In university towns, police issue far more parking citations during the school year than they do during the times whe...

Naz on March 30, 2015

The conclusion in this argument is: "we know that most parking citations in university towns are issued to students."

Why? Well we are given an example of a time where the population near the school is up, i.e. during the school year. The argument tells us that during this time police issue far more parking citations than during times that students are out of town.

Well, what's the issue here? What other kind of people are in town during the school year, but not when students might also be out of town? Perhaps administrators, professors, non-student friends and family members of the students.

So, it doesn't necessarily have to mean that parking citations in university towns are issued primarily to the group that caused the increase in population.

Answer choice (A) concludes: children buy most of the snacks at cinemas. Why? Because popcorn sales increase as the proportion of child moviegoers to adult moviegoers increases.

So here, as proof, we are given a proportion between child moviegoers and adults. Whereas, in the argument, we are merely assuming that the population of a specific group goes up, and therefore, they are the ones primarily getting citations. The structure of answer choice (A) is not similar to the structure of the argument in the passage.

Answer choice (E) concludes: "we know that most of the snacks parents buy go to other people's children,"

Why? We are given an example of a time where the population in the house is up, i.e. when other people's children come to visit, showing that parents give out more snacks as usual during this time.

But, just as is the case in the argument, there could be more than just the other children during this time. Perhaps your children eat more in front of their friends. Perhaps the other children have brought their parents or babysitters with them. It is not necessarily that the other children are getting the snacks.

So, just like the argument, we are unnecessarily assuming that the increase is related to the group that is responsible for the surge in population. Thus, answer choice (E) is the correct answer.

Hope that clears things up! Please let us know if you have any other questions.