#7 - The photographs that the store developed were quite

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Assumption—SN. The correct answer choice is (B)

This stimulus is about a customer whose photographs were unsatisfactory as developed by the store. Both the film and the camera work properly, and according to the customer, the customer handled the film correctly. The author goes on to say that if the store improperly processes photographs, the store owes the customer a refund. Based on this, the author concludes that if the customer is correct (that is, if the customer really did handle the film correctly), the store owes the customer a refund.

The conclusion is presented in conditional terms, so the author is basically saying that, given the other premises presented in the stimulus, if the additional sufficient condition is met, the conclusion can be validly drawn. In other words, the author’s argument is basically that, where the film and the camera work properly, and the customer handled the film correctly, then the store owes the customer a refund (given that improper processing by the store entitles the customer to a refund):

• Premise: Both the film and the camera work properly.
  
  Premise: If the store improperly processes photographs, the store owes the customer a refund.
  
  Conclusion: If the customer handled the film correctly, then the store owes the customer a refund.

The unstated premise (a Supporter Assumption in this case) is that if the film and camera work properly and the customer did indeed handle the film correctly, then the store must have been to blame for improperly processing the photographs. This is known as a Supporter Assumption, and in this case may provide a pretty good prephrase for the answer to the Assumption question that follows…

The stimulus is followed by an Assumption question, so the correct answer choice will provide an assumption that the author’s argument relies upon.

Answer choice (A): This choice provides that if a refund is owed, then neither the camera nor the film is defective:

• (customer owed refund neither camera nor film defective).

The stimulus specifically provides that in the case at hand, neither the camera nor the film is defective. Since that is the necessary condition in this answer choice, it does not allow for any inference to be drawn, so it is not the Supporter Assumption required of the author’s argument.

Answer choice (B): This is the correct answer choice; as prephrased above, based on the premises about the proper film, camera, and customer handling, this choice concludes that the store improperly processed the photographs, entitling the customer to a refund (note that Supporter Assumptions work much like the right answers to Justify questions).

Answer choice (C): This assumption deals with cases in which pictures are taken with a defective camera:

• (defective camera impossible for store to improperly process).

This does not apply to the scenario presented in the stimulus, however, since the author specifies that the camera was not defective. This choice does not provide the Supporter Assumption link discussed, and it is not an assumption on which the author’s argument relies.

Answer choice (D): The author’s conclusion begins with “if the customers claim is correct,…” so this choice, which deals with the customer’s having incorrectly handled the film, cannot be an assumption relied upon by the author, and this cannot be the right answer to this Assumption question.

Answer choice (E): This choice begins with the sufficient condition “if the customer’s claim is not correct,” while the author’s conclusion deals with what happens if the customer’s claim is correct, so this cannot be an assumption on which the author’s argument relies.

[ShannonOh22]

So on Necessary Assumption questions, is it safe to say that whenever an answer choice contradicts what the stimulus' author assumes to be "correct" (as in, "If the customer's claim is correct...", we can eliminate that answer choice? Otherwise, it seems plausible that D or E would be correct answers to this question...the only difference between those two answer choices and answer choice B is that B sides with the author in assuming the customer DID in fact handle the film properly, because she claimed to.

I have run into this issue on other questions as well...so is there a rule I've overlooked in the Powerscore LR Bible that addresses situations in which a stimulus says "If X is correct..." that we are to put this under the umbrella of "always TRUE"?

Thanks!

[KelseyWoods]

Hi Shannon!

The conclusion here is not simply that the store owes the customer a refund...the conclusion is that IF the customer's claim that she handled the film correctly is true, then the store owes her a refund. The author does not actually assume that the customer's claim is true, just says that IF it is true then she is owed a refund. So answer choices (D) and (E) do not contradict the author.

The answer choices all provide very different conditional statements. We need to make sure the correct answer has the conditional statement that is necessary for our conditional conclusion above, and only answer choice (B) provides us with that.

Hope this helps!

Best,
Kelsey