Critical thinking and sentence correction

In Los Angeles, a political candidate who buys saturation radio advertising will get maximum name recognition.

The statement above logically conveys which of the following?

• A. Radio advertising is the most important factor in political campaigns in Los Angeles.

• B. Maximum name recognition in Los Angeles will help a candidate to win a higher percentage of votes cast in the city.

• C. Saturation radio advertising reaches every demographically distinct sector of the voting population of Los Angeles

• D. For maximum name recognition a candidate need not spend on media channels other than radio advertising.

The rate of violent crime in this state is up 30 percent from last year. The fault lies entirely in our court system; recently our judges' sentences have been so lenient that criminals can now do almost anything without fear of a long prison term.
The argument above would be weakened if it were true that:

• A. 85 percent of the other states in the nation have lower crime rates than does this state.
• B. White collar crime in this state has also increased by over 25 percent in the last year.
• C. 35 percent of the police in this state have been laid off in the last year due to budget cuts.
• D. Polls show that 65 percent of the population in this state opposes capital punishment.

The increase in the number of newspaper articles exposed as fabrications serves to bolster the contention that publishers are more interested in boosting circulation than in printing the truth. Even minor publications have staffs to check such obvious fraud.

The argument above assumes that:

• A. Newspaper stories exposed as fabrications are a recent phenomenon.

• B. Everything a newspaper prints must be factually verifiable.

• C. The publishers of newspapers are the people who decide what to print in their newspapers

• C. Fact checking is more comprehensive for minor publications than for major ones

All German philosophers, except for Marx, are idealists.

From which of the following can the statement above be most properly inferred?

• A. Marx is not an idealist German philosopher.
• B. If a German is an idealist, then he or she is a philosopher, as long as he or she is not Marx.
• C. Aside from the philosopher Marx, if someone is a German philosopher, then he or she is an idealist.
• D. Except for Marx, if someone is an idealist philosopher, then he or she is German

Although a surge in retail sales have raised hopes that there is a recovery finally under way, many economists say that without a large amount of spending the recovery might not last.

• have raised hopes that there is a recovery finally
• raised hopes for their being a recovery finally
• had raised hopes for a recovery finally being
• has raised hopes that a recovery is finally

Diabetes, together with its serious complications, ranks as the nation’s third leading cause of death, surpassed only by heart disease and cancer

• ranks as the nation’s third leading cause of death, surpassed only

• rank as the nation’s third leading cause of death, only surpassed

• has the rank of the nation’s third leading cause of death, only surpassed

• are the nation’s third leading causes of death, surpassed only

A surge in new home sales and a drop in weekly unemployment claims suggest that the economy might not be as weak as some analysts previously thought.

• claims suggests that the economy might not be so weak as some analysts have previously thought
• claims suggest that the economy might not be as weak as some analysts previously thought
• claims, suggesting the economy might not be as weak as previously thought to be by some analysts
• claims, suggesting about the economy that it might not be so weak as previously thought by some analysts

Paleontologists believe that fragments of a primate jawbone unearthed in Burma and estimated at 40 to 44 million years old provide evidence of a crucial step along the evolutionary path that led to human beings

• at 40 to 44 million years old provide evidence of
• as being 40 to 44 million years old provides evidence of
• that it is 40 to 44 million years old provides evidence of what was
• to be 40 or 44 million years old provide evidence of

A report by the American Academy for the Advancement of Science has concluded that much of the currently uncontrolled dioxins to which North Americans are exposed comes from the incineration of wastes

• that much of the currently uncontrolled dioxins to which North Americans are exposed comes
• much of the currently uncontrolled dioxins that North Americans are exposed to come
• much of the dioxins that are currently uncontrolled and that North Americans are exposed to comes
• many of the currently uncontrolled dioxins to which North Americans are exposed come

Cajuns speak a dialect brought to southern Louisiana by the 4,000 Acadians who migrated there in 1755; their language is basically seventeenth-century French to which has been added English, Spanish, and Italian words.

• to which has been added English, Spanish, and Italian words
• added to which is English, Spanish, and Italian words
• to which English, Spanish, and Italian words have been added
• with English, Spanish, and Italian words having been added to it