#10 - Goswami: I support the striking workers at Ergon Foods

[lilmissunshine]

Hello,

I was choosing between (B) and (C), based on "If pay is the issue, I must disagree". Could you please explain why (D) is the correct answer? Many thanks!

[Adam Tyson]

Let's try the Agree/Disagree Test on this one, lilmiss. That is, let's see what each of our two speakers would say in response to all three answers under consideration. We have to base our answer solely on the text in the stimulus.

Answer B: What would G say about the "primary" reason for the strike? I know why G supports the strikers, but do I know what G would say is the primary reason for the strike? Nope! He might say "they are striking mainly because of poor working conditions" or "they are mostly concerned with unfair hiring and firing." Since I have no idea what G would say about the primary reason for the strike, I don't have to bother asking what N would say. The answer is dead. (And I also have no idea what N would say, either, about the primary reason for the strike.)

Answer C: What would G say about whether supporting underpaid workers is reasonable? He would say yes, because that is exactly what he did! Now, what would N say? I don't know. He doesn't think THESE workers are underpaid, but if some workers were underpaid would he think it reasonable to support those folks? Maybe yes, maybe no. Since I can't be sure what N would think is reasonable, this answer is out.

Answer D: G would say yes, because he said so. N would say no, they are not underpaid - he disagreed about that.

That proves D is the right answer - it's the one which, based on the text, one of the speakers says yes and the other says no. That is the test of this question type!

[silent7706]

Hi,

I got this one wrong by picking (B). My prephrase was "G and N disagree over the reason why workers went on a strike". It is clear to me why (B) is a wrong answer because of the extra word "primary", which makes this choice out of scope. However, I just want to confirm whether my prephrase is accurate.

Thanks in advance.

[Zach Foreman]

silent,
It is a bit difficult to tell exactly what Nordecki is disagreeing about. Could he disagree with he first sentence? Well, technically no. It would be strange if he said, "I disagree, you do not support the strike." What about the second sentence? That makes more sense "I disagree, the workers are not underpaid." We cans see this fits because his next sentence supports this. That leads us to D.
Neither of them are actually talking about why the workers are striking. Goswami says they are underpaid not "They think they are underpaid" or "They are on strike because they want more money." There is no mention of their subjective motivation, just his objective observation that they are underpaid.
Similarly, Nordecki isn't concerned with why they are striking but whether or not they are underpaid.

A better prephrase would be "whether they are underpaid or not"

[sunshine123]

Hello,

Previously Zach said that N most likely does not disagree with G's first sentence because it would be strange if N said "I disagree, you do not support the strike." I agree. However, is it not more realistic and sensible to expect her to reply to the first sentence by saying "I disagree, I do not support the striking workers at Ergon"? For that matter, why is it not reasonable to suppose that N questioned the rationality or validity of G's choice to support the striking workers? That point was, after all, G's main point. I guess I want to know more about how we can tell exactly what it is that the second speaker disagrees with.

Thank you for your time,
Sunshine

[Rachael Wilkenfeld]

Hi Sunshine,

The whole sentence in N's response is "If pay is the issue, I disagree." That indicates that his disagreement was with G's statement regarding pay, namely that they are underpaid. The disagreement is linked to G's statement about pay. G says they are underpaid, so the disagreement is with that idea.

Hope that helps!

[Mmjd12]

I chose correctly on this one, but I just want to confirm my reasoning for why (A) is not correct.

G stated the majority of workers make 20K a year, whereas N says the average annual salary is over 29K. They are using different metrics. If just one employee makes, say, 100K, and everyone else makes less than 20K, presumably that could make the average salary 29K. In other words, both speakers’ facts could be true and therefore not in disagreement.

However, the more compelling reasoning to eliminate (A) in favor of (D) is because it addresses the main conclusion of both speakers arguments. (G: “They are underpaid” / N: “I must disagree”) The salary figures quoted were simply premises in support of those conclusions.

[Dana D]

Hey Mmjd12,

You are right on in both respects - the speakers do not necessarily disagree about the average pay; they do disagree about whether the workers are underpaid. Great job!