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GRE Verbal Reasoning QUESTION #7210
Question 1

Read the following passage and answer the question.

Large-scale housing construction is currently underway in Pataska Forest, the habitat of a sizeable deer population. Since deer tend to feed along forest edges, these animals will be drawn to the areas bordering the new roads being built through the forest to serve the residential developments. Consequently, once residents move in, the number of forest deer struck by vehicles annually will be considerably higher than it was before construction began.

Which of the following is an underlying assumption that the argument depends upon?

  • The number of deer struck by commercial vehicles will not rise substantially once the housing is occupied.
  • Deer will be equally attracted to forest edges near new houses as they are to edges alongside roads.
  • Historically, very few deer have been struck by cars on the existing roads through Pataska Forest.
  • The development will leave sufficient forest to support a significant deer population.✔️
Correct Answer Explanation

This is a critical reasoning assumption question. The argument concludes that more deer will be hit by cars once the housing is occupied. We must find what the argument must silently assume for its conclusion to hold.

The argument’s logic chain:

  1. Deer feed at forest edges.
  2. New roads create new forest edges.
  3. Therefore, deer will gather near roads → more deer-vehicle collisions.

For this conclusion to be possible, there must still be deer in the forest. If the development destroyed so much forest that the deer population collapsed or disappeared, there would be no deer left to collide with cars. The argument must assume that enough forest survives to sustain a substantial deer population — i.e., Option D.

  • A — About commercial vehicles; the argument concerns cars from residents, not commercial traffic. Distractor.
  • B — Compares road edges to house edges; the argument only requires deer near roads, not near houses.
  • C — Past collision numbers are irrelevant; the argument is about a future increase, not about whether the prior baseline was low or high.

Correct Answer: D. Without a surviving deer population, the conclusion about increased collisions becomes impossible.