PrepTest 141, Section 2, 7. Party X has recently…

How will the right answer fit in terms of support and conclusion?

Only the right answer will use the same kind of support and the same kind of conclusion as the passage.

Highlight the main conclusion in the passage, if there is one:

Such accusations are, however, ill founded.

[BACKGROUND]. [CONCLUSION]. [SUPPORT].

Basically the argument is that accusations are wrong because the accusers also did the thing they’re accusing someone else of.

Map the wording of the answers to the wording of the passage:

(A) Gets the right conclusion, but doesn’t have support attacking the accusers.

(B) “hypocritical” isn’t the same as “ill founded”. In the passage, the subject of the conclusion is the accusations, and the accusers are the subject of the support. This answer mixes those pieces up.

(C) Ends up with the right conclusion, and bases that on support that the accuser “recently engaged in actions that were similar”. Boom.

(D) This has the wording of our conclusion in it, but it isn’t used as the conclusion in this answer. The support here is for the conclusion that the accusations are “an attempt to stir up controversy”. Very tricky, but doesn’t match the passage.

(E) Gets the conclusion right, but “because it attacks…” isn’t pushing back by attacking the accuser.

(C) is the correct answer.