Office manager: I will not order recycled paper for this office. Our letters to clients must make a good impression, ...

Naz September 11, 2014

Let's break down the stimulus.

The office manager claims that she will not order recycled paper because the letters they send to their clients must make a good impression, so they cannot print them on inferior paper.

The stationary supplier responds by saying that recycled paper is not necessarily inferior. She goes on to explain that, from the beginning, the finest paper was made of recycled materials, and only starting the 1850s did paper start to be made from wood fiber because there were no longer enough rags.

So, instead of discussing whether or not recycled paper is inferior paper, the stationery supplier gives information about the history of paper and when people started using wood fiber to make paper. However, this information is completely irrelevant to the point of whether or not recycled paper is inferior paper.

Answer choice (B) states: "It uses irrelevant facts to justify a claim about the quality of the disputed products."

This is exactly what the stationary supplier is doing. Though she starts off her statements by disagreeing that recycled paper is inferior paper, she never justifies her position. Instead of touching upon the point at issue, she discusses the history of papermaking and what is used to make paper now.

Answer choice (E) states: "It ignores the office manager's legitimate concern about quality."

Though this is a tempting answer choice, it is not correct. The stationary supplier does not ignore the office manager's concern about quality. She states, "Recycled paper is not necessarily inferior." Thus, she is not ignoring the concern. She merely does not state adequate reasoning as to why it is not necessarily inferior. Do you see the difference?

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