hard · Gre Verbal

To reduce highway fatalities, a state lowered its rural speed limit by ten miles per hour. [[In the year following the change, fatalities on the affected roads dropped by eighteen percent.]] Officials hailed the limit as a proven success. [[But traffic volume on those same roads also fell sharply that year, as a regional recession curtailed long-distance driving, and fewer vehicles on the road would by itself reduce the number of crashes.]] Whether the lower limit deserves the credit thus remains an open question. In the argument above, the two portions in boldface play which of the following roles? (A) The first is the officials' conclusion; the second is evidence supporting it. (B) The first is a result cited as proof of the policy's success; the second offers an alternative explanation for that result. (C) The first is the argument's main conclusion; the second is a premise the argument uses to establish it. (D) Both boldface portions support the claim that the lower limit succeeded. (E) The first is an assumption officials make; the second is the argument's endorsement of that assumption.

1. The first is the officials' stated conclusion about the policy's worth; the second is a further piece of evidence directly supporting it.
2. The first is a result cited as proof of the policy's success; the second offers an alternative explanation for that result.
3. The first is the argument's own main conclusion; the second is a premise the argument then uses to help establish it.
4. Both boldface portions work together to support the officials' claim that the lower speed limit genuinely succeeded.
5. The first is an assumption the officials make; the second is the argument's firm endorsement of that same assumption.

Sign up free to see the explanation and track your rank →