#20- Some people have been promoting a new herbal mixture as

[nusheenaparvizi]

I am having a hard time trying to see how (E) is an assumption required by the argument?

I correctly chose (C) because I saw it as out of scope with the stimulus because it's not talking about preventing further colds. But I was between (C) and (E) and I also see (E) as being out of scope as well. (E) basically says there are no effective remedies that people prefer over the mixture... I just can't seem to understand how this is required by the stimulus. Above all, I really don't get how (E) is even related to the stimulus' conclusion. Really going in circles with this problem Thank you so much!

Nusheena

[Luke Haqq]

Hi nusheena!

I can certainly address why answer (E) is incorrect. Since this is an assumption/EXCEPT question, as you rightly note, that means explaining why answer (E) is an assumption on which the argument depends.

Answer (E) states, "There are no effective cold remedies available that many people who have colds prefer to the mixture." In testing whether this is a required assumption, we should look to the author's conclusion in the stimulus. The conclusion comes in the sentence starting with "Therefore," namely, the conclusion is that the coneflower/goldenseal mixture "is obviously not effective."

Next, we can ask, why does author conclude that this mixture is obviously not effective? The reasoning that the author gives is that most people with colds would be using this mixture if it really worked, since most people with colds would prefer not to be sick. At this point, prephrasing strikes me as a useful test-taking strategy to apply--for example, my first instinct is that this fails to account for the possibility that most cold sufferers might have never heard of this mixture before. Answer choice (E) provides another possibility like this--rather than never having heard of the mixture, perhaps most people with colds are using a different mixture that is also effective. The author, however, is assuming that this is not the case.

To see this, use the Assumption Negation technique--negate an answer choice and plug it back into the argument in the stimulus; if the argument falls apart, then you know that the answer choice is an assumption on which the argument depends. Here, negating answer choice (E) would produce, "There are some/at least one effective cold remedies available that many people who have colds prefer to the mixture." If this were true, then the author's argument would fall apart that the coneflower/goldenseal mixture is obviously not effective (i.e., it might still be effective but people are not using it just because they are using another remedy). Since the Assumption Negation technique shows it to be a necessary assumption, we can eliminate it as an incorrect answer choice on an assumption/EXCEPT type question.

[mollylynch]

So the author is assuming there are cold remedies that people prefer over this? I understand why C is right but still confused as to why E is wrong.

[Jeff Wren]

Hi Molly,

Actually, the author is assuming the opposite, that there are NO other effective cold remedies that many people who have colds prefer (as stated in Answer E).

The author is basically arguing that if this cold remedy actually worked (i.e. if it was effective), then almost everybody with a cold would be using it. Since that isn't the case, then it must not actually work (be effective).

There are many problems with this argument and many assumptions that are being made in the argument (such as that everyone knows about the remedy and knows whether it's effective, that everyone can easily find/buy it, that everyone can afford it, etc.).

Another assumption is that there aren't other effective cold remedies that people already use. Even if this remedy works, if there are other products that also work, then why would everyone need to buy this one? The author is assuming that there aren't other effective cold remedies, so the fact that not everyone with a cold uses this product must mean it doesn't work.

To give a parallel case, imagine this argument.

If Tylenol helped relieve headaches, then everyone with a headache would use it, because nobody likes headaches. Many people with headaches don't use Tylenol, so it must not be effective.

One of the many problems of that argument is that it's incorrectly assuming that there aren't other products that also help relieve headaches. Maybe some people just prefer Advil, or some other pain relief product. That doesn't mean that Tylenol isn't effective.