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PT39.S4.Q21

I eliminated C, D, E.
So A & B are left.

A seems like the perfect answer -- how on Earth is it wrong?

After seeing that A is wrong and B is correct, I read B over and analyzed it -- and couldn't at all see why it is right.

The argument's conclusion: "Because all the complaints filed about a plumber's work were against Moore, this means that there is good evidence that Moore is a poor plumber who can't be counted on to do a good job." The flaw with this: Well, what about those customers who DIDN'T file a complaint? They may have loved his customer service and all the toilets he unclogged for them. 1) So why is Choice A wrong?

2) Isn't B totally irrelevant? "[fails to consider that] There may be few 'if any' other plumbers working in Moore's town" <-- this kind of language by itself seems to be a hint that it's a bad choice and one that's contradictory! Regardless, who cares if there are "few, if any" other plumbers in town?

Totally stumped and would be grateful for your help.

This was a tough one. Kaplan explains this way:

Why must Moore be a rotten plumber? Because
everyone in town who complained about plumbers,
complained about Moore. The question might have
occurred to you: How many plumbers are there in
town? If the answer were “one: Moore only,” or “just
two or three,” then it would be small wonder that one
person got all the complaints, because the pool is so
small; that man still could be a crackerjack plumber.
True, if the town had 1,000 plumbers then the charge
might have merit. But the author’s failure to consider
the possibility of only a small cadre of plumbers is a
huge hole in the logic, and that makes (B) correct.


(A), (E)—The issue is the fact that Moore gets all the
complaints, not that he may have some fans (A)or
that some dissatisfied customers may not complain
(E). Both issues are likely of interest to Moore
personally, but have no effect on the charge of
incompetence in question.

Look at it this way: If Moore is the only plumber in town, then no matter how good of a plumber he is all of the complaints in town will be against him. Given this it can't be that the fact alone that all of the complaints are against him indicates that he is a poor plumber.