Hi @AnkitM, thanks for your question. This is a strengthen with sufficient premise question. The stimulus presents an argument. The conclusion of that argument is that people who have car alarms "should deactivate them when they park in crowded city neighborhoods at night."
Why? What support is offered in the stimulus for this conclusion?
Well, the author says that a triggered car alarm "may stop an attempted car theft," but on the other hand it may just be faulty or a response to some harmless contact. Regardless, "the sleep of many people in the neighborhood is disturbed."
OK, but so what? Something more is needed for us to conclude that the correct course of action is to deactivate car alarms.
Answer choice (C) is sufficient for this purpose. This statement, if added to the stimulus, would allow the conclusion to follow logically from the premises.
Hope this helps! Please let us know if you have any additional questions.
CeciOctober 13, 2018
why not b?
MehranOctober 13, 2018
Hi @Ceci. As explained directly above, this is a Strengthen with Sufficient Premise question. The stimulus is an argument; the conclusion is that people who have car alarms "should deactivate them when they park in crowded city neighborhoods at night." Why? The premises don't really support this conclusion. There is mention of "the sleep of many people in the neighborhood," but also an acknowledgment that a car alarm "may stop an attempted car theft." If that's true, then why would anyone *deactivate* their car alarm overnight?
This is thus a weak argument, and we have to find the answer choice that bridges the gap between the premise and the conclusion.
Answer choice (B) does not do this; it basically repeats something already stated in the stimulus itself ("in most cases when a car alarm sounds at night, it is a false alarm" is along the same lines as "the alarm might signal only a fault in the device, or a response to some harmless contact, such as a tree branch brushing the car").
By contrast, notice how, unlike (B), answer choice (C) addresses the possible value of *not* deactivating the car alarm (i.e., recognizing that a car alarm may prevent car theft). In this way, answer choice (C) bridges the gap between the premises and the conclusion, strengthening the argument.
Hope this helps.
ReinaDecember 28, 2019
@mehran but C makes a comparison between sleeping undisturbed and preventing car theft when no such comparison is made in the passage. It is basically just stated. I chose B because if most alarms are false alarms, then they should be deactivated (i.e. the conclusion)...am I missing something? I just don't see how C really bridges a gap when it makes a comparison that isn't totally relevant to the passage. B gives a reason from the passage why they should be deactivated (only signal faults or harmless contact, loud)
ShirnelMay 26, 2020
I agree with Reina in some way. I knew it would be between answer choice B and C. Meehan mentioned above that B is equivalent to a sentence in the passage but I see it as two different statements. I understand why C is correct but can we get a better explanation as to why B is incorrect? Thank you.
