Hana said she was not going to invite her brothers to her birthday party. However, among the gifts Hana received at ...

Milica Gligic on November 23, 2019

Why is answer choice B wrong?

I took it to mean that a person can attend an even without having a permison to attend (without being invited).

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Annie on November 23, 2019

Hi @Milica,

This argument is asking you to find the reasoning error in the argument. The best way to do begin is always to break down the argument into its component parts. Here, we have:

Premise: Hana said she wouldn't invite her brothers to the party.
Premise: One of her presents was a recording.
Premise: Her brothers had planned to give that recording.
Conclusion: At least some of Hana's brothers must have been at the party.

Then, see if you can spot an error in the argument before you turn to the answer choices. One error I see is that this argument assumes that no one else but her brothers could have gotten her the recording.

Answer Choices:
(B) is incorrect because the argument is not about whether they were invited, but rather about whether the brothers attended the party. As you pointed out, you can show up to a party that you aren't invited to. The conclusion takes this into account. It doesn't state that at least some of the brothers must have been invited, but rather states that at least some of them must have been present. Thus, this error isn't made.

(D) is correct. This answer choice rephrases the error we spotted above. The argument never tells us why only her brothers could have gotten her the recording. Therefore, there is an assumption being made here that has not been explained, and that is a flaw in the reasoning.