#12 - Dried parsley should never be used in cooking, for it

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Strengthen—PR. The correct answer choice is (B)

The argument presented here is very straightforward: based on the fact that dried parsley is much less healthy and tasty than fresh parsley, the author concludes that dried parsley should never be used in cooking:

• Premise: Dried parsley is far less healthy and tasty than fresh parsley.
  
  Conclusion: Dried parsley should never be used in cooking.

The question that follows asks for the answer choice that “most clearly helps to justify” the argument in the stimulus; this means that the correct answer will provide the principle that strengthens the author’s strongly worded conclusion in this case.

Answer choice (A): This is a popular incorrect answer choice because it begins in the right direction, but is not worded quite strongly enough; even if fresh ingredients should be used whenever possible, that would still leave some situations in which dried parsley would be acceptable (when, for example, fresh parsley was not available). Since the author’s conclusion is that dried parsley should never be used in cooking, this principle does not help to justify the author’s absolute conclusion and should be ruled out of contention.

Answer choice (B): This is the correct answer choice. If, as the principle in this choice provides, only the tastiest ingredients should ever be used in cooking, then that strengthens the author’s conclusion that dried parsley should never be used in cooking—if only the tastiest ingredients should be used, fresh parsley should always be used in its place.

Answer choice (C): This choice provides a description of ingredients that should never be used in cooking: they are neither healthy nor tasty. This could be diagramed as follows:

• healthy
  Never to be used in cooking +
  tasty

Since “never to be used in cooking” is the sufficient condition in this principle, this choice does not strengthen the author’s conclusion, that dried parsley should never be used in cooking.

(Dried parsley Never to be used in cooking).

Answer choice (D): The author provides that dried parsley is less healthy and less tasty than fresh parsley, but that still allows for the possibility that dried parsley is healthy and tasty (just less so than fresh parsley). Since this principle doesn’t necessarily support the author’s conclusion, it should be ruled out of contention for this Strengthen—Principle question.

Answer choice (E): The stimulus provided that fresh parsley is healthier and tastier than dried parsley, so this principle is somewhat extraneous, and does not help to justify the author’s absolutely worded conclusion that dried parsley should never be used in cooking.

[angie23]

After going through the right answer and wrong answers and understanding why the wrong answers are wrong, I am still confused as to why B) is correct. I thought that the correct answer would have both "tasty" and "healthful" in it since that was in the premise. How do we know when answers like these are correct and when is it ok to choose justify answers choices that omit certain information from the stimulus?

[Robert Carroll]

angie,

For this question, despite the word "justify" in the stem, you're finding the answer that "most clearly helps to justify" the argument - in other words, the question is a Strengthen rather than Justify. The degree of justification can be less than 100%.

While identifying the question type is always important so that you know the degree of justification required, examination of the conditional represented by answer choice (B) makes it clear why this answer is correct. The word "only" indicates the necessary condition, so answer choice (B) can be diagrammed as follows:

an ingredient should ever be used in cooking that ingredient is be the tastiest

The contrapositive:

an ingredient is not the tastiest that ingredient should never be used in cooking

Dried parsley is less tasty and less healthful than fresh parsley, so it's neither the tastiest nor the healthiest. If it fails BOTH those conditions, it clearly fails the "tasty" condition, so it's not the tastiest, and answer choice (B), if true, would allow us to infer that it should never be used in cooking. That would give us our conclusion, so this is the correct answer.

If answer choice (B) is true, then if an ingredient is not the tastiest, that fact is sufficient to prove that the same ingredient should never be used in cooking. We don't need to know that only healthy ingredients should be used; answer choice (B) and the premises give us the conclusion. Focus on whether the answer choice strengthens the argument, which this does, rather than on whether it contains all the words, phrases, and/or concepts used in the stimulus. Answer choice (B) needed only to strengthen the argument, not to contain every single concept mentioned.

Let me know if you have further questions!

Robert

[Basia W]

Good afternoon,

Could you explain why B is the correct answer in this question? Is it due to the more general wording? I ruled it our because D encompassed both the "tasty" and "healthful" aspect.

Thanks!

Basia

[Nicholas Bruno]

Hi Basia,

So B is correct because if only the tastiest ingredients should be used, then fresh parsley should be used because it is the most tasty ingredient when your choice is between fresh parsley and dried parsley. This is sufficient to get to the answer: you do not need it to *also* be the most healthy. Does that make sense?

D is incorrect because the stimulus does not say that fresh parsley is tasty or healthy. Only that it is *more* healthy and *more* tasty than dried parsley. Both could be really unhealthy and taste terrible as far as the stimulus is concerned.

I hope that helps!

[Basia W]

it does!

Thank you

Best,

Basia

[al_godnessmary]

I didn't think the answer would be so "extreme," in that it went so far as to say only the tastiest ingredients ever, so I went with D, thinking that it was limited to selection of parsley in cooking, reducing this to a dried versus fresh parsley issue...Can you please help me understand why, when compared, the two choices do not offer the same level of support for the argument?

Thanks!

[Nikki Siclunov]

Hi al_godnessmary,

In answering Justify and Strengthen questions, we are looking for strong language that helps establish the conclusion. Let's compare answer choices (B) to (D):

If only the tastiest ingredients should ever be used in cooking (B), and dried parsley is clearly not as tasty as fresh parsley is, then should we ever use dried parsley in our cooking? Obviously not. The conclusion is immediately justified.

By contrast, answer choice (D) states that parsley that is not both tasty and healthful should never be used in cooking. Alright, that's close. Is dry parsley not tasty and healthful? Maybe... we don't know! All we know is that dry parsley is far less tasty and healthful than fresh parsley is. The premise presents a comparative, not an absolute claim. It's entirely possible that both fresh and dry parsley are tasty (and healthful), but that the former is simply more so than the latter.

So, since there is no evidence suggesting that dry parsley is not tasty or healthful, answer choice (D) is not applicable to this argument.

Hope this helps!

Thanks,

[15veries]

I like B the best, but I was wondering why we do not need to think about "healthiness" here...
I understand sufficient assumption can have more components than what is discussed
(Eg
Premise:A
Con: B
Assumption can be A B or A+C B)
But I don't see why assumption can be less...
(Eg
Premise: A+C
Con: B
Assumption A B??? what about C? If both of A and C do not lead to B how can we conclude from A+C, B?)

[Emily Haney-Caron]

Hi 15veries,

This is a Strengthen—Principle question. You're looking for an answer that gives a principle which bolsters the argument that dried parsley should never be used. B does that, and would also do that if it said, "healthiest," instead of "tastiest." Here, you're trying to diagram something that shouldn't be diagrammed, rather than thinking about the reasoning. Sounds like you were still able to get to B as the right answer, so great work!