Q11 - Although large cities are generally

[jewels0602]

I am surprised this question hasn't been posted yet...

I was stuck between B and E for this one and incorrectly chose B, and I'm still not understanding why E is better than B.

It's pretty straight-forward (I think) that the second part of the first sentence goes against the grain of the first half-- I thought the conclusion (last sentence) better fit the description that E was offering.

I feel like the question overall is very similar to PT 70, section 1, question 17... I got this one wrong as well (I chose C instead of D)... so apparently I have issues with these type of questions, can anyone clear this up for me?

THanks!

[maryadkins]

Good question! Thanks for asking it.

So this is a role of the statement question, and the best move is to ID the role before venturing into the answer choices.

So what is the role of this statement here?

The author starts by acknowledging that cities are generally more polluted than the countryside...notice that he/she doesn't CONTEST this fact. It's a given. But it's just not the data point that matters as much as the point that the PEOPLE who live in cities are polluting less—living in energy-efficient dwellings and using mass transit. The claim that increasing urbanization may actually reduce the total amount of pollution is the point he/she is trying to make. It's the conclusion.

(B) is wrong because of what I just pointed out—the author doesn't argue that cities are less polluted than the countryside. ("Although cities are generally more polluted..." in fact ADMITS that they are). He/she just doesn't think that's the right rubric for evaluating how urbanization influences pollution.

As for the others...

(A) misconstrues the conclusion and in this sense is a common wrong answer choice to this type of question! Look out for these.

(C) "no logical role?" Nope.

(D) is wrong because it isn't a premise, AND because it misconstrues the conclusion.