If Martin Introduces an Amendment to Evans’s Bill, then Johnson and Lloyd will Both Vote the Same Way

Question: If Martin introduces an amendment to Evans’s bill, then Johnson and Lloyd will both vote the same way. If Evans speaks against Lloyd’s position, Johnson will defend anyone voting with him. Martin will introduce an amendment to Evans’s bill only if Evans speaks against Johnson’s position.

If the above statements are true, each of the following can be true EXCEPT

1. if Evans speaks against Johnson’s position, Lloyd will not vote with Johnson.
2. if Martin introduces an amendment to Evans’s bill, then Evans has spoken against Johnson’s position.
3. if Evans speaks against Johnson’s position, Martin will not introduce an amendment to Evans’ bill.
4. if Martin introduces an amendment to Evans’s bill, then either Johnson will not vote with Lloyd or Evans did not speak against Johnson’s position.
5. if either Evans did not speak against Lloyd’s position or Martin did not introduce an amendment to Evans’s bill, then either Johnson did not defend Lloyd or Martin spoke against Johnson’s position.

If Martin Introduces an Amendment to Evans’s Bill, then Johnson and Lloyd will Both Vote the Same Way – is a GMAT Critical reasoning topic. This particular GMAT Critical Reasoning topic has been taken from the book ‘GMAT Critical Reasoning-By Manhattan Prep · 2014 Edition’. This weakens the argument type of the GMAT CR question. To answer the question, a candidate can either find a piece of evidence that would weaken the argument or have logical flaws in the argument. GMAT critical reasoning tests the logical and analytical skills of the candidates. This topic requires candidates to find the strengths and weaknesses of the argument, or find the logical flaw in the argument. The GMAT CR section contains 10 -13 GMAT critical reasoning questions out of 36 GMAT verbal questions.

Answer: D
Explanation:
This is a GMAT critical reasoning question where an assumption is an implied hypothesis. So we are looking for something that is implied in the argument. In case it is wrong or maybe disable the argument.

The statement states - If Martin introduces an amendment to Evans’s bill, then Johnson and Lloyd will both vote the same way. If Evans speaks against Lloyd’s position, Johnson will defend anyone voting with him. Martin will introduce an amendment to Evans’s bill only if Evans speaks against Johnson’s position.

The question is asking us – Which of the following pieces of information would be most useful in evaluating the validity of the critics' claim about genre books' potential domination of the market for fiction books?

Let us check each option one at a time. 

1. if Evans speaks against Johnson’s position, Lloyd will not vote with Johnson. – If Martin introduces an amendment to Evans’s bill, Evans MUST speaks against Johnson’s position. However, this is not always true. If Evans speaks against Johnson’s position, Martin will introduce an amendment to Evans’s bill. So, we are not sure whether Martin will introduce an amendment to Evans’s bill. Hence, we are not certain whether Lloyd will or will not vote with Johnson. So, it may or may not be true.
2. if Martin introduces an amendment to Evans’s bill, then Evans has spoken against Johnson’s position. – A is true, only if B is true. If it is A, then it must be B definitely. If Martin introduces an amendment to Evans’s bill(A) -> then definitely Evans has spoken against Johnson’s position. But if B, -> may or may not be A.
   This doesn't mean B is always true. Hence, we can discard this option. 
3. if Evans speaks against Johnson’s position, Martin will not introduce an amendment to Evans’ bill. – The argument says Martin will introduce an amendment to Evans’s bill only if Evans speaks against Johnson’s position. The two points are: Martin will introduce an amendment to Evans’s bill and Evans speaks against Johnson’s position. Hence, if Evans speaks against Johnson’s position, Martin may or may not introduce an amendment to Evans’ bill. Hence, this is incorrect. 
4. if Martin introduces an amendment to Evans’s bill, then either Johnson will not vote with Lloyd or Evans did not speak against Johnson’s position. – The statement says Martin will introduce an amendment to Evans’s bill only if Evans speaks against Johnson’s position. Therefore, it can not happen that Martin introduces an amendment to Evans’s bill but Evans did not speak against Johnson’s position. So, it is True.
5. if either Evans did not speak against Lloyd’s position or Martin did not introduce an amendment to Evans’s bill, then either Johnson did not defend Lloyd or Martin spoke against Johnson’s position. – The argument says Martin will introduce an amendment to Evans’s bill only if Evans speaks against Johnson’s position. From this statement, we are not certain if Martin did not introduce an amendment to Evans’s bill, or whether Martin spoke against Johnson’s position. So it may be true.

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