#23 - Alex: Shrimp farming results in damage to the

[cascott15]

First, Jolene says "I disagree" with Alex's argument. Alex's argument is that shrimp farming results in environmental damage. Hence, they disagree over the environmental damage caused by shrimp farms.

Second, Alex talks about shrimp farming in general, while Jolene is talking about "properly built shrimp farms." I would say the distinction drawn here is enough to conclude that they're not talking about the same types of farms. In Alex's story, there are shanty shrimp farms thrown together for a quick buck. In Jolene's, they are lifelong operations. The frequency of these two types of farms is undetermined.

[James Finch]

Hi Cascott,

You're absolutely right that the hardest LR questions require very careful reading and will often hinge on a single word in each answer choice. Here, (A), (B) and (C) are all attractive, but only one can be correct. (A) fails on the word "eventually," which isn't at issue; we're only looking at whether the shrimp farmers quickly abandon their farms or not. (C) fails on the "hardly ever," which is nearly synonymous with "never," something that Jolene has already conceded in the stimulus by saying "some farmers." (B) works because Alex assumes that shrimp farming is quickly profitable, while Jolene indicates that it's unprofitable in the early going and requires long periods of investment to actually be a sustainable business.

Hope this helps!

[cascott15]

Hi Cascott,

You're absolutely right that the hardest LR questions require very careful reading and will often hinge on a single word in each answer choice. Here, (A), (B) and (C) are all attractive, but only one can be correct. (A) fails on the word "eventually," which isn't at issue; we're only looking at whether the shrimp farmers quickly abandon their farms or not. (C) fails on the "hardly ever," which is nearly synonymous with "never," something that Jolene has already conceded in the stimulus by saying "some farmers." (B) works because Alex assumes that shrimp farming is quickly profitable, while Jolene indicates that it's unprofitable in the early going and requires long periods of investment to actually be a sustainable business.

Hope this helps!

It does, thank you. So I suppose if you're really stuck between a few attractive (or sometimes unattractive) options, some general guidance might be to pick the weakest option?

[KelseyWoods]

Absolutely, Cascott! We're always looking for the BEST answer. It won't always be perfect. But you've gotta go with the one that is the best option out of the 5 you've been given. That's one of the reasons that it's important to read all 5 answer choices so you can make that comparative decision.

Hope this helps!

Best,
Kelsey