All of John's friends say they know someone who has smoked 40 cigarettes a day for the past 40 years and yet who is r...

Tehran20 on October 16, 2019

why E?

please explain

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Irina on October 16, 2019

@Tehran20,

The stimulus includes the following premises:

(1) All of John's friends say they know someone who smoked for 40 years.
(2) John does not know anyone like that
(3) John is not unique among his friends in that respect, i.e. John is not the only one among his friends who does not know anyone like that.

Since premise (3) contradicts premise (1), it is impossible that ALL friends know someone like that and SOME of his friends do not know anyone like that, we can conclude that SOME - at least one - of his friends are not telling the truth.

Let me know if this makes sense and if you have any further questions.

Tehran20 on October 17, 2019

Ohh makes perfect sense, thank you!