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M A N H A TTA N Guide 6

GM/ Critical Reasoning

r£

Demystifies Logical Analysis of Complex Arguments

Includes 6 Teaches Effective GMATProblem Solving Strategies
Free Online -4
Exams
& More!
^ Includes Practice Problems with Detailed Explanations

Updated for The Official Guide for GMAT® Review, 13th Ed.

Rey Fernandez, M anhattan GMAT Instructor

99th Percentile Instructors • Content-Based Curriculum

GMAT and GM AC are registered trad em arks of the Graduate M anagem ent A dm ission Council which neither sponsors nor endorses th is product.
MANHATTAN GMAT
Critical Reasoning
GMAT Strategy Guide
This unique guide illustrates how to deconstruct arguments using a four-step process
designed to build speed and improve accuracy. Understanding the underlying structure
of arguments and answer choices is the key to quick reading and accurate analysis.

mde
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MANHATTAN
GMAT
April 24th, 2012

Dear Student,

Thank you for picking up a copy of Critical Reasoning. I hope this book provides just the guidance you need to get the
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 TABLE
1. Argument Structure 11
Problem Set 23

2. Methodology 29
Problem Set 45

3. Structure-Based Family 51
Problem Set 67

4. Assumptions 91
Problem Set 117

5. Strengthen and Weaken 141

Problem Set 161

6. Evidence Family 189

Problem Set 207

7. Complete the Argument 225

Problem Set 233

8. Wrong Answer Analysis 247

Problem Set 257

Appendix A: Official Guide Problem Sets 269

 Critical Reasoning

Argument Structure
 The Core

Building Blocks of an Argument

Argument Structure

Intermediate Conclusions and the Therefore Test

 Argument Structure
Here is an example o f a typical GM AT argument.

— SI: Background

The expansion of the runways at the Bay City Airport will allow
S2:1 for larger planes to travel to and from Bay City. These new
Counterpoint |\p|anes will create a large amount of noise, a nuisance for
residents who live near the airport. However, many of the
residents in this neighborhood work in construction, and the
contract to expand the runways has been awarded to a local
construction company. Thus, the expansion of the runways will
lead to an increased quality of life for the residents of this
neighborhood. \ S4: Conclusion

There are two broad things we need to study in order to answer Critical Reasoning questions effectively
and efficiently. We need to understand the specific information given for that question, and we also
need to know how to conduct the necessary reasoning to answer a question of that type.

Lets begin first by understanding what we are given. What are the pieces of an argument, how do they
fit together, and how do we categorize them properly? In later chapters, we’ll talk about what we need to
do with that information.

On the GMAT:

(1) All arguments contain at least one premise. A premise is information used by the author to support
some claim or conclusion. That information may be a fact or an opinion. In the above example, sen­
tence 3 is a premise because it helps to support the authors conclusion.
1 Argument Structure

(2) Most (though not all) arguments contain a conclusion, the primary claim the author is trying to
prove. In the above example, sentence 4 is a conclusion.

(3) Many arguments (though not all) contain background information, which provides context to al­
low us to understand the basic situation. In the above example, sentence 1 provides background.

(4) Some arguments contain a counterpoint or counterpremise— a piece of information that goes
against the author s conclusion. In the above example, sentence 2 represents a counterpoint because it
goes against the authors conclusion.

Collectively, these categories represent the building blocks of an argument. How do we know which
sentences fall into which categories? Try to articulate your own thought process for the above argument,
then take a look at this example “decision process” of a fictional student:

Argument Reader’s Thoughts

The expansion of the runways at the Bay City Hmm. This is a fact. It could be premise or it
Airport will allow for larger planes to travel to couldjust be background Fm not sure yet.
and from Bay City.

These new planes will create a large amount of Now were moving into claim territory. Something
noise, a nuisance for residents who live near the negative will comefrom this project. Why are they
airport. telling me this? I cant figure that out until I know
the conclusion.

However, many of the residents in this neighbor­ The word ahowever *indicates a contrast between
hood work in construction, and the contract to sentences two and three. What's the contrast?
expand the runways has been awarded to a local The noise is a negative consequence o f the expan­
construction company. sion, while winning a work contract is a positive
consequence. Looks like Fve got a premise and a
counterpoint in these two sentences, but I don t
know which one is which yet.

Thus, the expansion of the runways will lead to The word c<thus>yusually indicates a conclusion.
an increased quality of life for the residents of And, yes, this does seem like a conclusion— this
this neighborhood. project will have a certain outcome (better quality
o f life in this neighborhood), and I can now see how
the previous two sentencesf i t into this conclusion.
Sentence 3 is a premise because it tells me one way
in which the quality o f life might be betterfor these
people (they might make more money), and sentence
2 is a counterpremise because it tells me a nega­
tive consequence.

M ANHATTAN
GMAT
 Argument Structure

Notice how many times the reader thought “I’m not sure yet” (or something along those lines). That
will happen frequently while reading an argument. Were gathering information and trying to under­
stand what each piece might be, but we won’t really know how everything fits together until we know
what the conclusion is— and that might not be until the end.

The Core__________________________________
The premise (or premises) and conclusion represent the core of the argument. Remember that not all
arguments will have a conclusion, but all will have at least one premise, so we will always have at least a
partial core. The core represents what the author is trying to tell me or prove to me.

It’s important for us to be able to identify what specific information in an argument falls into which
category, because that helps us to take our next step: conducting the necessary reasoning in order to
answer the question. It turns out that different question types require us to perform different kinds
of reasoning; we’ll discuss this in much more detail in subsequent chapters. Let’s take one step now,
though, just to whet our appetites: how do the premises support the conclusion? In other words, how
does the “core” actually function in th is particular argument?

In this problem, our core consists of thlese two pieces:

However, many of the residents

in this neighborhood work in Thus, the expansion of the
construction, and the contract runways will lead to an increased
to expand the runways has been
awarded to a local construction
company.
>=> quality of life for the residents of
this neighborhood.

The conclusion, on the right, claims that the runway expansion project will have a good outcome (bet­
ter quality of life for certain people). The premise, on the left, provides one piece of information to sup­
port this claim: the people in question may make money as a result of this project.

The premise provides one piece of evidence toward a positive outcome, but the argument is not air­
tight. For example, do we know for sure that the residents of the neighborhood are the ones who work
for the local construction company that won the contract? We don’t. As we’ll see, that kind of thinking
will help us when we get to the question-answering stage. For now, remember this: when we have both
a premise and a conclusion, it’s critically important to understand how the premise supports the conclu­
sion.

NANHATTAN
GMAT
Chapter 1 Argument Structure

Building Blocks of an Argument

Lets fully define all of the building blocks weve discussed so far.

Premise

• Part of the core of the argument; present in every argument

• Supports the authors conclusion
• Can be a fact or an opinion; can be a description, historical information, statistical or
numerical data, or a comparison of things
• Often signaled by words or phrases such as because o f since, due to, and as a result o f

Conclusion

Part of the core of an argument; present in most arguments

Represents the authors main opinion or claim; can be in the form of a prediction, a judg­
ment of quality or merit, or a statement of causality
Is supported by at least one premise
Often signaled by words such as therefore, thus, so, and consequently (though note that
harder arguments might use such a word elsewhere in the argument in an attempt to
confuse us)

Background

Not part of the core; often present, but not always

Provides context to help understand the core
Almost always fact-based; can be in almost any form: historical information, numerical or
other data, descriptions of plans or ideas, definitions of words or concepts, and so on

Counterpoint

Not part of the core; only present occasionally

Opposes or goes against the authors conclusion in some way
Introduces multiple opportunities for traps: believing that the conclusion is the opposite
of what it is, mistakenly labeling a counterpoint the premise (and vice versa), and so on
Often signaled by transition words such as however, yet, and but\ typically, the transition
word will be found somewhere between the counterpremise and the conclusion (though
the two sentences may not be right next to each other)

16 MANHATTAN
GMAT
 Argument Structure

Argument Structure
The argument above used all four of our building blocks; its “structure” looks like this:

Background - Counterpoint - Premise - Conclusion

We call that the structure because it shows the building blocks used and the order in which each ap­
peared. The simplest possible argument will contain only premises; its structure might look like this:

Premise - Premise

The GM AT can vary the type of building blocks used in a particular argument, and it can also vary
the order of those building blocks. If we can label the building blocks given in any particular argument,
that helps us to understand the purpose of each step in the chain of information, and we’ll be one good
step closer to answering the question correctly.

Lets try some sample arguments. You have two tasks. First, read the argument and try to identify the
role of each sentence or major piece of information (note that one sentence could contain two different
pieces of information). Use that information to write out the structure as we just did above. Second, try
to articulate in your own words how the premises support the conclusion.

1. Budget Fitness will grow its membership base by 10% in the next six
months. Budget Fitness has recently crafted a clever ad campaign that it
plans to air on several local radio stations.

2. Last year, the Hudson Family Farm was not profitable. However, the farm will
be profitable this year. The farm operators have planted cotton, rather than
corn, in several fields. Because cotton prices are expected to rise dramati­
cally this year, the farm can expect larger revenues from cotton sales than it
previously earned from corn.

Answers can befound on page 21.

Intermediate Conclusions and the Therefore Test

We have one more building block to introduce in this chapter. Try the below problem.

The owner of a small publishing company plans to lease a new office space that
has floor-to-ceiling windows and no internal walls, arguing that the new space
will enhance worker productivity. The owner cites a recent study showing that
workers exposed to natural light throughout the day tended to report, on aver­
age, a higher level of job satisfaction than did those who worked in office spaces

MANHATTAN
GMAT
 Argument Structure

that used fluorescent lighting. Thus, the owner concluded, exposure to natural
light has a positive effect on workers'job satisfaction.

The owner of a small publishing company plans This is likely to be background information because
to lease a new office space that has floor-to-ceil- it introduces a “plan”to do something The argument
ing windows and no internal walls, is probably about the plan, or a result o f the plan.
arguing that the new space will enhance worker This might be the conclusion because it describes the
productivity. predictedfuture benefit o f the company's plan.
The owner cites a recent study showing that A nd this seems to be a premise in support o f that
workers exposed to natural light throughout the conclusion. The workers will be more productive be­
day tended to report, on average, a higher level cause the new space will provide exposure to natural
of job satisfaction than did those who worked in light through the floor-to-ceiling windows.
office spaces that used fluorescent lighting.
Thus, the owner concluded, exposure to natural Hmm, this is strange. This appears to be the conclu­
light has a positive effect on workers’ job satisfac­ sion as well. It uses the word “thus, ” it represents an
tion. explanation for the study's results, and it even says
that uthe owner concluded”this!

This is a tough one! In this case, we have two claims that look like the conclusion. Now what?

This brings us to another building block, the intermediate conclusion (also known as the secondary
conclusion). What is an intermediate conclusion? Look at this simpler example:

The burglar is clumsy and often makes a lot of noise while robbing homes. As a
result, he is more likely to get caught. Thus, in the near future, he will probably
end up in jail.

The first sentence is a basic premise: it tells us some factual information about the robber. The second
sentence is a claim made based upon that premise: because he makes noise, he is more likely to get
caught. This is a conclusion... but, wait, there’s a third sentence! That third sentence also contains a
claim, and this claim follows from the previous claim: because he is more likely to get caught, there is a
good chance he will end up in jail.

Essentially, a premise supports a conclusion, and that conclusion then supports a further conclusion.
The first conclusion is called the intermediate conclusion (also known as the secondary conclusion).
The second conclusion can be called the final conclusion to distinguish it from the intermediate conclu­
sion.

In the example above, the three pieces were given in this order: Premise - Intermediate Conclusion
- Final Conclusion. Arguments won’t always do this, however; they might mix up the order and have
additional information thrown in. When an argument contains more than one conclusion and we re not
sure how to classify each, we can use the Therefore Test.

M ANHATTAN
GMAT
 Argument Structure Chapter 1

We have two conclusions; lets call them A (he’s more likely to get caught) and B (he will probably end
up in jail). All we need to do is plug the two conclusions into two sentences and ask which one is true:

Is it the case that A (hes more likely to get caught) is true, T H EREFO R E B (he will
probably end up in jail) is true?

Or is it the case that B (he will probably end up in jail) is true, TH ER EFO R E A (hes
more likely to get caught) is true?

What do you think? Right, the first scenario makes sense, but the second one doesn’t. That tells us that
B (he will probably end up in jail) is the final conclusion and A (he’s more likely to get caught) is the
intermediate conclusion.

Let’s return to the job satisfaction argument. We have two possible conclusions:

(A) .. .arguing that the new space will enhance worker productivity.

(B) Thus, the owner concluded, exposure to natural light has a positive effect on work­
ers’ job satisfaction.

Which scenario makes more sense?

The new space will enhance worker productivity, TH EREFO R E exposure to natural
light has a positive effect on workers’ job satisfaction.

OR

Exposure to natural light has a positive effect on workers’ job satisfaction, T H E R E ­

FORE the new space will enhance worker productivity.

The second scenario seems to make sense. That means that (B) is the intermediate conclusion and {A) is
the final conclusion.

As is typical of arguments with an intermediate conclusion, the premise supports the intermediate con­
clusion, which then supports the final conclusion. The premise (the second sentence) says that a study
found a correlation between natural lighting and job satisfaction. The third sentence in that argument
then makes a claim based on the study’s results: the owner (not the study) concludes that exposure to
natural light actually causes better job satisfaction.

The owner claims that the new space will enhance productivity at her company because, first, a study
showed a correlation between natural light and job satisfaction, and that study then led the owner to
conclude that natural light results in better job satisfaction. So the first half of the first sentence is back­
ground, and the second half is the final conclusion.

The structure is Background - Conclusion - Premise - Intermediate Conclusion.

M ANHATTAN 19
GMAT
Chapter 1 Argument Structure

Takeaways
A premise is a piece of evidence (fact or claim) that supports the authors conclusion.

A (final) conclusion is the authors main claim.

An intermediate conclusion is both a conclusion and a premise; it supports the final conclusion.

Background information helps to set the context for an argument.

A counterpoint or counterpremise goes against the authors conclusion.

We can use these building blocks to understand the structure of an argument. Understanding the struc­
ture will help us to answer the question.

When we have more than one conclusion, we can use the Therefore Test to find the final conclusion.
Either “A is true, T H ER EFO R E B is true” or “B is true, TH EREFO RE A is true.”

20 MANHATTAN
GMAT
 Argument Structure

Answer Key
1.
Budget Fitness will grow its membership base by This is a prediction about the future, so it is a
10% in the next six months. claim, not a fact. This is a good candidate to be the
conclusion.

Budget Fitness has recently crafted a clever ad Budget Fitness already crafted the campaign— this
campaign that it plans to air on several local is a fact. It is also a fact that the company currently
radio stations. “plans”to air the campaign (though whether it
will actually air is uncertain, since that is a future
event). This information supports the claim in the
first sentence, so it is a premise.

(Task 1) The structure is Conclusion - Premise. (Task 2) The author claims that the gym will increase
its membership in the future because the company will implement a strategy (ad campaign) that may
help attract new customers.

2.
Last year, the Hudson Family Farm was not This is a fact; it already occurred in the past. This
profitable. may be background info, though it may also be a
premise or counterpoint.
However, the farm will be profitable this year. The word “however” indicates a change in di­
rection. This prediction is the opposite o f what
happened last year. This future prediction is a good
candidate to be the conclusion, in which case the
previous sentence would be a counterpoint.

The farm operators have planted cotton, rather Hmm, why do we care which crop the farm is
than corn, in several fields. planting!

Because cotton prices are expected to rise dra­ Okay, now we can see that planting cotton will
matically this year, the farm can expect larger lead to more revenue than last year. The author is
revenues from cotton sales than it previously using this information to support his conclusion.
earned from corn.

(Task 1) The structure is Counterpoint - Conclusion - Premise - Premise. (Task 2) The argument
predicts that an unprofitable farm will become profitable because a change in crops will result in higher
revenues.

Did you spot any flaws in the authors reasoning? There are several, but the biggest one is the fact that
revenues and profits are not the same thing! A company can have lots of revenue and zero profit— or
even lose money.

MANHATTAN
GMAT
 Argument Structure Chapter 1

Problem Set
Read the argument and try to identify the role of each sentence or major piece of information. Use that
information to write out the building block structure.

1. A program instituted by a state government to raise money allows homeowners to

prepay their future property taxes at the current rate. Even if the government were
to raise the tax rate in a subsequent year, any prepaid taxes would allow the home­
owner to maintain taxes at the lower rate, lowering the overall property tax burden
over time. For this reason, homeowners should participate in the program.

2. Tay Sachs disease, a usually fatal genetic condition caused by the build-up of gan-
gliocides in nerve cells, occurs more frequently among Ashkenazi Jews than among
the general population. The age of onset is typically six months and generally results
in death by the age of four.

3. Some critics have argued that the price of food and drink at Ultralux, a restaurant, is
too high, given its quality. However, Ultralux features a beautiful interior and com­
fortable seating, and research has shown that consumers actually enjoy food and
drink more in such a setting, even when the food and drink is of comparable quality
to that served elsewhere. Thus, the food and drink at Ultralux is reasonably priced.

4. Editorial: To stem the influx of illegal immigrants, the government is planning to

construct a wall along our entire border with Country Y. This wall, however, will do
little to actually reduce the number of illegal immigrants. Because few economic op­
portunities exist in Country Y, individuals will simply develop other creative ways to
enter our nation.

5. The cutback in physical education is the primary contributing factor to North High
School's increasing failure rate on the year-end physical fitness examination. Last
year, when students participated in gym class on a daily basis, 85 percent of the
school's seniors passed the exam. This year, students had gym class twice weekly,
and only 70 percent of seniors passed the test. Clearly, fewer sessions of gym class
lead to reduced fitness.

MANHATTAN 23
GMAT
 Argument Structure

Solutions
1.
A program instituted by a state government to This is a fact. It sounds like background, though it
raise money allows homeowners to prepay their could be a premise— I'm not sure yet. People can
future property taxes at the current rate. choose to pay future taxes right now at the current
tax rate. [Fd only want to do this i f it saved me
money.]
Even if the government were to raise the tax rate Ah, here's how it could save me money. This is a
in a subsequent year, any prepaid taxes would premise. I f taxes go up but I've already pre-paid,
allow the homeowner to maintain taxes at the I don t have to pay more; I got to pay at the lower
lower rate, lowering the overall property tax bur­ rate. [What i f tax rates go down? What i f I sell my
den over time. house?]
For this reason, homeowners should participate in Conclusion: people should participate. I've already
the program. thought o f a couple o f reasons why it could N O T be
a good idea.

The structure is Background - Premise - Conclusion. The author concludes that people should par­
ticipate because they would save money //'taxes go up.

2.
Tay Sachs disease, a usually fatal genetic condi­ This is a fact. It's so general that it sounds like back-
tion caused by the build-up of gangliocides in ground info, though it could be a premise.
nerve cells, occurs more frequently among Ashke­
nazi Jews than among the general population.
The age of onset is typically six months and gen­ This is also a fact— just more information about
erally results in death by the age of four. this disease. That's interesting. There's no conclusion
here, just two facts. Both are premises.

The structure is Premise - Premise. The argument concludes nothing. (Note: two types of questions
lack conclusions: Inference and Explain a Discrepancy. We’ll discuss these later in the book.)

3.
Some critics have argued that the price of food “Some critics" criticize the restaurant Ultralux for
and drink at Ultralux, a restaurant, is too high, being too expensive. The language “some critics" is
given its quality. often used in counterpoints; later, the author will
often tell us something else that the author or others
believe instead.
However, Ultralux features a beautiful interior This seems to be pointing out a good thing about
and comfortable seating, Ultralux.

M A N H ATTA N
GMAT
1 Argument Structure

and research has shown that consumers actually A nd this tells us why the beautiful interior and
enjoy food and drink more in such a setting, even comfortable seating are beneficial. I f we enjoy the
when the food and drink is of comparable quality food and drink more, then perhaps we're willing to
to that served elsewhere. pay more money?
Thus, the food and drink at Ultralux is reason­ This looks like a conclusion. In fact, it directly
ably priced. contradicts the critics' argument in the first sentence,
which we now are sure is a counterpoint.

The structure is Counterpoint - Premise - Premise - Conclusion. The author concludes that Ultra­
lux is reasonably priced because research demonstrates that certain beneficial aspects provided by the
restaurant are valuable to the consumer.

4.
Editorial: To stem the influx of illegal immi­ The government plans to construct a wall and
grants, the government is planning to construct a claims that this will reduce the number o f illegal
wall along our entire border with Country Y. immigrants. This could be the conclusion, but the
sentence also starts with the word “Editorial, " imply­
ing that someone with a point o f view is writing this
argument. I'll have to see whether that person gives
a different opinion or claim.
This wall, however, will do little to actually re­ “However!" Okay, whoever s writing the editorial
duce the number of illegal immigrants. thinks that the government's plan is not going to
achieve its objective. This is the conclusion, so the
previous sentence must be a counterpremise.
Because few economic opportunities exist in “Because"— and here's the reason why the Editorial
Country Y, individuals will simply develop other writer thinks this: these illegal immigrants have no
creative ways to enter our nation. real opportunities in their own country, so they will
just search for other ways to get into the neighboring
country.

The structure is Counterpoint —Conclusion - Premise. The author concludes that the government’s
plan won’t work because the people trying to immigrate illegally will just search for other ways to do so,
since they don’t have many opportunities in their home country.

5.
The cutback in physical education is the pri­ This is an opinion, so it could be the conclusion. The
mary contributing factor to North High School’s school isn't offering as much physical education as it
increasing failure rate on the year-end physical used to, and the author claims that this is causing
fitness examination. more students to fa il a physicalfitness exam.
Last year, when students participated in gym class Fact. Last year, they had gym class daily, and the
on a daily basis, 85 percent of the school’s seniors vast majority o f students passed the exam.
passed the exam.

MANHATTAN
GMAT
 Argument Structure

This year, students had gym class twice weekly, Fact. This year, they had gym class lessfrequently,
and only 70 percent of seniors passed the test. and a smaller percentage o f students passed the
exam.
Clearly, fewer sessions of gym class lead to re- Here’s another claim. Having fewer gym classes
duced fitness. causes reducedfitness levels. Is this the conclusion?
What about the first sentence?

I need to use the Therefore Test. A = cutback in gym is causing more kids to fa il the fitness exam. B = cutback
in gym causes reducedfitness.

Is it the case that cutbacks in gym are causing kids to fa il the exam, THEREFORE those cutbacks are causing
reducedfitness?

Or is it the case that cutbacks in gym are causing reducedfitness, THEREFORE those cutbacks are causing
more kids to fa il the fitness exam?

It's the second option—first, the kids have reducedfitness, and then that causes them to fa il the fitness exam.
So the first sentence is the fin a l conclusion, and the last sentence isjust an intermediate conclusion.

The structure is Final Conclusion - Premise - Premise - Intermediate Conclusion. The author con­
cludes that gym cutbacks are causing kids to fail the fitness exam because this year s seniors had fewer
gym classes, leading to reduced fitness levels which, in turn, caused more kids to fail the exam.

MANHATTAN
GMAT
 Critical Reasoning

Methodology
 Step 1: Identify the Question

Step 2: Deconstruct the Argument

Step 3: State the Goal

Step 4: Work from Wrong to Right

How to Abbreviate
 Methodology
In Chapter 1, we introduced arguments, discussed their building blocks, and examined how to “de­
construct” an argument in order to understand how the pieces of information are related. These tasks
represent the first two steps of our overall 4-step approach for any Critical Reasoning problem.

Before we dive into our 4-step process, lets discuss what we don’t want to do. While there is a lot of
flexibility in how different people can work their way through the same problem, there are some ap­
proaches that are downright bad, such as this one:

1. Read the argument pretty quickly, don’t take notes, don’t understand the “big picture’
2. Read the question
3. Realize need to read the argument again in order to answer; re-read argument
4. Re-read question
5. Examine answers, eliminating one or several
6. Read the argument yet again
7. Eliminate another answer
8. Start checking each answer against the argument and re-reading argument
9. Repeat until one answer is left

What’s the problem? Thats incredibly inefficient! Inefficiency both wastes time and makes it harder for
us to answer the question correctly. There’s too much going on, and that can distract us from our goal.
So what do we do instead?

Here’s our 4-step approach for all CR questions:

Step 1: Identify the question.

Step 2: Deconstruct the argument.
Step 3: State the Goal.
Step 4: Work from wrong to right.
 Methodology

Step 1: Identify the Question

Most arguments are followed by a question (there is actually one exception; we’ll discuss this later).
There are several different types of CR questions, and the wording of the question stem (the part below
the argument itself) allows us to identify which type of CR question were about to have to answer. It’s
critically important to identify that question type right away because we need to employ different kinds
of reasoning depending upon the type of question we have. We want to know, right from the start, how
best to work through the current problem.

There are three broad categories of CR questions: the Structure-based family, the Assumption-based
family, and the Evidence-based family. Each of these families contains a few distinct question types. We
also have one minor category, the Complete the Argument question type.

The Structure-Based Family

These questions all depend upon a solid understanding of the structure of the argument, similar to
what we discussed in Chapter 1. What pieces do we have and how do they fit together? There are two
types of Structure questions, both of which we’ll discuss in Chapter 3:

Question Type Sample Question Phrasing Goal

Describe the In the argument given, the two boldface por­ Identify the roles of the bold­
Role tions play which of the following roles? face portions.
Describe the In the passage, the mayor challenges the coun- Describe the structure of the
Argument cilmember’s argument by doing which of the argument.
following?

The Assumption-Based Family

These questions all depend upon an understanding of the assumptions made by the author to reach a
certain conclusion. What is an assumption?

First, an assumption is something that the author does not state in the argument; for this reason, we call
assumptions unstated. An assumption is, however, something that the author must believe to be true in
order to draw the given conclusion.

We’ll go into much more detail on assumptions in chapter 4 but let’s look at a short example:

That car is green. Therefore, that car cannot belong to Dan.

If we’re only told that the car is green, how can we know for sure that it doesn’t belong to Dan? Clearly,
there’s some information missing. What is the author assuming here?

The assumption: Dan does not have a green car.

M ANHATTAN
GMAT
 Methodology

If we were to insert the assumption into the argument, it would make the argument stronger:

That car is green. Dan does not have a green car. Therefore, that car cannot belong to
Dan.

In this case, it not only makes the argument stronger, it makes the argument “air tight” — we cant
argue with it! That wont always happen, but the assumption should make the argument significantly
stronger.

There are five types of Assumption questions, which we’ll cover in chapters 4 and 5.

Question Type Sample Question Phrasing Goal

Assumption The argument depends on which of the Identify an unstated assumption.
following assumptions?

Evaluate Which of the following must be studied in Identify a piece of information

order to evaluate the argument above? that would help to determine the
soundness of the conclusion.

Flaw Which of the following indicates a flaw in Identify something illogical in

the reasoning above? the argument.

Strengthen Which of the following, if true, provides Strengthen the author’s conclu­
the most support for the argument above? sion.

Weaken Which of the following, if true, most seri­ Attack the author’s conclusion.
ously weakens the argument?

The Evidence-Based Family

These questions all lack conclusions; they consist entirely of premises! Were then asked to find some­
thing that must be true or something that eliminates a discrepancy in order to answer the question. We’ll
discuss both of these question types in Chapter 6.

Question Type Sample Question Phrasing Goal

Inference Which of the following can be logically Identify something that must
concluded from the passage above? be true based upon the given
information
Explain a Which of the following, if true, most helps Identify something that
Discrepancy to explain the surprising finding? eliminates some discrepancy or
paradox given in the argument.

There is also a minor type called Complete the Argument. We’ll discuss this type in its own separate
chapter; for now, know that you want to prioritize the three major families during your study.

MANHATTAN
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?r2 Methodology

As we go through each of the families and their question types, we will learn what kind of language
signals specific question types — and that’s our first big step in our 4-step approach.

Step 2: Deconstruct the Argument______________

Now that we’ve identified the family and question type, we can use that to help us deconstruct the
argument. We began to learn how to do this in the previous chapter when we labeled arguments using
the building block components. We’ll learn even more about how to do this in later chapters, when we
begin discussing each question type in detail.

In order to accomplish this argument deconstruction, many people take some light notes. Some people
are able to deconstruct the argument and remember the pieces without taking notes, but most people
do take some notes. If you aren’t sure which way is best for you, try taking notes for a couple of weeks;
you need some time to develop a good method and learn to work efficiently. Most people find that, the
more they practice, the less they have to write, and some people even get to the point where they only
have to write notes on the longest, most convoluted arguments.

In other words, you don’t have to take notes, but don’t underestimate the value of learning to take good
notes— this is a powerful tool that can help us accomplish our main goal: deconstructing arguments
efficiently and effectively.

These notes need to be neat enough to read quickly and easily, but they are also going to be heavily
abbreviated. These are not the kind of notes you take during a class, when you have to write everything
down thoroughly so that you can study for the test 3 weeks from now.

Rather, these notes will actually help us to think our way through the problem— we want to use them to
understand the structure and flow of the information. By the time we’re done reading and taking notes,
we have maybe 60 to 90 seconds left. We can abbreviate extremely heavily and still remember what
those abbreviations mean in another 60 to 90 seconds.

Let’s revisit the first argument that we did in Chapter 1. What might the notes look like?

The expansion of the runways at the Bay City Airport will allow for larger planes
to travel to and from Bay City. These new planes will create a large amount of
noise, a nuisance for residents who live near the airport. However, many of the
residents in this neighborhood work in construction, and the contract to expand
the runways has been awarded to a local construction company. Thus, the expan­
sion of the runways will lead to an increased quality of life for the residents of this
neighborhood.

M A N H A TTA N
GMAT
 Methodology Chapter 2

Here’s one method, idea by idea:

BC rnwy t -> bigger planes t noise, bad for res

BU T res = constr work, local com doing work

(C) rnwy t -» better life for res

The first line encompasses the first two sentences of the argument. Most people would probably write
down only the first sentence first:

BC rnwy t bigger planes

Then, as we continue reading, we realize that the second sentence followed on

from the first: those bigger planes then cause more noise. As a result, we can
TIP
just continue that same line, even though the additional information is given When first learning this method, most
people do w rite too much. As part of your
in a new sentence.
review of problems, ask yourself, "Did I
w rite this down in the most efficient and
If someone who hasn’t read the original argument looks at our notes, then effective way? Did my notes make sense for
our notes would look like nonsense— and, in fact, they should be abbreviated short-term use? Did I write down something
enough that, if we were to re-read just the notes in a week or two (after forget­ that I could've just skipped, or did I use too
many words to w rite something down when
ting the argument), we should not be able to tell what the full argument was.
I could've abbreviated more?'' If you were
If, a week later, we can reconstruct the entire argument just from our notes, really off the mark, make yourself write out
then we wrote too much down. the notes again in a more ideal w ay— and
ask yourself why this new way is better than
Let’s try two more. Give yourself about 30 to 45 seconds to create notes for the old way. Now you're learning how to do
a better job on the next new problem!
the below arguments that we saw in chapter 1, incorporating the techniques
*mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmrn
you’ve learned in this chapter.

1. Budget Fitness will grow its membership base by 10% in the next six
months. Budget Fitness has recently crafted a clever ad campaign that it
plans to air on several local radio stations.

2. Last year, the Hudson Family Farm was not profitable. However, the farm will
be profitable this year. The farm operators have planted cotton, rather than
corn, in several fields. Because cotton prices are expected to rise dramati­
cally this year, the farm can expect larger revenues from cotton sales than it
previously earned from corn.

MANHATTAN
GMAT
y2 Methodology

Answer Key _____

Below are sample representations of notes for the two given arguments. Your notes might differ quite a
bit from the samples shown below. Thats fine as long as your notes accomplish the following purposes:

• clearly delineate a conclusion (if there is one)

• demonstrate the “flow” of information (how one piece of info relates to the next, where
applicable)
• indicates contrasts or changes of direction

1. Budget Fitness will grow its membership base by 10% in the next six months. Budget
Fitness has recently crafted a clever ad campaign that it plans to air on several local radio
stations.

Sample 1BF new ad camp to air BF member t 10% in 6 mo. ©

Sample 2 © BF mbrs > 10% 6 mos.

BF to put new ads on radio

In this argument, the conclusion was in the first sentence, so we may write down that info before we
know that it is the conclusion. The second sentence actually leads to the first sentence, so if we have
room to do so on our scrap paper, we could just write that information to the left of the conclusion. If
so, we might end up with something that looks like Sample 1. Alternatively, we might write down each
“big idea” on its own line, and then use an arrow to show that the second line leads to the first one,
similar to Sample 2.

In both cases, we label the conclusion clearly once we’ve found it (and, again, you can use any “this is
my conclusion” label that you want, as long as you consistently use the same label every time).

2. Last year, the Hudson Family Farm was not profitable. However, the farm will be profit­
able this year. The farm operators have planted cotton, rather than corn, in several fields.
Because cotton prices are expected to rise dramatically this year, the farm can expect
larger revenues from cotton sales than it previously earned from corn.

Sample 1 - B4, HFF not prof

* © BUT will be now [why?]
+ cotton, not corn
+ cot $ t T so > rev from cot than corn
[cost to grow corn?]

Sample 2 now
not cot $ > cot rev © will
prof f than corn be prof

MANHATTAN
GMAT
 Methodology

In Sample 1, we’ve used some pluses and minuses, along with the usual conclusion symbol, to classify
each line. A “plus” indicates a premise: something the author is using to support the conclusion. A “mi­
nus” indicates a counterpremise: something that does not support the conclusion.

Sample 2 shows us a timeline. If we’ve got a future prediction, along with some past background info,
this can be an effective way to show the sequence of events. The first two sentences tell us that we’ve got
a past/future situation in this argument, so we can tell at the beginning that a timeline might work.

Notice that we also added one new type of note to Sample 1: the bracketed notes [why?] and [cost to
grow corn?]. As we take notes on the argument itself, we might also want to jot down notes about what
we’re thinking. It wasn’t profitable before, but it will be now? Why? So we’re already thinking about
that as we continue to read the argument. Later, the argument says the farmers can earn more revenue
from the cotton, but the conclusion said something about profits. Profit equals revenue minus costs.
We’ve been given some evidence that we may be able to make more money from cotton (and even that’s
debatable), but we’ve been told nothing about costs, so how can the argument conclude anything about
profits?

The argument told us that cotton prices are going up; it follows then, that farmers will make more
money on the same amount of cotton this year than they did on the same amount of cotton last year.
How do the prices of cotton and corn compare? We have no idea. It’s entirely possible that cotton prices
have increased but are still lower than corn prices. That’s a subtle point, but if you noticed that, you
might have wanted to jot down a note so that you wouldn’t forget as you continued through the prob­
lem.

M A N H ATTA N
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 Methodology

Step 3: State the Goal

This is a short but often overlooked step: what exactly am I trying to do when I answer this question?
What’s my goal? I know what kind of question I have, I understand the argument and how it fits to­
gether now, I know my conclusion (if there is one)... now what?

At this stage, we need to remind ourselves what it is were actually trying to do when we start attacking
the answers, and this goal depends upon the type of question that we have. Each question type requires
a certain kind of reasoning and demands certain characteristics from the correct answer. There are also
common types of wrong answer traps. Before we dive into the answers, we want to remind ourselves
(briefly) of our goal and any traps that we want to avoid. We’ll learn all about these things in later
chapters.

Step 4: Work from Wrong to Right_____________

Finally, the answer choices! On verbal in general, we’re asked to find the “best” answer. We’re going to
use a two-step process in order to accomplish this. First, we look through all five answers and eliminate
as many “definitely wrong” answers as we can. On this first pass through the answers, we’re not actu­
ally trying to decide which is the right one, only which ones are definitely wrong.

If we only have one answer left, great; we’re done. If we have two or more answers left, then we compare
those remaining answers.

Why do we do it this way? By definition, finding the best answer is a comparison; if I spot a tempting
answer, I can’t know whether it’s the best one until I’ve seen all of the others. It’s most efficient to dump
all of the “no way” answers as fast as we can, and then directly compare the remaining, more tempting
answers.

Finally, we have one last important rule to remember for verbal questions: when we’ve narrowed down
to two answers, we should look at each answer and compare the two once more, but then we should
pick and move on. Going back and forth multiple times is a waste of time— either we know it after
comparing the first time or we don’t.

As we go through and assess these answers, it’s critical to keep track of our thinking— we’re actually
going to track what we think about each of the five answers as we go. There are two big decisions to
make in terms of how you choose to do this.

M A N H A TTA N
GMAT
 Methodology Chapter 2

Decision #1: How do I write down ABCDE?

W hat to D o Pros Cons

Write ABCD E for each Can write directly on each letter; Have to write 41 separate times
question can keep letters with notes about
argument
Write ABCDE at the top Only have to write once for each Have to keep track “below” each
of the page, then move to a page (several times for entire test) letter; notes for problem might not
new line for each question be right next to answer tracking
row

Option 1 (write for each question) might look like this:

W A ^C^E

notes
notes

SA B^D E

notes
notes

Option 2 (write once per page) might look like the below, where the first question (a Weaken) is an­
swered in the first row and the second question (a Strengthen) is answered in the second row. Remem­
ber that the scrap paper will be graph paper, so there will already be lines built-in to separate the five
answer choices.

B c D E

/ / ^ W
/ notes
\ notes

\ notes
notes

HANHATTAN 39
GMAT
Chapter 2 Methodology

Decision #2: What symbols will I use to keep track of my thoughts?

We need four symbols in order to keep track of our thoughts on the answers; you can use any symbols
you prefer as long as you consistently use the same symbols to mean the same things:

x or / Definitely wrong
Maybe
p I have no idea
o This is it!

Let’s try all of this on an actual problem.

Over the past decade, many companies have begun using automated telephone
services; callers hear a machine-generated voice and are able to select options us­
ing the numbers on the telephone keypad. Research shows that callers are more
patient when the machine-generated voice is that of a woman. Thus, smaller
companies that cannot afford an automated service should consider hiring
women, rather than men, to interact with customers by phone.

Which of the following, if true, would be most damaging to the conclusion above?

(A) Automated telephone services are becoming cheaper and cheaper every
year.
(B) Patient customers tend to order more products and return fewer products
than impatient customers.
(C) A separate study indicated that the extra patience exhibited by callers is
limited to interactions with an automated system.
(D) Some customers prefer automated systems to talking with a live person.
(E) On average, callers are only slightly more patient when interacting with a
female voice, rather than a male voice, in an automated telephone system.

How did you do with each step? Did you identify the question type? Do you feel comfortable with your
notes, and did you identify the conclusion (if there is one)? Did you remember to state the goal (briefly)
before looking at the answers? Did you use the 2-pass process to assess the answer choices?

Here’s how someone might work through the above problem. We’ll show each o f the four steps sepa­
rately. The first column will show the relevant text from the problem. The second column will show
what we might write on the scrap paper. The third column will show what we might be thinking while
working on the problem.

40 MANHATTAN
GMAT
 Methodology Ch.

Step 1: Identify the Question

Which of the following, if true, W A B C D E “most damaging to the conclusion 9

would be most damaging to the means this is a Weaken. I need to fin d
conclusion above? the conclusion, and I need to think
about what flaws or gaps might exist be­
tween the premises and the conclusion.

Step 2: Deconstruct the argument

Over the past decade, many lOy: corns use auto Sounds like background, but V 11jot
companies have begun using phone down a note anyway.
automated telephone services;
callers hear a machine-generated This is describing what an automated
voice and are able to select op­ phone system is; I probably don't need to
tions using the numbers on the write that down.
telephone keypad.
Research shows that callers are R: female = This is a fact, not a claim, so it has to be
more patient when the machine­ t patience either a premise or counterpremise. It's
generated voice is that of a probably a premise, since there's only one
woman. sentence left.
Thus, smaller companies that Small com use This is the only claim, so its the con­
cannot afford an automated women phone clusion. Now I can go back and add a
service should consider hiring © to the conclusion in my notes and a
women, rather than men, to in­ + to the premise.
teract with customers by phone.

The final notes might look something like this:

W ABCDE

lOy: corns use auto phone

+ R: female = t patience

© Small com use women phone

Your notes might look very different from the above notes. Thats perfectly fine as long as your notes
convey the basic flow o f information clearly and concisely. Your notes also need to identify the question
type, and you need some mechanism by which to track your answers.

MANHATTAN
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 Methodology

Step 3: State the Goal.

The conclusion is that small companies should hire women to answer the phones, because callers are more
patient when hearing automated female voices.

I need to weaken the conclusion, so that would mean there's some reason why companies might not be better
o ff hiring women to answer the phones.

[Hmm. The evidence is about automated female voices, while the conclusion is about real women. Is there
any kind o f disconnect there?]

First, we briefly restate the core of the argument— the conclusion and the main reasoning that supports
that conclusion. Then we articulate what kind of answer would accomplish our goal— in this case, to
weaken the conclusion. We may also happen to notice significant discrepancies, and we can articulate
those at this stage as well.

Step 4: Work from wrong to right

Now, were ready to attack the answers.

(A) Automated telephone ser- A B C D E The conclusion discusses what companies should
vices are becoming cheaper and do when they cant afford automated services. I f
cheaper every year. the service becomes cheap enough that a particu­
lar company can buy it, that company no longer
has to worry about whether to hire women or
men to answer the phones.
(B) Patient customers tend to A B C D E This is a good reason for the company to do
order more products and return whatever it can to keep its customers in a patient
fewer products than impatient mood. I f anything, that would strengthen the
customers. argument.
(C) A separate study indicated A B C D E Hmm. This creates a distinction between auto­
that the extra patience exhibited mated and live voices... I was wondering earlier
by callers is limited to interac­ whether that might be the disconnect. There
tions with an automated system. doesn't seem to be any evidence now that a live
female voice will make callers more patient. Keep
this one in.
(D) Some customers prefer auto- A B C D E Presumably these customers would be more
mated systems to talking with a patient with an automated system... oh, but
live person. this argument is only about those companies who
\ can't afford the system and are using realpeople.
Nope, this isn't it.

M A N H A TTA N
GMAT
 Methodology

(E) On average, callers are only A fi © © E This one seems to be telling me there isn't a huge
slightly more patient when difference between male and female voices— but
interacting with a female voice, there is still a small positive effectfor female voic­
rather than a male voice, in an es. I f anything, this strengthens the argument;
automated telephone system. after all, as a small business owner, T il take any
necessary steps that will get me more business! I
only have one answer left, so C is the answer.

How to Abbreviate_________________________
A clear, consistent shorthand (abbreviation) method will help us to take notes efficiently and spend
more of our mental energy focused on how the argument works (rather than how to write down a par­
ticular piece of information).

The chart below contains some symbols and abbreviations that are especially useful for Critical Reason­
ing. As you study, make sure to develop your own.

Increase / more / high t Decrease / less / low I

Causes / leads to / results in Was caused by <r-

Greater than / more than / > Less than / smaller <

majority than / minority

Equals / correlates with = Number #

Price / dollar amount $ Percent %

Change A Women / Men W /M

Best / most effective ★ Worst / least effective X

Attribution (e.g. the Mayor Like / dislike © /©
said...) e.g. M:

Future / prediction (something F Century (e.g., 20th c

will happen, someone plans to century) e.g. 20c
do something)

Time t However / although BU T

/ etc

years y conclusion ©
■“d

your own thoughts (not in the [your own thoughts Profit, Revenue, Cost
n
II

argument) in brackets]

premise + (plus) counterpremise - (minus)

MANHATTAN
GMAT
 Methodology

For very large increases or decreases, a very large majority or very small minority, and so on, double the
symbol. For example, for a very large increase in the number of employees, write T t # emp.

For the profit formula, do write out the whole formula even if the argument mentions only profit, or
only profit and either revenues or costs. All three variables go together (and that fact is often the weak
point for a question that mentions profit).

For any names, unfamiliar “big” words, or other unusual words, simply use the first letter of the name
or word. In traditional note-taking, that wouldn’t be adequate, but we only need to remember for about
90 seconds, and a single-letter abbreviation is sufficient to remember for 90 seconds.

Takeaways________________________________
Our 4-step approach for all CR Questions is:

Step 1; Identify the question,

• we’ll learn how to do this in later chapters

• the question type tells us what kind of information we expect to find in theargument and
what kind of reasoning help to answer the question

Step 2: Deconstruct the argument

• break the argument down into its building blocks

• take very abbreviated notes showing both the details and the “flow” of the information

Step 3: State the GoaL

• very briefly articulate your goal based upon this question type (again, we’ll learn the goals
for each type in later chapters)

Step 4: Work from wrong to right

• plan to go through the answers twice

• on the first pass, focus on eliminating anything that is definitely wrong; leave everything
else in
• on the second pass, compare any choices that remain, then pick

Know how you’re going to keep track of your answers on your scrap paper. First, decide whether to have
a separate ABCD E grid for each problem or whether to use the “write once per page” method described
earlier in the chapter. Second, make sure you have four consistent symbols for these four labels: defi­
nitely wrong; maybe; I have no idea; and this is it!

MANHATTAN
GMAT
 Methodology Chapter 2

Problem Set_______________________________
Read the argument and try to identify the role of each sentence or major piece of information. Take ab­
breviated notes for the argument. Use that information to write out the building block structure.

1. A series of research studies has reported that flaxseed oil can have a beneficial effect
in reducing tumor growth in mice, particularly the kind of tumor found in human
postmenopausal breast cancer. Thus, flaxseed oil should be recommended as an ad­
dition to the diets of all postmenopausal women.

2. During the past thirty years, the percentage of the population that smokes ciga­
rettes has consistently declined. During the same time period, however, the number
of lung cancer deaths attributed to smoking cigarettes has increased.

3. The Chinese white dolphin is a territorial animal that rarely strays far from its habitat
in the Pearl River Delta. In recent years, increasing industrial and agricultural runoff
to the Delta's waters has caused many white dolphins to perish before they reach
breeding age. Unless legislation is enacted to ensure there is no further decline in
the Delta's water quality, the Chinese white dolphin will become extinct.

4. Most doctors recommend consuming alcohol only in moderation, since the ex­
cessive intake of alcohol has been linked to several diseases of the liver. Drinking
alcohol is no more dangerous for the liver, however, than abstaining from alcohol
entirely. Last year, more nondrinkers than drinkers were diagnosed with liver failure.

5. To increase the productivity of the country's workforce, the government should

introduce new food guidelines that recommend a vegetarian diet. A study of
thousands of men and women revealed that those who stick to a vegetarian diet
have IQs that are around five points higher than those who regularly eat meat. The
vegetarians were also more likely to have earned advanced degrees and hold high-
paying jobs.

MANHATTAN 4!
 Methodology Chapter 2

Solutions
Note: the sample notes show in the answer key represent only one example of how someone might take
ntoes. Just make sure that your notes are legible, very concise, and convey the main points in a manner
that makes sense to you.

1.
Argument Notes Thoughts
A series of research studies has reported R: Flax helps I tumor mice This is a fact. It's
that flaxseed oil can have a beneficial ef­ esp PM BC either background or a
fect in reducing tumor growth in mice, premise.
particularly the kind of tumor found in
human postmenopausal breast cancer.

Thus, flaxseed oil should be recom­ R: flax helps I tumor mice Definitely the conclu­
mended as an addition to the diets of all esp BC sion.
postmenopausal women.
© PM women shd take flax

The structure of this argument is Premise - Conclusion.

Argument Notes Thoughts

During the past thirty years, the 30y: % pop smoke cig A steady This is a fact. It's
percentage of the population that either background or a
smokes cigarettes has consistently premise.
declined.

During the same time period, 30y: % pop smoke cig I steady Another fact, so an­
however, the number of lung cancer other premise. There
same P: # LC dead from cig t
deaths attributed to smoking ciga­ isn't a conclusion.
rettes has increased.

The structure of this argument is Premise - Premise.

NANHATTAN 47
GMAT
Chapter 2 Methodology

3.
Argument Notes Thoughts
The Chinese white dolphin is a ter­ CW D stays in PRD This is a fact. It's either
ritorial animal that rarely strays far background or a premise.
from its habitat in the Pearl River
Delta.
In recent years, increasing indus­ CW D stays in PRD This is also a fact but
trial and agricultural runoff to the is more like a premise
rent: ind + ag in PRD
Delta s waters has caused many because it feels like it could
CW D die b4 breed
white dolphins to perish before they build to a conclusion.
reach breeding age.

Unless legislation is enacted to CW D stays in PRD A n d here's the conclusion.

ensure there is no further decline
rent: ind + ag in PRD
in the Delta s water quality, the [Note: H 2 0 here is an ab­
CW D die b4 breed
Chinese white dolphin will become breviation for water, based
extinct. IF govt doesn’t fix H 2 0 on the chemical formula
CW D extinct h 2o j

The structure of this argument is Premise - Premise - Conclusion.

Argument Notes Thoughts

Most doctors recommend con­ Drs rec I ale be T ale “> liver This is a fact. It's either back­
suming alcohol only in modera­ dis ground or a premise.
tion, since the excessive intake
of alcohol has been linked to
several diseases of the liver.

Drinking alcohol is no more Drs rec I ale be T ale liver Oh, this has the word “how­
dangerous for the liver, howev­ dis ever!" The last sentence was a
er, than abstaining from alcohol counterpremise, and this one
© drink not worse than abstain
entirely. sounds like the conclusion.

Last year, more nondrinkers Drs rec I ale be t ale liver This supports the previous
than drinkers were diagnosed dis sentence; it's a premise. [It also
with liver failure. seems pretty flawed. What
drink not T bad than abstain
percentage o f nondrinkers vs.
ly: >nondrink had liv dis drinkers had liver disease?]

The structure of this argument is Counterpremise - Conclusion - Premise.

48 MANHATTAN
GMAT
 Methodology Chapter 2

5.
Argument Notes Thoughts
To increase the productivity of govt shd rec veg to t wrkr This is definitely a claim.
the country’s workforce, the prod It sounds like a conclusion,
government should introduce though I dont know for sure
new food guidelines that rec­ yet.
ommend a vegetarian diet.

A study of thousands of men govt shd rec veg to t wrkr This is a fact— the results o f a
and women revealed that those prod study. It also supports the claim
who stick to a vegetarian diet above, so it's a premise.
S: veg T IQ than non-veg
have IQs that are around five
points higher than those who
regularly eat meat.

The vegetarians were also more govt shd rec veg to T wrkr This is another premise sup­
likely to have earned advanced prod porting the first sentence.
degrees and hold high-paying
S: veg t IQ than non-veg
jobs.
veg > better schl and high pay

The structure of this argument is Conclusion - Premise - Premise.

M A N H A TTA N 49
GMAT
 Critical Reasoning

Structure-Based Family
 Describe the Roie

Describe the Argument

 Structure-Based Family
In the first two chapters, we introduced arguments, examined the building blocks used to construct
them, and learned the overall 4-step approach to tackling any Critical Reasoning question. We also
introduced the main types of questions found on the test. Here’s our 4-step approach:

Step 1: Identify the question.

Step 2: Deconstruct the argument.

Step 3: State the Goal.

Step 4: Work from wrong to right.

Now, were going to begin tackling the first of our three main Critical Reasoning Families: the Struc-
ture-Based questions. As the name implies, these questions depend upon our ability to understand the
structure of the argument. What kinds of building blocks are present in the argument? Which piece
leads to which piece? What is the purpose of each piece of info— what role does it play?

There are two main Structure question types: Describe the Role and Describe the Argument.

Describe the Role__________________________

O f the two types, Describe the Role (or Role, for short) is more common. These questions present a
standard argument, but one or two portions of that argument are presented in boldface font. We are
asked to describe the role each portion of boldface font plays.

What does “role” mean? We actually already studied this. The “role” is just another name for building
block. A particular bolded portion could be a premise, a conclusion, a counterpremise, an intermediate
conclusion, or background information. It could also be a counter-conclusion or opposing conclusion,
 Structure-Based Family

something we didn’t discuss earlier. An opposing conclusion is simply a conclusion that goes against the
author’s main conclusion.

These question types are easy to identify because one or two statements (usually two) will be presented
in bold font, and the question stem will include the word “boldface.”

Our task here is to determine the role that each boldface statement plays in the argument. We’re going
to discuss two possible methods. The Primary Method will always work, but it’s more complicated and
time-consuming to use. The Secondary Method will allow us to narrow down answer choices more
easily but may not allow us to get all the way to one answer— that is, we may have to guess from a nar­
rowed set of answers.

Primary Method
There are three possible roles:

(C) The statement in boldface is the author’s CONCLUSION.

(P) The statement in boldface is a PREMISE (it supports the author’s

conclusion)

(X) The statement in boldface is SOM ETH ING ELSE (this might be a
counterpremise, background information, acknowledgement of a weak­
ness in the argument...)

Strategy Tip: Labels C and P are considered to be “on the same side”
(because both are part of the author’s argument).

Strategy Tip: Label X is considered to be “on the opposite side” of labels

C and P, because label X does not support the author’s argument.

In our notes, we’ll classify each statement using the labels C, P, or X, as described above. When we
evaluate the answer choices, we’ll look for matching language based upon our labels.

How would that work? Let’s say that we’ve decided to label the first boldface statement with an X and
the second boldface with a C. Then we check our answers for an XC pattern.

The answer choices are the most difficult part of Structure questions in general because they are written
in an abstract form. For example, an answer might read:

(A) The first [boldface statement] is evidence that has been used to weaken
a claim made by the argument; the second [boldface statement] is that
claim.

The first half of that sentence is quite convoluted. Let’s start with the most basic piece: a building block.
There is a claim made by the argument; the claim is the conclusion. This first half says that the first

MANHATTAN
GMAT
 Structure-Based Family

boldface weakens the conclusion. Something used to weaken the conclusion is a counterpremise. If we
labeled the first boldface statement with an X, then this might be the right answer.

The second half of the sentence is more straightforward but includes a structure that is commonly used
to try to confuse us. It refers back to something that was said in the first half of the answer choice. In
this case, the second half refers to “that claim.” It s not just talking about any claim here; it s talking
about the same claim that was mentioned in the first half of the sentence. The second half is describing
the conclusion; if we labeled the second boldface statement a C, then this might be the right answer.

Great! We wanted an XC combo (in that order), and we just found an answer choice that gives us an
XC combo. We re done!

If we can use the above method accurately, we will be able to eliminate the 4 wrong answers and get to
the right answer. We might struggle to do that, though, or it might take too much time. Our Second­
ary Method allows us to get rid of some answers more quickly before taking a guess from among the
remaining answers.

Secondary Method
There are three possible roles:

(C) The statement in boldface is the authors CONCLUSION.

(F) The statement in boldface is a FACT.

(O) The statement in boldface is an OPINION (but not the conclusion).

Strategy Tip: Check for the conclusion first. Only label something an O
if it is N O T the conclusion.

How would this work on our answer choice from above? This time, lets say that we have labeled the
first boldface from our argument with an F and the second boldface with a O (opinion but not conclu­
sion). Next, we check the answers.

(A) The first [boldface statement] is evidence that has been used to weaken
a claim made by the argument; the second [boldface statement] is that
claim.

The word “evidence” typically indicates a fact, not an opinion, so the first half is likely describing an F
label. The second half is still describing the conclusion, so it would receive a label of C.

That doesn’t match. We re looking for an FO combo, but this answer gives us an FC combo. Eliminate it.

M A N H A TTA N
GMAT
Chapter 3 Structure-Based Family

Common Trap Answers

The most tempting trap answers on Role questions tend to be “off” by just one word, and that word is
usually at the end of the sentence. For instance, let’s imagine that we’ve decided the first boldface is a
premise in support of the author’s conclusion— in other words, a P. A tempting wrong answer might
read:

(A) The first [boldface statement] provides evidence in support of the position
that the argument seeks to reject.

Every word of that answer matches what we want to find with the exception of the very last word, “re­
ject.” In fact, if we changed that one word, the answer would be correct:

(A) The first [boldface statement] provides evidence in support of the position
that the argument seeks to establish.

The first version of the answer choice says that the first boldface is a premise in support of some
counterconclusion. That’s an X label, not a P. The second version says that the first boldface is a premise
in support of the author’s conclusion, and that is, indeed, a P label. If we re not reading every word very
carefully, we may pick the first version without even realizing that it’s an X, not a P!

56 M ANHATTAN
GMAT
 Structure-Based Family Chapter 3

Putting It All Together

Let s try a full example:

Mathematician: Recently, Zubin Ghosh made headlines when he was recognized

to have solved the Hilbert Conjecture. Ghosh posted his work on the internet,
rather than submitting it to established journals. In fact, he has no job, let alone
a university position; he lives alone and has refused all acclaim. In reporting on
Ghosh, the press unfortunately has reinforced the popular view that mathemati­
cians are antisocial loners. But mathematicians clearly form a tightly knit com­
munity, frequently collaborating on important efforts; indeed, teams of research­
ers are working together to extend Ghosh's findings.

In the argument above, the two portions in boldface play which of the following
roles?

(A) The first is an observation the author makes to illustrate a social pattern; the
second is a generalization of that pattern.
(B) The first is evidence in favor of the popular view expressed in the argument;
the second is a brief restatement of that view.
(C) The first is a specific example of a generalization that the author contradicts;
the second is a reiteration of that generalization.
(D) The first is a specific counterexample to a generalization that the author as­
serts; the second is that generalization.
(E) The first is a judgment that counters the primary assertion expressed in the
argument; the second is a circumstance on which that judgment is based.

MANHATTAN 57
GMAT
Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
seeing you and Jenna together."
Lindsay frowned. He wouldn't say it, but Jenna did. "Jack," she said
softly, "is that a soft spot that makes you want to keep Tom Lacy from
hurt, or are you just giving arguments to get out there and try your
skill against that bomb?"
"A little of both," said Grant cheerfully. "Plus the fact that he makes
me uncomfortable, somehow. It always makes me uncomfortable to
see any man so tied up in his own past emotions that he cannot see
clearly."
"Skip it," said Lindsay firmly. "I admit that he is too bound up in the
past, but you, Grant, could stand a little more of his sincerity of
emotion just as he could stand less."
Harris had been quite alert, and broke in at this point. "All due
respects, Grant, but you run this as though you were playing a game.
I know why Lacy is that way. His game was for the reward, yours is
for the game's sake. He saw everything he'd spent his life for go up in
a flaming volcano. Years of living, of loving, of building; puffed out in a
millionth of a second. Puffed out, obliterated, disintegrated beyond all
recognition. Grant, have you ever loved anything, deeply?"
Grant nodded. "All right, fellows, I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I don't
understand Lacy better. I've loved, but I've never let it be my life. For
when I've lost, there has always been something—or someone—else.
Make off like my chips weren't in this deal, will you?"
"Still a game, Grant?" laughed Garrard. "A game where every throw
of the dice is forecast is no game."
"What am I?" chuckled Jack Grant. "Just the baaaaad boy of the
decontamination squadron? Sure it's a game—the whole thing is a
game. And whether you're playing your brother for marbles or playing
the devil for fame, you play to win."
"I say—" started Garrard.
Grant out-talked him. "I say that I am the master of my fate. And if
anybody calls me Invictus Grant I shall cut his throat. Or her throat,"
he added, turning to Jenna with a grin.
The door opened again and Lacy entered. "Quite a conference," he
said. "Well, Ralph, where is it and what's to be done?"
Lindsay brought him up to date. Then they ran off the recording of
Jim Roberts' unhappy attempt.
"You may just be overcautious," said Lacy when the recording had
finished. "It may have been a circumstance."
"Unlikely. The thing is ... has too many facets. Jenna herself claims
that a new item was expectable. Haynes had his statisticians at work,
and their findings were that the quantity of late has been diminishing,
which from past experience means that something new is due."
Jack Grant looked at Lindsay. "You don't suppose they're after the
decontamination squadron?"
"If they were gunning for us," said Harris in a voice that shook with
hatred, "they'd do it this way!" Then he settled back again. "But would
they waste mercurite on us?"
"As a means of keeping production open, we're worth mercurite,"
responded Lindsay. "And it might take something more than the
ordinary to go out and eliminate men who have made a business of
defusing the things. Assassination is almost impossible.
"And," he said reflectively, "we may be barking up the wrong tree. All I
know is that we've a brand new type, and as usual I've called the
entire group in to get the initial factors all complete. Are we a bunch
of persecution-complexes that we think they're after us?"
"No," grinned Jack Grant, "but remind me to tell that idea to
Ordnance. Eliminating the decontamination squadron is like
poisoning a city by shutting off its sewage system, perhaps, but it is
effective!"
"We'll forget the personal angle until we get this one solved," said
Ralph Lindsay.
"Well, let's go," said Grant eagerly.
"We'll take this easily," objected Lindsay.
"No gambling instinct?" queried Grant with an amused smile.
"That's why he's boss," said Garrard dryly. "Lindsay has neither an ax
to grind nor an ego to build up."
"Huh?" asked Grant.
"Admitted ... and I'm sorry, Tom," said Garrard to Lacy, "that Lacy has
his ax to grind. You, Jack, apparently get an egotistical lift out of this
'game.' Lindsay has neither."
"O.K., boss man," smiled Grant. "What do we do?"
"All the radiation meters we can pack into the battle buggy. Also we
set up a radiating system near it. Then come back and we'll run
through the spectrum to see. Now—"
"It's still in my district," reminded Grant.
"You're overeager," objected Garrard.
"And you're too complacent," objected Harris.
"Trouble with you," said Lacy, "is that you get too deep-set in pitting
your skill against a mechanical puzzle and forget to tell us the
moves."
Lindsay smiled sourly. "To finish this round robin, may I tell you your
faults, Tom? You are inclined to make a false move. Not consciously,
but there have been a few times when you came out by the skin of
your teeth, having pathologically missed a fine point, and having
caught it consciously."
Grant reached in a back pocket and rolled a pair of dice on the floor.
"Roll for it?" he asked hopefully.
"Never touch dice," objected Harris.
Grant reached inside his jacket and fanned a deck of cards. "Cut?"
"Games," said Garrard sourly. "Games of chance in a preordained
world—Bah!"
Jenna hit the table with her small fist. "Stop it, all of you! A finer
collection of neurotics I've never seen collected under one roof
before. And not one of you dare suggest that Ralph pick a man.
Haynes would be wild if he knew that Ralph had been put into a
psychological hole by being forced to send any man into ... into ... into
that." Deigning to name the menace was itself a psychic block, but
Jenna did not care. Instead of talking further, she reached for the
deck of cards. "The thirteenth card," she said, starting to deal them
off, "One, two, three," placing them face up before her. "Lacy, hearts;
Harris, spades; Grant, diamonds, and Garrard, clubs.—Ten, eleven,
twelve, and thirteen!"
The ace of spades.
Harris smiled, got up cheerfully, and went to get his trappings ready.
Garrard grunted. "Games of chance," he sneered. "In a—"
Grant jumped up. "Look, Ed," he snarled. "In this completely
preordained world of yours, how can an inhabitant know the will of the
Gods of No-chance? What criterion would you have used to select
Harris, huh? So if nothing else, the laws of chance do that much, to at
the very least tell us who the Gods select. And so long as we
ourselves do not know the answer, who cares if it is preordained?"
Having delivered this, Grant looked at Jenna. "Bright girl," he said.
"An instrument, if you admit Ed's plan, of the Gods."
Jenna smiled. "You mean 'whom the Gods—select,'" she corrected
blithely.
Grant hauled out a flask, unscrewed a one-ounce cap and poured it
full. "Here," he snapped, practically forcing it into her mouth.
Jenna spluttered. "Thanks," she said, calming. "I know how Lindsay
feels, and it is not up to him to tell us. But I don't care whether it is
predestiny or not, and whether we're all non-gamblers or goody-
goody boys. But we'll use this set of cards for any future guesswork.
See? And, we'll cut, ourselves. See? We'll not make the mistake of
forcing Jenna or Ralph into dealing out a poisoned arrow."
"I wish people would stop worrying about my peace of mind," growled
Lindsay. "I admit all that's been said. I am not to undergo any
personal emotional strain. But being psychologically packed in cotton
and linseed oil isn't good for me either."
"And all over one problematical bomb," smiled Jenna. "Why don't we
wait. If the first one was coincidence, certainly the rest, after solution,
will make us all feel like overwrought schoolgirls."
Harris returned at this point. "Ready," he said with a smile. His eyes
were bright, and he seemed eager. There was an exultation about
Harris, a bearing that might have been sheer theatrical effort, yet it
seemed as though he were going out to do personal battle with his
own personal devil.
Lindsay nodded briefly. "Give us every single smidgin of information.
If you scrape your feet, tell us. Understand?"
"I get it. O.K., there's been enough time wasted. S'long."

His voice came clearly, and in the dawning light, the automatic
television cameras adjusted the exposure as the dawn came brighter
by the moment. The battle wagon headed out across the rough
ground where the teeming city of Gary had lived a hundred years
ago. A mile or two beyond, the battle wagon entered the parking
area, now cleared of its horde of parked 'copters by the fleeing
personnel.
The ship lifted and retreated a few miles, finding level enough ground
to continue observation, and Harris went on and on.
"I'm stopping," he said, and it was faithfully recorded. "I'm about a
hundred feet from the crater, setting up detectors and radiators. Shall
I drive back or will you come in and pick me up? Seems to be safe
enough. He hasn't gone off yet."
"We'll pick you up but quick. Ready?"
"Ready. Everything's set on the servos."
"O.K."
They met, immediately whisked into the sky and back to more than a
safe distance. Then they went to work, searching etheric space and
subetheric space for radiations. They hurled megawatt pulses of radio
energy and subradio energy at the ticking thing. They thundered at it
with audio, covering all known manner of vibration from a few cycles
per minute of varying pressure to several megacycles of sheer air-
wave. They mixed radio and audio, modulated the radio with the
audio and hurled both continuous waves and pulsed waves, and
mixed complex combinations of both. Then they modulated the
subradio with radio, which was modulated with audio and they
bombarded it with that. Rejecting the radiation bands entirely, they
went after it, exploring the quasi-optical region just below the infra-red
in the same complete manner. They fired at it constantly, climbing up
into the heat waves, up into visible light and out into the ultra-violet.
They hurled Brentz rays, Roentgen rays, and hard X. They tuned up
the betatron and lambasted it with the most brittle of hard X rays.
They hurled explosive charges at it, to shock it. Then they sent drone
fliers, radio controlled, and waved reflecting masses at it gently and
harshly by flying the drones back and forth above it.
After three hours of this—and three more incoming robombs of the
same type had been reported, they gave up.
"They're piling up," grunted Lindsay.
"Wish we could move it," said Grant.
"You always wish that. You tell us how to grapple with three hundred
tons of glass-slick, super-hard ovoid with a high diamagnetic surface
and a built-in radiation shield. Moving them is the easiest answer—
and the one initially avoided."
Harris blinked. "Nothing else?"
"There's nothing left but to go out and pull its teeth," said Lindsay.
"Nothing we know can detonate the thing."
Harris smiled knowingly. "Naturally," he said. "Their point in life is to
immobilize Terra. They must not go off until they are ready. They're
willing to wait. They found out we could detonate them and then
return to work in a couple of hours with radiation shields. So they now
get a fuse that cannot be extracted and cannot be detonated until
they want it to. Give 'em one chance to prove one effective, and all
Terra will be immobilized by them, and they'll drop everywhere. Also,
maintaining the force fields takes a lot of valuable power. And if we
shut off the fields, it might go up and then we'd lose the whole place."
"How I wish we could take pictures."
"Photographs?" asked Grant, smiling. "I saw one of them once. A
family heirloom. Too bad, of course. But what do you expect when the
whole world is living in a sort of bath of neutrons, and silver itself
becomes slightly radioactive? After all, photography used to use a
silver compound of some sort if my physical history is right."
"Silver bromide," said Lindsay slowly. "Look, Harris," he said, his
interest showing where his mind was really working, "go out there and
make a few sketches. Then come back without touching the thing.
Understand?"
"Right."

"I am approaching the thing," he said from the field of action again.
"I'm about two hundred feet from it. Working now with the projection
box, sketching on the ground glass. This is a fairly standard model of
robomb, of course. They load 'em with anything they think useful after
making them at another plant, just as we do. The fuse—too bad they
can't bury it inside. But it must be set, or at least available to the
makers. If they should improve on it, it would be serious business to
de-load these things to get to a buried fuse. Yep, there he is, right up
on top as usual. Fuse-making has reached a fine art, fellows. Think of
a gadget made to work at will or by preset, and still capable of taking
the landing wallop they get. Well, they used to make fuses to stand
twenty thousand times gravity for use in artillery. But this ... well,
Ralph, I've about got it sketched. Looks standard. Except for a couple
of Martian ideographs on it. Jenna, what's a sort of sidewise Omicron;
three concentric, squashed circles; and a tick-tack-toe mark?"
"Martian for Mark Six Hundred Fifty, Modification Zero," answered the
girl.
"Some language when you can cram that into three characters."
"Well, I'm through. Ralph, so far as I'm concerned, this drawing will
serve no purpose. Use that one of the standard model and have
Jenna make the right classification marks across the fuse top. That's
a better drawing anyway. I'm going on out and defu—"
The flash blinded, even through the almost-black glasses. It was
warm, through the leaded glass windows. The eventual roar and the
grinding hailstorm of sand and stone and sintered glass tore at the
ship. The counters rattled madly and fell behind the driving
mechanism with a grinding rattle. A rocketing mushroom of smoke
drove toward the stratosphere, cooling down to mere incandescence
as it went.
Miles away a production official watched the meters on his servo
panel. They were stable. The buildings held. With the lighter
radioactinic shields, work could be resumed in twenty-four hours. He
started to make plans, calling his men happily. The bomb was no
longer a menace, and the mills could get back to work.

"Harris," said Garrard solemnly. "So shall it be! Well, may he rest,
now. Hatred such as his—an obsession against an inanimate object. I
—"
"Shut up," said Lacy quietly. "You're babbling."
"Well," said Grant in his hard voice, "we can detonate 'em if we can't
defuse 'em. Only it's hard on the personnel!"
Lacy looked up and spoke quietly, though his face was bitter. "Jack
Grant, you have all the sensitivity and feelings of a pig!"
"Why ... you—"
Lindsay leaped forward, hoping to get between them. Jenna went
forward instinctively, putting up a small hand. Garrard looked at them
reflectively, half aware of the incident and half convinced that if they
were to fight, they would regardless of any act of man.
It was the strident ringing of the telephone that stopped them in their
tracks; staying Grant's fist in midswing.
Jenna breathed out in a husky sound.
"Who was that at Gary?" asked General Haynes.
"We lost Harris."
"Same as before?"
Lindsay nodded glumly, forgetting that Haynes couldn't see him. Then
he added: "Didn't even get close."
"What in thunder have they got?" asked Haynes. It was an
hypothetical question, the general did not expect an answer. He
added, after a moment of thought: "You've tried everything?"
"Not everything. So far as I've been able to tell, the things will sit
there until we go after 'em. They'll foul up production areas until we
go after 'em, and then when we're all gone—what then?"
"Lindsay! Take hold, man. You're ... you're letting it get you."
Lindsay nodded again. "I admit it. Oh, I'll be all right."
"Well, keep it up—trying I mean. We're tinkering with the spotters and
predictors and we hope to get 'em up to the point where they'll act on
those lightning fast jobs."
"We'll be getting to Old London," said Lindsay. "That's next. Good
thing they dispersed cities a century ago, even granting the wall
shield."
"Good luck, Lindsay. And when you've covered all the mechanico-
electrical angles, look for other things."
He hung up, but Lindsay pondered the last remark. What did he
mean?

The ship was on its way to Old London before Lindsay called for a
talk-fest.
"We don't know anything about these things excepting that they go off
when we approach 'em," said Lindsay. "Has anybody any ideas?"
"Only mine," grunted Jack Grant with a half-smile. "Something
triggers 'em off whenever we come close."
"Couple of hundred feet," growled Lacy, "isn't close enough to permit
operation of any detector capable of registering the human body
without some sort of radiation output."
"Not direct detection," agreed Lindsay, facing Grant again.
Grant nodded. Then Garrard said: "I've an idea. But I'm mentioning it
to no one."
"Why?"
"I don't want to tip my hand."
"Thought you weren't a gambler," jeered Grant.
"I'm not. I can't foresee the future, written though it is. I'll play it my
way, according to my opinion. The fact that I feel this way about it is
obviously because it is written so."
"Oh Brother!" grunted Jack Grant. "With everything all written in the
Book of Acts, you still do things as you please because so long as
you desire to do things that way it is obvious that the Gods wrote it?"
Garrard flushed. And Lindsay said: "Grant, you're a born trouble-
maker."
"Maybe I should go out and take the next one apart. I'm still willing to
bet my life against a bunch of Martians." Then he looked at Jenna.
"I'm sorry, Jenna."
"Don't be," she said. "I may be Martian, but it's in ancestry only. I
gave up my heritage when I set eyes on Ralph, you know." Then she
stood up. "I'm definitely NOT running out," she laughed. "I'm going
down to put on more coffee. I think this may be a long, cold winter."
She left, and Ed Garrard looked up at Lindsay, sourly.
"Well?" asked Ralph.
"Look, Lindsay, I may be speaking out of turn."
"Only the Gods know," chuckled Grant.
"Shut up, you're banal and out of line again," snapped Lindsay. "Look,
Ed, no matter what it is, out with it."
"Lindsay, what do you know about this rumor about Martian mind-
reading?"
"Very little. It is a very good possibility for the future, I'd say. It's been
said that the ability of certain Martians to mental telepathy is a
mutation. After all, the lighter atmosphere of Mars makes
bombardment from space more likely to succeed."
"Mutation wouldn't change existing Martians," mused Grant. "The
thing, of course, may either be a mutation that is expected—in which
case it may occur severally—or an unexpected dominant mutation in
which case its spread will occur as the first guy inseminates the race
with the seeds of his own being."
"Right."
"You don't know?"
"No," said Lindsay. "I don't know which and furthermore it is
unimportant."
"Might be," objected Grant. "How many are there and what is their
ability?"
"There are about seventy Martians known to be able to do mental
telepathy under ideal circumstances. Of the seventy-odd, all of them
are attuned to only one or two of the others. So we have an
aggregation of seventy, in groups of three maximum, that are able to
do it."
"Is any of Jenna's family—?"
"Not that I know of. And besides, Jenna's loyal."
"They might be reading her mind unwittingly," said Garrard.
"Impossible."
"Know everything?" said Garrard, instantly regretting the implication.
"Only that Jenna's father was a psychoneural surgeon, and I've read
plenty of his books on the subject. They're authoritative."
"Were, before the war."
Lindsay nodded. "You're thinking of some sort of amplifier system?"
Garrard nodded.
"I doubt it," said Lindsay.
Lacy looked up and shook his head. "It would have to be gentle," he
said. "According to what I've heard, the guy who's doing the
transmitting is clearly and actually aware of every transmitted thought
that is correctly collected by the receiver. Couple a determined will to
transmit with certain knowledge of reception, and then tell me how to
read a mind that is one, unwilling; and two, unaware." Lacy snorted.
"Seems to me we're getting thick on this." He arose and left, slowly.

Lacy wandered into the galley and spoke to Jenna. "Mind?"

"Not at all," she said brightly.
"I need a bit of relaxation," he said. "We've had too many hours of
solid worry over this thing."
She put a hand on his shoulder. "Tom," she said, "you're all to bits.
Why don't you quit?"
"Quit?" he said dully. "Look, Jenna, I quit a long time ago. Fact of the
matter is, there's not one of us but won't kill ourselves as soon as the
need for us is over. Excepting you and Ralph. You—have one another
to live for. We—have nothing."
"Grant?"
"Grant will be at loose ends, too. Remember, he has been seeking
thrill after thrill, and cutting closer to the line each time. This defusing
is the ultimate in nerve thrills to him, pitting himself against a corps of
mechanical experts. Going back to rocket-racing and perihelion runs
will be too tame. He's through, too."
"You all could get a new interest in life. You shouldn't quit," said
Jenna softly.
"That's the worst of it," said Tom Lacy looking down at her. "I quit a
long time ago. It's the starting-up that I fear."
"I don't follow."
"I think of Irene—and Little Fellow—and I know that when that area
went up, my life ended. I've never had Harris' psychopathic hatred of
the things. I've just felt that I'd like death, but want to go out doing my
part. I have a life-long training against suicide per se, but I euphemize
it by taunting death with the decontamination squadron."
"Yes?" said Jenna. She knew more was to come.
"Alone I'm all right. Then I see you and Ralph. I feel a resentment—
not against you, or Ralph, but against Fate or Kismet or whatever
Gods there be that they should deny me and give to you freely. It's
not right that I feel this way. Life is like that." He quoted bitterly:
"'Them as has, gits!'"
"Tom, I swear that if it were mine to do, I'd give you all the things you
lost—return them."
He nodded. "Giving me wouldn't do," he said in self-reflection. "I'd
want return—and that is impossible."
Jenna knew well enough not to say the trite remark about Time being
the Great Healer. "Poor Tom," she said gently. Maternally, she leaned
forward and kissed him on the cheek. An inner yearning touched him
and opened a brief door of forgetfulness. He tightened his arms about
her for a moment and as her face came up, he kissed her with a
sudden warmth. In Jenna, mixed feelings, conflicting emotions
burned away by his warmth. She responded instinctively and in the
brief moment removed some of the torture of the lonely, hating days.
Then as the mixed thoughts cleared, Lacy found himself able to think
more clearly. Though still flushed, he loosened his tight hold upon her
waist, and as he relaxed, Jenna changed from the yielding softness
of her to a woman more remote. Her eyes opened, and her arms
came down from about his neck and she stepped back, breathing
fully.
"Sorry, Jenna—"
She laughed. It was not a laugh that meant derision; in fact it was a
laugh reassuring to him, as she'd intended it to be. "Don't be sorry,"
she said softly. "You've committed no crime, I understand."
He nodded. "I was, sort of, kind of—"
"Tom," she said seriously, "there's a lot of good therapy in a kiss. So
far as I know, you needed some, and I gave it to you, freely and
gladly. I'll ... do it again ... when it's needed." Then she looked away,
shyly.
A moment later, she looked up again, her face completely composed.
"What do you suppose Garrard has on his mind?" she asked.
He told her, completely.
The scanning room was dark when they returned. Out through the
viewport the actinic glow of the buildings cast a greenish light over
the landscape, creating an eerie impression of the scene. The small
buildings, widely scattered, were a far cry from Old London of the
nineteen hundreds, with its teeming millions and its houses, cheek by
jowl.
"Where's Ed?" asked Jenna, fumbling in the dark scanning room with
the coffee tray.
"Gone."
"Gone?" she echoed. "How long ago?"
"Ten minutes or so. He should be there—"
Out, a few miles from them, hidden in the canyons of the buildings, a
burst of flame soared up. A gigantic puffball that ricochetted from the
actinic-lighted walls of the buildings and then went soaring skyward. A
pillar of fire and smoke headed for the stratosphere as the counters
clicked. The wall shields started to die out as the force of the
explosion was spent.
Lindsay snapped on the lights. He faced them, his face white.
"That," he said harshly, "was Garrard."
Grant nodded. "It wasn't in his Book," he said.
"Neither," snarled Lindsay, "was it in his Book to keep his action
secret."
"Meaning?" asked Grant.
"Who was the bright one that mentioned where he'd gone?"
"That should have been obvious," said Grant.
"Obvious or not—he's gone."
"What you're saying is that he's gone because I opened my big trap?"
Lindsay blinked. "Sorry, Jack. But I'm at wit's ends. I do wish that he
had his chance, perfect, though." He stared at Lacy.
Tom, remembering that he had been kissing the man's wife less than
five minutes before, flushed slightly and flustered. He hoped it
wouldn't show—
"Tom, that's a new brand of lipstick you're wearing, isn't it?" gritted
Lindsay.
Tom colored.
Jenna faced her husband. "I kissed him," she said simply. "I did it as
any mother would kiss a little boy—because he needed kissing. Not
because—"
"Forget it," said Ralph. "Did you know what Garrard was thinking?"
"Tom told me."
"Nice reward," sneered Ralph, facing Lacy.
Lacy dropped his eyes, bitterly.
Jack Grant looked up. "Listen, Lindsay, you're off beam so far—"
"You keep out of this," snarled Lindsay, stepping forward.
"I'm not staying out of it. It happens to be some of my business, too.
Lacy, this may hurt, but it needs explaining. Lindsay, I'm not a soft-
hearted bird. I'm not even soft-headed. But if any man ever needed
the affection of a woman, Tom Lacy does, did, and will. And if I had
mother, wife, or sister that refused to try to straighten Lacy out, I'd cut
her throat! I've made a lot of crude jokes about the fact that she
married you because of your money or friends, but they were just
crude jokes that I'd not have made if she hadn't been so completely
Mrs. Ralph Lindsay that mere mention of anything else was funny.
And you can scream or you can laugh about it, but whatever she did
down in the galley, I say, makes a better woman of her!" Then Grant
smiled queerly and turned to Lacy. "You lucky dog," he grinned. "She
never tried to kiss me!"
Ralph Lindsay sat down wearily. "Was that it, Jenna?"
She nodded; unable to speak.
"I'm sorry," said Lindsay.
"Look, Lindsay—" started Tom Lacy.
Lindsay interrupted. "Lacy, I'm the one to be sorry. I mean it. Pity—is
hard to take, even to give honestly. You don't want it, yet it is there.
Yes," nodded Lindsay, "if there's anything, ever, that we can do to see
you straightened out, we'll do it. Now—"
The phone.
Lindsay picked up the phone and said: "Garrard got it! Where's the
next one?"
Haynes said: "Take the one in the Ruhr Industrial District. How'd
Garrard get it?"
"We don't know. He went out unplanned, wondering if utter secrecy
mightn't be the answer."
"Too bad," said Haynes and hung up quickly. The general didn't like
the tone of Lindsay's voice.

Lindsay faced them. "What do we know?" he asked. He felt that he'd

been asking that question for year upon year, and that there had
been no answer save a mystical, omnipotent rumbling that forboded
ill—and that threatened dire consequences if asked to repeat.
"Not a lot," said Grant. "They go off when we get within a hundred
feet or so of them. That's all we know."
"Garrard went out without running his intercom radio. He made no
reports, thinking that maybe they listened in on our short-range jobs
and fired them somehow by remote control when they feared we
might succeed in inerting the things!" Lindsay growled in his throat.
"Look," said Grant. "This is urgent. It is also knocking out our nerves.
It's not much of a run from here to Ruhr Industrial, but I'm going to
suggest that we all forget the problem completely for a few minutes.
Me, I'm going in to take a shower."
The value of relaxation did not need pressing. Jenna nodded. "None
of us have had much of anything but coffee and toast," she said. "I'm
going down and build a real, seven-course breakfast. Any takers?"
They all nodded.
"And Ralph, you come and break eggs for me," she laughed. "So far
as I know, I'm the only one that's capable of taking your mind off of
your troubles momentarily."
Lindsay laughed and stood up.
Lacy said it was a good idea, and then added: "I'm going to write a
letter."
The rest all looked at one another. If Tom Lacy were writing a letter, it
meant that he'd taken some new interest in life. Wordless
understanding passed between the other three and they all left Lacy
sitting at the desk.

The autopilot was bringing the ship down toward the ground out of
the stratosphere, slanting toward the Ruhr when Jenna snapped the
intercom switch. "Breakfast," she called. Her voice rang out through
the ship. Grant came immediately and sat down. Lindsay was already
seated. Jenna served up a heaping plate of ham, eggs, fried
potatoes, and a small pancake on the side. "This," she smiled, "is too
late for a real breakfast, but I demand a breakfast even if it's nine
o'clock in the evening when I first eat for the day. There's more if
you're still hungry."
"We'll see," said Grant. He picked up his knife and fork but stopped
with them poised. "Where's Lacy?"
"I'll give another call," said Jenna, repeating her cry.
They fell to, attacking their plates with vigor. But no Lacy. They
finished and still no Lacy. "Come on," said Jenna. "Maybe he's still
feeling remorse. We'll find him and then we'll feed him if we have to
hold him down and stuff him. O.K.?"
"Yeah," drawled Grant. "Feeding does wonders for my mental
attitude. It'll do Tom good, too! Let's find him."
They headed for the scanning room, but it was empty. The desk
where they'd left him was as though he had not been there, except—
"Letter?" queried Lindsay, puzzled. "Now, what—" his voice trailed
away as he slit the envelope and took out the sheet of paper. He
cleared his throat and began:
"Dear Folks:
"I put no faith in Garrard's suspicions, but since he was lost
without an honest chance to prove them, I am taking this
chance.
"I am taking my skeeter when I finish this and I'm going on
ahead, alone. Knowing you as I do, I'll have plenty of time
to inspect that robomb before you read this. I'm explaining
my actions because I feel that you may need explanation.
"I think the world and all of both Jenna and Ralph, and feel
that I may have caused suspicion and unhappiness there.
Since I'll have time to take a good look at this thing and
also make some motions toward defusing it long before
you arrive, or even find this, let my success be a certain
statement of the fact that knowledge of my actions by any
of you—or even suspicion cast at the presence of the
Decontamination Squadron Ship by the enemy—is not the
contributing cause. No one will know until I'm all fin—"
Light filled the scanning room, and the ship rocked as it was buffeted
by the blast. The light and the heat and the sound tore at them, and
they clung to the stanchions on the scanning room until the ship
stopped rocking and then Grant made a quick dash for the autopilot,
which was chattering wildly under the impact of atomic by-products. It
stabilized itself, however, and the ship continued on down through the
billowing dust to the ground.
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