- PowerScore Staff
- Posts: 8950
- Joined: Feb 02, 2011
- Mon May 02, 2016 11:50 am
#23747
Complete Question Explanation
Weaken—CE. The correct answer choice is (C)
According to this stimulus, when laser printer drums are damaged, they leave a similar-sized blemish on each page printed. The author concludes that a blemished page can easily be traced back to the printer that produced it:
Answer choice (A): The stimulus has nothing to do with criminals—only suspicious documents, so this answer choice is incorrect.
Answer choice (B): This answer choice does not weaken the author's argument, which would allow for a difficult process—the assertion is that such blemishes can be quickly traced to the printer that made them.
Answer choice (C): This is the correct answer choice. If the same nick is produced on several drums, then any given blemish on paper could not necessarily be traced back to the specific printer that produced it. This answer choice provides the possible alternative cause that we were looking for: all other printers that have that same damage to their printer drum.
Answer choice (D): This answer choice has no effect on the strength of the author's argument—the author's assertion is that once a blemish is located it can be traced back to the printer that produced it.
Answer choice (E): The proportion of suspicious documents that are printed on laser printers is irrelevant to the question of whether blemishes can be quickly traced back to the producing printer based on the dimensions of the blemish.
Weaken—CE. The correct answer choice is (C)
According to this stimulus, when laser printer drums are damaged, they leave a similar-sized blemish on each page printed. The author concludes that a blemished page can easily be traced back to the printer that produced it:
- Cause
Effect
Specific damaged printer blemish
Answer choice (A): The stimulus has nothing to do with criminals—only suspicious documents, so this answer choice is incorrect.
Answer choice (B): This answer choice does not weaken the author's argument, which would allow for a difficult process—the assertion is that such blemishes can be quickly traced to the printer that made them.
Answer choice (C): This is the correct answer choice. If the same nick is produced on several drums, then any given blemish on paper could not necessarily be traced back to the specific printer that produced it. This answer choice provides the possible alternative cause that we were looking for: all other printers that have that same damage to their printer drum.
Answer choice (D): This answer choice has no effect on the strength of the author's argument—the author's assertion is that once a blemish is located it can be traced back to the printer that produced it.
Answer choice (E): The proportion of suspicious documents that are printed on laser printers is irrelevant to the question of whether blemishes can be quickly traced back to the producing printer based on the dimensions of the blemish.
