Strengthen the argument explanation

Last updated: 13 Oct 2008

Now we need to apply this strategy to the example question.

The city council of Nowheresville has proposed establishing tollbooths on all of the major routes into the city. The council's reasoning is that this fee will force many commuters to switch from private automobiles to the public transportation system.

Which of the following statements, if true, provides the best evidence that the city council's plan will be successful?

  1. Most of the citizens of Nowheresville support the new plan.
  2. Several other cities have attempted to implement the scheme in the past, with mixed results.
  3. Currently the average private commuter car spends one hour and forty-five minute in the commute into the city.
  4. A new study suggests that many commuters with cars would switch to public transportation if driving in the city became any more expensive.
  5. The price of gasoline is projected to plummet in the next few months.

Firstly we will confirm which type of critical reasoning question it is. The question comes after the text and says

Which of the following statements, if true, provides the best evidence that the city council's plan will be successful?

It makes it clear that we want to find an answer which will strengthen the argument to support the council's plan.

Now we can apply our strategy for strengthen the argument questions.

  1. Identify the conclusion/main idea

    In this question we want to strengthen or support the plan, so our first step is to identify it.

    The plan, is to establish toll booths on major routes into the city to switch commuters to the public transport system.

  2. Anticipate the answer

    You are looking for an answer that supports the case for the switch.

    Answer D does this because the study supports the council's view that commuters will switch if the cost of travelling by car increases.

  3. Process of elimination

    It is still worth making a quick run through the rest of the answers to see which we can eliminate

    It could be argued that B and E actually weaken the likelihood of the plan working.

    If, as in B, other cities have attempted to do this and have had mixed results, then that is not a good reason to implement it in Nowheresville.

    E says that the price of gasoline will fall in the next few months, which means that the drop in price perhaps will be offset by the increase in the tolls, and therefore there will be no incentive to switch to public transportation.

    A suggests that most people support the plan, but that does not suggest that the plan will actually achieve it's aims and so does not strengthen the plan.

    C says that the average commuter spends an hour and forty-five minutes in his car, but that information alone does not support the idea, perhaps an average journey on public transport is 2 hours.

  4. Choose the answer

    In this case we are sure that D is the answer because it supports the plan whereas all the other answers are either evidence against the plan working or seem irrelevant to the success of the plan.

Next page: Supply the conclusion

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