Companies wishing to boost sales of merchandise should use in–store displays to catch customers' attention. According...

shunhe on January 9, 2021

Hi @andreaskormusis,

Thanks for the question! The first sentence here is going to be the conclusion.

(A) is wrong because we don’t care about how often in-store displays are being used. We’re trying to argue that they should be used, but that doesn’t require any assumptions about using them more.

(B) is wrong because we don’t care about how effective coupons and direct-mail advertising were in the past. This kind of restates information already directly stated in a premise.

(C) is wrong because it focuses on the wrong thing. The author doesn’t have to assume that in-store displays are more likely to influence buying decisions made on the spot than to influence OTHER buying decisions. Maybe they’re equally likely to influence both to a large extent. What we care about is in-store displays vs. direct-mail advertising, not on the spot vs. other.
?(D) is the correct answer choice. If (D) is negated, the argument falls apart, because there’s no reason to use in-store displays. Since the negation makes the argument fall apart, (D) is the necessary assumption.

(E) is false because it actually weakens the argument and makes it seem less likely that stores should use in-store displays.

Hope this helps! Feel free to ask any other questions that you might have.

andreaskormusis on January 11, 2021

Thanks so much! I hope you guys can get onto putting these breakdowns into your answers ASAP. Those breakdowns are half the reason I'm able to improve and when we are left in the dark it's equivalent to telling us students were wrong and walking away. In the moment being able to read a breakdown of why I'm wrong is what truly helps me get the next questions right more frequently and I know most students are the same way.

shunhe on January 21, 2021

Glad I was able to help! We are working on putting up the breakdowns, but thank you for the feedback!