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#37540
Complete Question Explanation

Must Be True, FL. The correct answer choice is (E)

This stimulus provides only a fact set, since the author draws no conclusions. First, we are provided with two general pieces of information about most large nurseries:

  • I. ..... Most large nurseries sell primarily to commercial raspberry growers.

    II. ..... Most large nurseries sell only plants that are guaranteed to be disease-free
It is important to understand that “most” refers to the majority—over 50%.

The author goes on to discuss a particular shipment: the shipment of raspberry plants that Wally’s Plants sent to Johnson carried a common virus.

The stimulus is followed by a Must Be True question, so the correct answer choice will be the one that passes the Fact Test, and can be confirmed by the information provided in the stimulus.

Answer choice (A): If Wally’s is not a large nursery, then the information provided by the author is not very helpful—we know two things about most large nurseries, but nothing about smaller nurseries (such as Wally’s, in this case). If Wally’s is not a large nursery, there is no way to assess the likelihood that the raspberry plants were guaranteed disease free.

Answer choice (B): The conditional answer presented here is that if the shipment was not entirely as guaranteed, Johnson is probably not a commercial raspberry grower:

  • Shipment not as guaranteed ..... :arrow: ..... Johnson probably not a commercial grower
This choice is not confirmed by the information provided in the stimulus. We know that most large nurseries sell only plants that are guaranteed to be disease-free, but the most relationship creates a one-sided “most” arrow:

  • large nurseries ..... :most: ..... sell only plants guaranteed to be disease free
When we consider the relationship from the other side, all we really know about the nurseries that sell only plants that are guaranteed to be disease free is that some are large nurseries:

  • Sell only plants guaranteed disease free ..... :some: ..... large nurseries
Since this choice cannot be confirmed by the information provided in the stimulus, it cannot be the correct answer choice in this case.

Answer choice (C): All we know from the stimulus is that most large nurseries sell primarily to commercial raspberry growers—not exclusively. Since we know nothing about non-commercial raspberry growers (they might still deal with large nurseries), knowing that Johnsons is not a commercial raspberry grower would not allow us to determine the likelihood of Wally’s Plants’ being a large nursery.

Answer choice (D): Although the author of the stimulus provides that most large nurseries sell primarily to commercial raspberry growers, knowing that a particular store sells primarily to commercial raspberry growers does not tell us whether or not that store is a large nursery. And although the recent shipment of raspberries carried a virus, we cannot conclude based on this information that Wally’s is not well run (it is important to note that the no-virus guarantee merely puts the responsibility on the guarantor—this is not the same as asserting that virus-free raspberries are an absolute certainty).

Answer choice (E): This is the correct answer choice. If the sender is indeed a large nursery, then the first piece of information is relevant. That means that Wally’s plants is likely to sell primarily to commercial growers, and is likely to sell only plants that are guaranteed to be disease-free (these two points are both likely because we know that they are true for most large nurseries). If this is the case, and the shipment was probably guaranteed to be disease-free, then we can also safely say that the shipment was probably not entirely as guaranteed.
 moshei24
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#5667
I got this question right - I just want to make sure I understand the FL in it that makes it right.

The answer is (E) because when it says "we probably not entirely," it's like saying "most of the time they wouldn't be considered" as they were guaranteed to be. And "most" could mean "always" because in the this question, they were for sure not entirely as they were guaranteed to be because they had a disease, but even so - if they were for sure not, they were also probably not. It's just a lower level, and is included in for sure not.

Do I understand that properly?

Thanks!
 Steve Stein
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#5725
Since most large nurseries sell only plants that are guaranteed to be disease free, if Wally's is a large nursery, it is probable (more likely than not) that Wally's provides this guarantee. If that is the case, then the raspberries with the virus would not be entirely as guaranteed.

I hope that's helpful!

~Steve
 moshei24
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#5756
Oh, I see - I missed "most" at the beginning. Thanks!
 pmoor093
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#6508
Hello!
I was hoping someone could help me better understand the question noted in the subject.

It is a Must be True-type question about nurseries, raspberries, disease...

The correct answer choice, E) - how do we know that Johnson is a commercial raspberry grower? It was this issue that made me hesitant to choose E). Is this irrelevant? Could someone explain the reasoning behind the answer choice?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!
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 Dave Killoran
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#6524
Hi P,

Thanks for the question! In (E), you don't actually know that Johnson is a commercial raspberry grower, but it is also irrelevant (as I think you suspected). Instead, the key here is the guarantee. Let's look at it more closely, and break it down.

In the stimulus, there are two things that we know about large nurseries, and I'll italicize key words in each:
  • 1. Most large nurseries sell raspberry plants primarily to commercial raspberry growers.

    2. Most large nurseries sell only plants that are guaranteed to be disease free.
So, in (E), when it says that if Wally's is a large nursery, in the case of 1, Johnson doesn't have to be a commercial raspberry grower. If 1 said "exclusively" instead of "primarily," then we'd actually know that Johnson would have to be a commercial raspberry grower regardless of whether it was stated.

But, for 2, we know that most of the large nurseries (which now includes Wally's according to (E)) sell only plants that guaranteed. That is, for most of the large nurseries, everything they sell has a guarantee. Thus, when Johnson received those diseased raspberries, most likely they came with a guarantee--but not for sure because of the "most" in front of "large nurseries" (it's possible Wally's isn't one of the large nurseries offering a guarantee). This possibility is why (E) uses the phrase "probably" instead of simply dropping that term.

Please let me know if that helps. Thanks!
 pmoor093
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#6530
Hey Dave,

Thanks for taking the time to explain this for me. It certainly does help.

Much appreciated!
 eober
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#16656
Hi,

How did we diagram this argument?

Thanks!
 Robert Carroll
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#16722
eober,

large nurseries :most: sell raspberry plants primarily to commercial raspberry growers + sell only plants that are guaranteed to be disease free

Answer choice (E) says:

Wally's Plants is a large nursery :arrow: the plants were probably not as guaranteed

If the sufficient condition of that answer is true, then it is probable (most large nurseries are this way and WP is a large nursery) that Johnson was a commercial grower AND that the raspberries were guaranteed to be disease-free. They were not disease-free, so there was probably a guarantee, but definitely something that did not match that guarantee, so the shipment probably failed to match a guarantee that existed.

Robert Carroll
 reticulargirl
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#45991
Can someone please explain (again) why (c) is incorrect?

Here is my diagram:

Large nurseries sell --(most)--> raspberry plants to commercial growers AND sell only disease-free plants

Contrapositive: NOT commercial grower or NOT sell disease-free plants --(some)--> NOT large nursery that sells

Therefore, under (c): Johnson NOT commerclal grower, then Wally's is likely not a large commercial nursery.

What am I doing wrong here?

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