Statement: A college notice says: "The last date for submitting scholarship forms on the college website has been extended to 20 August because the website was down for three days."
Assumptions:
I. The website being down could have kept some students from submitting the form on time.
II. The college website will be working again before 20 August.
Which assumptions are implicit?

Only I is implicitCorrect answerYour answerOnly II is implicitCorrect answerYour answerEither I or II is implicitCorrect answerYour answerBoth I and II are implicitCorrect answerYour answer

Show the answer and explanation

CorrectNot quiteAnswer D

Correct answer: D

Negation test for I: if the outage could not possibly have kept anyone from submitting on time, extending the date because of it would make no sense. The college need not know that anyone was actually affected, only that someone could have been. So I is implicit.
Negation test for II: if the website stayed down until after 20 August, the new date would be useless. So II is implicit too.
Both I and II are implicit.

Worth noting

An extension assumes both that the problem could have hurt someone and that the problem will be fixed within the new time.

Concept: Assumptions behind an extension of a deadline
Typical timeTypical: 70 s
Your timeYours: —

The rule this testsStatements and assumptions

Practise this chapter →

Ten questions from Statements, Conclusions and Assumptions, at your own pace.

Explanation