IMAT 2011 Q19 [Conclusion | Carnival]

If the Carnival Committee does not follow the new European regulations then it may be
impossible to guarantee safety. The probable consequence of this would be a heavy fine, which would severely reduce the carnival fund, and could be disastrous for the committee’s finances. Either the committee must meet the safety requirements or the future of the carnival may be under threat.

Which one of the following best expresses the conclusion of this argument?

A. Safety at the carnival has reached dangerously low levels.

B. If the European regulations are not followed the carnival may not survive.

C. Failure to improve safety could result in a heavy fine.

D. A heavy fine could mean financial disaster for the carnival.

E. If the regulations are followed then the carnival will take place again next year

Key Steps

  1. Read the question (do this every question!)
  2. Read the passage
  3. In your own words, make a conclusion for the passage. What is the author’s main idea?
  4. Find a sentence in the text that matches the conclusion you made, and underline it.
  • Keep an eye out for giveaway words and phrases
  1. Find an answer that matches the underlined sentence.

Before analysing the answers, lets first make our own conclusion. Since the text is saying there is a need to meet safety requirements or there will be consequences, a fair conclusion could be that “the committee of the carnival needs to ensure it meets the safety requirements or else there will be great consequences”. If we now take a look at the text, we can see that this is very similar to the final sentence “Either the committee must meet the safety requirements or the future of the carnival may be under threat”, so we can underline this and then analyse our answer choices.

Also, note that we are looking for what BEST represents the conclusion.

A. This is not a fitting conclusion, it is additional evidence. It does not say this anywhere in the text and cannot be inferred either. For all we know, the regulations are met already or could easily be followed, there are no specifics. We only know the consequences should they not be met.

B. Comparing this to our conclusion, it is almost identical. The conclusion does not say that it will definitely shut down if it doesn’t meet the safety criteria, it only says that there is a chance that the future could be in jeopardy. This answer reflects that as well because it says that the carnival “may” not survive, but it is not certain.

C. This is a tricky option, but the key is to see that it says “failure to improve”. This is important to recognize because it does not explicitly say in the text that the carnival does not meet the new standard, for all we know it already does. The text goes over the consequences without actually telling us what the carnival needs to achieve this new safety level, therefore the carnival could have already met the standard.

D. This answer seems like it could also be correct, but let’s figure out what the difference is between this answer and B. B is giving us a problem (not meeting safety requirements) and also a possible outcome (not being able to survive). D is more of a fact, in the text, it says that a fine is a probable consequence of not meeting the safety committee standard, but it is not a conclusion because it is evidence. Evidence is what the author uses to make conclusions, and this answer choice is something the author used to make this conclusion. Because the author knows that the fine could mean financial disaster for the carnival, he concludes that it could pose a threat to the future of the carnival.

E. This option is a good example of an assumption. It is something that we would assume to be true, but it is not explicitly stated in the text. In addition, meeting this safety committee’s standards is only one factor that it takes to run a carnival, so we cannot base the future of the carnival on one parameter. For example, maybe they meet the safety requirement, but they spent so much money in doing so that it is not profitable for them to continue. As you can see, there are many scenarios in which this answer can be falsified.

Therefore B is our Answer.

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