Question

Statement: 'Please switch off your mobile phones during the movie.' - A notice displayed in a cinema hall. Assumptions: I. Ringing mobile phones may disturb other viewers. II. People carry mobile phones into the cinema hall.

• A. Only assumption I is implicit
• B. Only assumption II is implicit
• C. Both assumptions I and II are implicit
• D. Neither assumption is implicit

Hint:

Try denying each assumption in turn and check whether the notice would still make any sense if that denial were true - if it wouldn't, the assumption is implicit.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is C

Step 1: Apply the negation test: an assumption is implicit only if denying it would make the given statement pointless or contradictory.
Step 2: Negate assumption I: suppose "ringing mobile phones do NOT disturb other viewers." If that were true, there would be no reason at all to ask people to switch off their phones during the movie, so the notice would serve no purpose.
Step 3: Since the notice clearly exists for a reason, this negation is unreasonable, which confirms assumption I is implicit in the statement.
Step 4: Negate assumption II: suppose "people do NOT carry mobile phones into the cinema hall." If that were true, the instruction to switch off phones would be entirely meaningless, since nobody would have a phone to switch off.
Step 5: Since the notice would not have been written under that condition, this negation is also unreasonable, confirming assumption II is implicit too.
Step 6: Both negation tests fail, meaning both assumptions must be taken as implicit.
Correct option: Both assumptions I and II are implicit