Statement: Due to rising operational costs, the government has permitted…
2026
Statement: Due to rising operational costs, the government has permitted unaided colleges to increase their fees.
Assumptions:
i. Unaided colleges are in financial difficulties.
ii. Aided colleges do not need to increase fees.
- A.
Only assumption I is implicit
- B.
Only assumption II is implicit
- C.
Either I or II is implicit
- D.
Neither I nor II is implicit
Attempted by 15 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: A
Concept: An implicit assumption is an unstated premise that the statement's stated reasoning or action depends on. The standard test is the negation test: negate the assumption — if that negation makes the statement's reasoning fall apart, the assumption is implicit; if the statement's logic stays intact even when the assumption is false, it is not implicit.
Application: The statement justifies permitting unaided colleges to raise fees by citing rising operational costs. Negate assumption I — suppose unaided colleges are NOT in financial difficulty. Then rising costs alone would give the government no real reason to permit a fee increase, so the statement's justification collapses; the statement therefore depends on assumption I, making it implicit. Now negate assumption II — suppose aided colleges DO need to raise fees. This changes nothing about the statement, which never mentions aided colleges at all; the statement's reasoning about unaided colleges holds regardless, so assumption II is not required and is not implicit.
Cross-check: The statement's entire scope is unaided colleges; it supplies no information — direct or indirect — about aided colleges' fee situation. An assumption can only be implicit in a statement if the statement's own reasoning needs it, and nothing here needs any premise about aided colleges.
Why the other combinations don't fit:
"Only assumption II is implicit" fails the negation test: the statement's silence on aided colleges means no premise about them is needed either way.
"Either I or II is implicit" treats the two assumptions as a single either/or pair rather than testing each one independently against the statement.
"Neither I nor II is implicit" would require that negating assumption I leaves the stated justification intact, which it does not; the cost-based justification does rely on an unstated premise.
Only assumption I passes the negation test, so "Only assumption I is implicit" is the correct choice.