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Craft and StructureHardApplying a caution to a report

Craft and Structure practice question

Text 1 When two things rise together over time, statistician Eve Marsh warns, the link may be nothing more than both following the same upward trend — population growth, say, or inflation. Text 2 A report notes that the town's number of cafés and its number of bicycle thefts have both doubled in a decade, and suggests that café culture attracts thieves.

Based on the texts, how would Marsh most likely respond to the report's suggestion?

  1. A. By pointing out that both figures could simply be rising with the town's population, without any link between cafés and thefts.Correct
  2. B. By agreeing that cafés attract bicycle thieves.
  3. C. By arguing that cafés should be closed.
  4. D. By denying that thefts have doubled.

Answer: A. By pointing out that both figures could simply be rising with the town's population, without any link between cafés and thefts.

Marsh's warning: shared trends, not a link.

Why the other answers are wrong

B. By agreeing that cafés attract bicycle thieves.
Her caution argues against that reading.
C. By arguing that cafés should be closed.
Not proposed.
D. By denying that thefts have doubled.
The figures are not disputed.

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