In each question below is given a statement followed by three assumptions…

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In each question below is given a statement followed by three assumptions numbered I, II and III. You have to consider the statement and the following assumptions, decide which of the assumptions is implicit in the statement and choose your answer accordingly.

Statement: 'Several labour and industrial courts in this State have no proper premises. Vacancies of judges and stenos are kept pending.' - A statement of a retired judge of State X.

Assumptions:

i. Adequate number of staff and judges helps in the smooth functioning of the industrial and labour courts.

ii. The State is not bothered about the condition of the labour and industrial courts.

iii. Physical facilities of an office help in increasing efficiency of its employees.

  1. A.

    Only I and III are implicit

  2. B.

    Only II is implicit

  3. C.

    Only II and III are implicit

  4. D.

    All I, II and III are implicit

Attempted by 2 students.

Show answer & explanation

Correct answer: D

In Statement-and-Assumption questions, an assumption is something the speaker takes for granted without stating it - a presupposition the statement needs to make sense. A valid assumption follows directly from the statement's own wording and tone; it should not add new information the statement doesn't lean on, nor be an unsupported guess beyond what a reasonable person would take for granted.

Here, a retired judge is voicing a pointed complaint - not a neutral report - about two persisting problems: courts without proper premises, and long-pending vacancies for judges and stenos. Making this complaint only makes sense if certain things are being taken for granted:

  1. Mentioning the pending judge and steno vacancies presupposes that having adequate staff is what keeps these courts running smoothly - Assumption I is implicit; otherwise the vacancies would be irrelevant to the complaint.

  2. Raising this as an unresolved, ongoing grievance presupposes that the State has not been sufficiently concerned about the courts' condition - Assumption II is implicit; if the State were already addressing it, there would be nothing to complain about.

  3. Complaining specifically about the lack of proper premises presupposes that physical facilities matter to how efficiently an office functions - Assumption III is implicit.

Applying the negation test confirms this: negate any one of the three (say, adequate staffing has no bearing on smooth functioning) and the complaint about pending vacancies stops making sense. The same failure occurs on negating II or III. Since the statement collapses without any one of them, all three are necessary presuppositions.

So none of I, II or III can be dropped - the statement is implicit in all three together.

Contrasting the incomplete combinations:

  • Only I and III implicit - leaves out II, overlooking that the very act of complaining assumes the State hasn't been concerned about the situation.

  • Only II implicit - leaves out I and III, overlooking that flagging staffing vacancies and the lack of premises both assume these factors matter to smooth, efficient functioning.

  • Only II and III implicit - leaves out I, overlooking that mentioning the pending vacancies assumes adequate staffing is necessary for smooth functioning.

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