A car's antitheft alarm that sounds in the middle of the night in a crowded city neighborhood may stop an attempted c...

Ryan on September 28, 2019

Why is C correct? Why is B incorrect?

Thanks

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Ravi on October 22, 2019

@Ryan-Mahabir,

Let's take a look at (C) and (B).

This is a strengthen with a sufficient premise question. We have two
competing interests in the stimulus: the car owners' security and the
people trying to sleep at night. If the alarms are turned off at
night, then the neighborhood can sleep without disturbance, but the
car owners' cars could be subject to theft. However, if the car alarms
are kept active during the night, then the neighborhood is kept up all
night by car alarms, but the cars are less likely to be stolen. The
conclusion of the argument takes a side and says that car alarms
should be turned off. the big assumption being made is which group's
interest is more important. In the case of this argument, the author
is assuming the people trying to sleep's interests are more important.

(B) says, "In most cases when a car alarm sounds at night, it is a false alarm."

(B) definitely strengthens the conclusion by telling us that these
alarms are actually likely to wake people up for no legitimate reason.
However, the problem with (B) is that it doesn't tell us that we need
to turn them off, and it fails to justify the conclusion that the
people sleeping's interests are more important than the car owners'
interests, so we can get rid of this choice.

(C) says, "Allowing the residents of a crowded city neighborhood to
sleep undisturbed is more important than preventing car theft."

(C) is great because it's a premise that allows the argument to choose
between the two options and conclude that the alarms should be shut
off. It gives us a premise that the interests of the people sleeping
are more important than the interests of the car owners, so it's the
correct answer choice.

Hope this helps. Let us know if you have any other questions!