Question

Difficulty: EasyDeconstructing Prompt Claims & Underlying Assumptions

Match each GRE Issue prompt claim with its primary unstated underlying assumption:

  • Governments should offer tax incentives to clean energy companies to effectively reduce national carbon emissions.Financial barriers are the primary obstacle preventing clean energy companies from expanding carbon-reducing operations.
  • Educational institutions must require all undergraduates to complete formal logic courses to improve public discourse.Classroom instruction in formal logic directly translates into improved reasoning and communication in everyday public debates.
  • Corporations should mandate full-time remote work policies to maximize overall workforce productivity.The productivity gains of remote work outweigh potential losses in productivity from reduced in-person collaboration.

Answer

Each claim relies on an implicit assumption connecting the proposed action to the intended goal: tax incentives assume financial obstacles dominate clean energy expansion; mandatory logic courses assume academic skills transfer to civic discourse; and mandatory remote work assumes home productivity outweighs lost collaboration.
Each prompt statement makes a policy recommendation based on an unstated assumption about cause and effect. Identifying these assumptions requires pin-pointing the unproven bridge between the action recommended and the outcome desired.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the proposed policy and stated goal in each claim.
Claim 1 proposes tax incentives for carbon reduction; Claim 2 proposes logic courses for better public discourse; Claim 3 proposes mandatory remote work for workforce productivity.
Deconstructing a prompt requires isolating the intervention from the intended outcome.
2
Determine what unstated premise must be true for the proposed policy to achieve its stated goal.
Claim 1 requires financial relief to be the main driver; Claim 2 requires skill transfer from classroom to public sphere; Claim 3 requires net positive output despite reduced face-to-face interaction.
Underlying assumptions are necessary bridge premises without which the argument's conclusion fails.

Key Concept

Identifying Unstated Assumptions in Policy Prompts
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