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Question

Difficulty: EasyStatement and Assumptions

Notice at a railway station: "Passengers are requested not to cross the railway tracks directly. Please use the foot overbridge to change platforms."

Which of the following assumptions are implicit in the given statement? (Select all that apply)

  1. Passengers generally read and pay attention to public notices.Answer
  2. A foot overbridge is available at the railway station for passengers to use.Answer
  3. C
    Crossing railway tracks is a punishable offense that results in a heavy fine.
  4. D
    After reading the notice, no passenger will ever cross the railway tracks again.

Answer

The implicit assumptions are that passengers read public notices and that a foot overbridge is available.
The correct choices represent the necessary unstated premises of the statement. For a public notice to have any purpose, the author must assume that people will read and consider it. Furthermore, explicitly telling people to use a foot overbridge requires the logical prerequisite that the overbridge actually exists and is accessible.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the core message of the given statement.
The statement is a public notice instructing passengers to use a foot overbridge instead of crossing the tracks directly.
Understanding the context (a public advisory) helps identify standard underlying premises.
2
Evaluate the potential assumption regarding public behavior.
The assumption that passengers read and pay attention to notices is valid.
No authority would put up a public notice if they fundamentally assumed people would completely ignore it.
3
Evaluate the potential assumption regarding the facility.
The assumption that a foot overbridge is available is valid.
An instruction directing people to use a specific alternative logically requires that alternative to exist.
4
Filter out external facts and logical conclusions.
Statements about legal punishments (external fact) or absolute future compliance (conclusion) are rejected.
Assumptions must be strictly unstated premises necessary for the statement to make sense, without bringing in outside knowledge or predicting guaranteed outcomes.

Key Concept

Identifying Implicit Premises in Public Notices
Estimated Time:45s
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Topics

Statement and Assumptions

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