Q3: Durham: The mayor will agree to a tax increase because

[ohthatpatrick]

Question Type:
ID the Agreement

Stimulus Breakdown:
D: The road repair proposal is the mayor's top priority and the city council won't agree to it unless the mayor agrees to a tax increase. So the mayor will agree to the tax increase.
E: The mayor won't get her road repair proposal passed because she cares more about taxes not increasing.

Answer Anticipation:
Once you've read both parties' statements, revisit each of the first person's claims and ask yourself whether the second person agreed / disagreed / no comment.

Does E think "the mayor will agree to a tax increase"? No she doesn't (she says that making sure taxes don't increase is more important than road repair). Scratch that claim.

Does E think that "the only way the city council will agree to road repair is if the mayor agrees to a tax increase"? Unclear. Maybe no comment?

Does E think that "road repair proposal is the mayor's top priority"? Definitely not. E says that "it is more important that taxes not increase".

Okay so then we'd have to say E agreed with the second claim, that "agreeing to a tax increase is a crucial determinant of of whether the mayor gets her road repair proposal passed".

Correct Answer:
B

Answer Choice Analysis:
(A) They disagree here.

(B) YES, as we predicted.

(C) They disagree here.

(D) D does not give a clear indication here, but his statements lean towards the idea that the proposal WILL be passed, so this still leans towards disagreement.

(E) They disagree here. This is the same issue as (C).

Takeaway/Pattern: For ID the (Dis)Agreement, take a first pass through the statements and then revisit the first person's, taking it claim by claim to ask yourself, "Did person 2 (dis)agree with this claim?" This helps us really focus in on the language of the overlap.

#officialexplanation