Q3 - The statements that adolescents and

[tzyc]

I'm not sure why the answer is (E)
I chose (C) because the other four did not sound correct, but not sure about this one too...

[sumukh09]

E says the statement "adolescents and adults are not the same" supports the conclusion by conceding a potential objection of the argument's conclusion which is that adolescents should be able to vote. It's basically using an opposing point to make a point; the opposing point being "adults and adolescents are not the same."
The argument is essentially saying "well yeah that's exactly why adolescents should get to vote, because adults can't represent the interests of adolescents since they're not the same."

C) is wrong because the statement in the question stem is not a consequence; adults and adolescents are not the same regardless of whether adolescents get to vote or not

[ohthatpatrick]

Nice response. Let me just add a couple thoughts of my own.

There are a lot of tell-tale words/phrases that indicate that an author is conceding a point to his opponents:

Admittedly, ___
Granted, ____
No one will argue that ___
It is true that ___
Of course, ___
Naturally, ___

Whenever you see any of these followed up by BUT, YET, or HOWEVER, then you know that the author was conceding a point before launching into what he REALLY wants to say.

Then you have these words, which already set up the contrast between the first half of the sentence (when the author concedes a point) and the second half (when the author says what he REALLY wants to say).
Despite ___, ___
Although ___, ___
While ___, ___

The author here wants adolescents to have the right to vote. After all, adults have the right to vote.

Someone who DISAGREES with the author would say, "Hey, we don't need to give adolescents the right to vote just because adults have that right. After all, adolescents and adults are not the same."

So the author is granting that point, but then actually using it to make HIS case. "Since adolescents are different, they can't count on adults to represent the adolescent point of view. Hence, adolescents need their own vote."

The language of (C) is a little backwards from what it should be.

Author's Conc: Adolescents should have the right to vote
why?
Author's Intermediate Conc: Adults can't be expected to represent the interests of adolescents
why?
Author's Premise: Adolescents and adults are not the same.

The Intermediate Conc. is a consequence of the Premise. Choice (C) makes it sound like the opposite is occurring.

== other answers ==
(A) the conclusion is that 'adolescents should have the right to vote'

(B) there is no key word further defined in the argument, unless we're talking about "not the same" / "different". But even then, (B) would describe the third sentence, not the one they're asking us about.

(D) This claim feeds into the author's argument, so it is not distracting or irrelevant.

Hope this helps