s the idea that he’s bold that supports the idea that he’s not introspective. Thus, the last sentence is the conclusion. Hope this helps! Feel free to ask any other questions that you might have.