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Q2 - The Fenwicks returned home from a trip

by bbirdwell Thu May 03, 2012 4:27 pm

What's the core?

Conclusion:
Kids came through the unlocked back door and broke the bottles.

Premise:
there was no sign of forced entry

Counter-example
the cat had free run of the house

Well, there is a pretty big gap here, so it won't be terribly valuable to do much considering here. Let's go to the choices with this in mind: we want to eliminate the 4 choices that support the conclusion that the kids broke the bottles.

(A) this supports the kids-through-the-back-door theory

(B) this definitely supports

(C) this supports the "kids" argument by ruling out the cat (cats don't typically open fridges)

(D) definitely supports!

(E) just because they came back later than they planned doesn't indicate that the kids broke the bottles. This is our answer.
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Re: Q2 - The Fenwicks returned home from a trip

by gu.sunil Mon Sep 03, 2012 8:14 am

How can (a) support kids-thru- back-door?
 
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Re: Q2 - The Fenwicks returned home from a trip

by joseph.carroll.555 Thu Apr 11, 2013 7:27 pm

gu.sunil Wrote:How can (a) support kids-thru- back-door?

I got this question right, but I'm actually kind of unclear on this as well.
 
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Re: Q2 - The Fenwicks returned home from a trip

by sumukh09 Thu Apr 11, 2013 7:33 pm

joseph.carroll.555 Wrote:
gu.sunil Wrote:How can (a) support kids-thru- back-door?

I got this question right, but I'm actually kind of unclear on this as well.


Imagine 5 or 6 kids running out of the Fenwicks' house through the back door in excitement after terrorizing the Fenwicks' house, the back door may have been just about to close completely and one of the neighbour's could have seen the door going back and forth because of the momentum caused by kids rushing in and out of the back door.
 
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Re: Q2 - The Fenwicks returned home from a trip

by coco.wu1993 Sun Aug 17, 2014 5:02 am

I too have problem with A. So a door cannot remain closed and unlocked at the same time?
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Re: Q2 - The Fenwicks returned home from a trip

by tommywallach Sun Aug 17, 2014 4:55 pm

A cat can't open a door...

-t
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Re: Q2 - The Fenwicks returned home from a trip

by coco.wu1993 Sun Aug 17, 2014 8:07 pm

tommywallach Wrote:A cat can't open a door...

-t


But the cat doesn't have to open the door. It's a pet dog.
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Re: Q2 - The Fenwicks returned home from a trip

by tommywallach Thu Aug 21, 2014 8:12 pm

Not sure I understand. We're trying to figure out why the back door swung open. Only a person could do that (a dog or a cat can nudge open a door that's already open, but they can't open a door).

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Re: Q2 - The Fenwicks returned home from a trip

by coco.wu1993 Tue Aug 26, 2014 7:01 am

tommywallach Wrote:Not sure I understand. We're trying to figure out why the back door swung open. Only a person could do that (a dog or a cat can nudge open a door that's already open, but they can't open a door).

-t


I reread the stimulus but see nowhere saying that the door is open, unless "unlock" is equal to "swinging open" :oops:
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Re: Q2 - The Fenwicks returned home from a trip

by tommywallach Tue Aug 26, 2014 11:32 pm

I don't understand, Coco. They think they left the door unlocked. If someone saw the door swinging open, that would mean the door was left unlocked. It can't swing open if it's locked...

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Re: Q2 - The Fenwicks returned home from a trip

by Steve Tue Feb 03, 2015 5:56 am

A is wrong by the word "closing", which means that the backdoor is not completely "closed"/"unlocked" when Fenwicks were away. This strengthens the unlocked door theory a little bit.
 
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Re: Q2 - The Fenwicks returned home from a trip

by YudeS218 Thu Mar 08, 2018 8:05 am

I saw a cat opened a door itself, so I chose A...
 
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Re: Q2 - The Fenwicks returned home from a trip

by lsatlsat! Tue Sep 18, 2018 3:23 am

Hi,

Could someone explain why (D) strengthens the argument?

I understand why (e) clearly does not support the argument, but for (d), I thought that mere suspicion against the children should not be used as evidence that they were involved in any burglaries. If we accepted (d) as a support, it would be like saying: the kids are likely responsible for breaking in my house because they are suspected to have done so. To me, this doesn't make much sense.

Any help is appreciated!