#16 - Many nursing homes have prohibitions against having

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Main Point. The correct answer choice is (C)

Main Point questions often contain conclusion or premise indicators (such as “since” or “therefore”)
which indicate the role played by a given statement in the argument. This stimulus, however, has no
such words. In order to determine which statements are premises and which is the main point, it is
useful to ask which statements can be used as support. After reading a statement that might be the
conclusion, determine if any other statements are used to explain that statement. Statements which
are given without further support or justification are often premises, and supported statements are
typically primary or intermediate conclusions.

For example, you could ask why the prohibitions against having pets should be lifted. The next
two sentences provide benefits to lifting the prohibition. Conversely, asking why the presence of
animal companions reduces stress or why having rewarding time at home is important to an aging
population is fruitless. These statements are presented as premises and have no further support.

Answer choice (A): This answer fails the “why” test. There is no support for it and it is not the result
of the author’s argumentation.

Answer choice (B): This answer is not even implied in the argument, let alone the conclusion. The
author does argue for removing the prohibition against pets in nursing homes as part of a broader
appeal for equal treatment of nursing home residents.

Answer choice (C): This is the correct answer choice. This is main point of the argument and the
conclusion for which health benefits and rewarding time at a home are offered as premises.

Answer choice (D): This is a premise and also fails the “why” test. The author does not explain or
attempt to justify this statement.

Answer choice (E): Similar to answer choice (B), this answer overreaches the author’s argument.
The author is narrowly focused on persuading her audience to allow pets at nursing homes rather
than arguing about the benefits of pets to the older population overall.

[kappe]

How is the c and what can i do to begin bwtter identifying the conclusion and question typ is this?

[Elizabeth Mulkey]

Hi Kappe,

This is a good example of a Main Point question. These questions are in Family #1, the Prove or Must Be Family. In these questions, we're accepting the information in the stimulus as true, and applying that information to the answer choices.

Questions stems like
- "Which one of the following accurately restates the main point of the passage?"
- "The argument leads to the conclusion that" and
- "Which one of the following most accurately expresses the conclusion of the argument?"
are all good indicators that you're dealing with a Main Point question. The conclusion you're looking for is often located in the beginning or somewhere in the middle of the stimulus. This can be confusing, since we're used to seeing the conclusion of a statement or argument at the end.

In this question, the first sentence is the conclusion, or the point the speaker is trying to make. The next two sentences support this conclusion, giving reasons why the prohibitions should be lifted. Since we know the conclusion, we can scan through the answer choices to find the one that basically restates the first sentence in different terms. Choice (C) does this. Note that the speaker is advocating for a policy - answer choices (B) and (E) contain opinion language too, but neither matches the author's position: prohibitions against pets should be lifted.

You're absolutely right that learning the different types of questions is important. If you're a student in the Full-Length Course, Lesson 1 has some helpful homework exercises focusing specifically on identifying the types of questions. The PowerScore Logical Reasoning Bible is also really helpful for more focused practice in this area - here's a link: http://shop.powerscore.com/?action=prod ... 00O2WLMIA3.

Hope this helps clarify question 16!

- Elizabeth