Critical Reasoning

The fewer restrictions there are on the advertising of legal services, the more lawyers there are who advertise their services, and the lawyers who advertise a specific service usually charge less for that service than lawyers who do not advertise. Therefore, if the state removes any of its current restrictions, such as the one against advertisements that do not specify fee arrangements, overall consumer legal costs will be lower than if the state retains its current restrictions. If the statements above are true, which of the following must be true?

Companies O and P each have the same number of employees who work the same number of hours per week. According to records maintained by each company, the employees of Company O had fewer job-related accidents last year than did the employees of Company P. Therefore, employees of Company O are less likely to have job-related accidents than are employees of Company P. Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the conclusion above?

Mayor: In each of the past five years, the city has cut school funding and each time school officials complained that the cuts would force them to reduce expenditures for essential services. But each time, only expenditures for nonessential services were actually reduced. So school officials can implement further cuts without reducing any expenditures for essential services. Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the mayor�s conclusion?

From June through August 1987, Premiere Airlines had the best on-time service of 10 United States airlines. From January through March 1988, Premiere Airlines had the worst on-time service of the 10 airlines. The on-time performance ranking of the other nine airlines relative to each other remained unchanged. Which of the following, if true, would most contribute to an explanation of the facts above?

Low-income families are often unable to afford as much child care as they need. One government program would award low-income families a refund on the income taxes they pay of as much as $1,000 for each child under age four. This program would make it possible for all low-income families with children under age four to obtain more child care than they otherwise would have been able to afford. Which of the following, if true, most seriously calls into question the claim that the program would make it possible for all low-income families to obtain more child care?

In order to finance road repairs, the highway commission of a certain state is considering a 50 percent increase in the 10-cents-per-mile toll for vehicles using its toll highway. The highway commissioner claims that the toll increase will increase the annual revenue generated by the toll highway by at least 50 percent per year. Which of the following is an assumption on which the highway commissioner's claim depends?

A greater number of newspapers are sold in Town S than in Town T. Therefore, the citizens of Town S are better informed about major world events than are the citizens of Town T. B Most citizens of Town T work in Town S and buy their newspapers there. C The average citizen of Town S spends less time reading newspapers than does the average citizen of Town T. D A weekly newspaper restricted to the coverage of local events is published in Town S. E The average newsstand price of newspapers sold in Town S is lower than the average price of newspapers sold in Town T.

Most consumers do not get much use out of the sports equipment they purchase. For example, seventeen percent of the adults in the United States own jogging shoes, but only forty-five percent of the owners jog more than once a year, and only seventeen percent jog more than once a week. Which of the following, if true, casts most doubt on the claim that most consumers get little use out of the sports equipment they purchase?

Advertisement: For sinus pain, three out of four hospitals give their patients Novex. So when you want the most effective painkiller for sinus pain, Novex is the one to choose. Which of the following, if true, most seriously undermines the advertisement�s argument?

Among the more effective kinds of publicity that publishers can get for a new book is to have excerpts of it published in a high-circulation magazine soon before the book is published. The benefits of such excerption include not only a sure increase in sales but also a fee paid by the magazine to the book�s publisher. Which of the following conclusions is best supported by the information above?

The average life expectancy for the United States population as a whole is 73.9 years, but children born in Hawaii will live an average of 77 years, and those born in Louisiana, 71.7years. If a newlywed couple from Louisiana were to begin their family in Hawaii, therefore, their children would be expected to live longer than would be the case if the family remained in Louisiana. Which of the following statements, if true, would most significantly strengthen the conclusion drawn in the passage?

The average life expectancy for the United States population as a whole is 73.9 years, but children born in Hawaii will live an average of 77 years, and those born in Louisiana, 71.7 years. If a newlywed couple from Louisiana were to begin their family in Hawaii, therefore, their children would be expected to live longer than would be the case if the family remained in Louisiana. Which of the following, if true, would most seriously weaken the conclusion drawn in the passage?

Small-business groups are lobbying to defeat proposed federal legislation that would substantially raise the federal minimum wage. This opposition is surprising since the legislation they oppose would, for the first time, exempt all small businesses from paying any minimum wage. Which of the following, if true, would best explain the opposition of small-business groups to the proposed legislation?

Some economists view the Kennedy-Johnson tax cut of 1964, which radically reduced corporate and individual taxes, as the impetus for the substantial prosperity enjoyed by the United States in the late 1960's and early 1970's. Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the claim that the tax cut of 1964 was the impetus for economic prosperity?

Many companies now have employee assistance programs that enable employees, free of charge, to improve their physical fitness, reduce stress, and learn ways to stop smoking. These programs increase worker productivity, reduce absenteeism, and lessen insurance costs for employee health care. Therefore, these programs benefit the company as well as the employee. Which of the following, if true, most significantly strengthens the conclusion above?

In the aftermath of a worldwide stock-market crash, Country T claimed that the severity of the stock-market crash it experienced resulted from the accelerated process of denationalization many of its industries underwent shortly before the crash. Which of the following, if it could be carried out, would be most useful in an evaluation of Country T's assessment of the causes of the severity of its stock-market crash?

According to the Tristate Transportation Authority, making certain improvements to the main commuter rail line would increase ridership dramatically. The authority plans to finance these improvements over the course of five years by raising automobile tolls on the two highway bridges along the route the rail line serves. Although the proposed improvements are indeed needed, the authority's plan for securing the necessary funds should be rejected because it would unfairly force drivers to absorb the entire cost of something from which they receive no benefit. Which of the following, if true, would provide the authority with the strongest counter to the objection that its plan is unfair?

Not all life depends on energy from sunlight. Microbial life has been found in bedrock more than five kilometers below the surface of the Earth, and bacteria have been found on the deep ocean floor feeding on hydrogen and other gases rising from the interior of the Earth through vents in the ocean floor. The statements above, if true, best support which of the following as a conclusion?

Companies O and P each have the same number of employees who work the same number of hours per week. According to records maintained by each company, the employees of Company O had fewer job-related accidents last year than did the employees of Company P. Therefore, employees of Company O are less likely to have job-related accidents than are employees of Company P. Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the conclusion?

In many corporations, employees are being replaced by automated equipment in order to save money. However, many workers who lose their jobs to automation will need government assistance to survive, and the same corporations that are laying people off will eventually pay for that assistance through increased taxes and unemployment insurance payments. Which of the following, if true, most strengthens the author's argument?