Question: In recent years, a village outside Osaka, Japan has taken to hosting a ninja festival, a celebration of Japan’s heritage that reflects on its feudal past while exalting its pop culture driven present. But clearly only children take this festival seriously, for they are the only attendees who bother to dress up as ninjas.
Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?
(A) Any attendee who dresses up as a ninja takes the festival seriously.
(B) No attendee who takes the festival seriously would fail to dress up as a ninja.
(C) Anyone who is not dressed up as a ninja is not attending the festival
(D) The festival organizers have instituted a ninja-themed dress code.
(E) If an attendee is not dressed as a ninja, then that attendee will not be taken seriously by other attendees.
“In recent years, a village outside Osaka, Japan has taken to hosting”- is a GMAT question about critical thinking. A candidate may choose to either find evidence that would undermine the argument or present an argument that is illogical in order to respond to the question. The GMAT critical reasoning gauges a candidate's aptitude for logic and analysis. Candidates must identify the argument's advantages and disadvantages as well as its logical flaws for this topic. Out of the 36 GMAT verbal questions, 10–13 critical reasoning questions are found.
Answer: (B)
Explanation: A village outside of Osaka, Japan, has started hosting a ninja festival recently as a way to honour its cultural heritage while reflecting on its feudal past and exalting its pop culture-driven present. The fact that only kids bother to dress up for this festival, however, shows that only kids take it seriously.
The answer that is an assumption on which the argument is predicated is the correct one. Let's examine each choice independently to determine which is best.
Option - A : Incorrect
This option implies that anyone who shows up to the festival dressed as a ninja takes it seriously. This sounds really appealing at first. This demonstrates that the kids who dress up are true fans, after all. This option, however, does not demonstrate that children are the "only" true fans. This supports the argument because it demonstrates that the children aren't merely wearing their parents' clothes. However, it falls short of proving that dressing up is the "only" indication of a true fan. What if a fan could be identified in other ways? With the qualifier "depends," this option is not an assumption. As a result, this option is eliminated.
Option - B : Correct
According to this option, no visitor who takes the festival seriously would fail to show up with a ninja costume. Take note of how this option conceals the truth by using a double negative. It is also possible to translate this statement that says all visitors who take the festival seriously would wear ninja costumes. This satisfies the requirements we have. This demonstrates that dressing up as a ninja is the "only" way to show that a fan is serious, making this option the correct one.
Option - C : Incorrect
According to this option, anyone who is not attending the festival is not wearing a ninja costume. This conceals what is actually happening by using a double negative. However, in this instance, this option is extreme. The argument doesn't "depend" on the festival's exclusive attendance of fans dressed as ninjas. Additionally, this ignores the logical gap. It makes no mention of the possibility that dressing up is the "only" way to show that a fan is "serious." As a result, this option is eliminated.
Option - D : Incorrect
This option states that a ninja-themed dress code has been implemented by the festival's organisers. Similarly, this also doesn't close the logical gap. Whether there is a dress code or not might make for interesting background information, but the argument does not require this information. As a result, this option is eliminated.
Option - E : Incorrect
According to this option, attendees won't be taken seriously by other attendees if they aren't dressed as ninjas. This catches novice test takers with a clever wordplay shift. The initial argument tries to make the connection between dressing up as a ninja and being a "serious" attendee. Being a "serious" participant, however, is not the same as being "taken seriously" by other participants. Although the similar language is a trap for distraction, it ultimately doesn't draw attention to the logical gap. As a result, this option is eliminated.
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