Politician: Implementing a tax on soda may not reduce soda consumption. In addition to irritating the vast majority of constituents who drink soda at least occasionally, it may inspire people who believe the tax is an overreach to defy the government’s public health initiative by buying more soda than ever. And there is no reason to expect that people who already waste money on empty calories will be deterred from wasting slightly more. The two sections in boldface play which of the following roles in the politician’s argument?

Though looking less distinctive than many of their highly sought-after purebred counterparts, mixed-breed dogs, born from a pair of different dog breeds—they usually display various physical characteristics from each parent—they are often healthier than purebreds and thus increasingly popular.

The Securities Exchange Commission has issued a press release indicating that the global recession, an event most economists think to be spurred by banks in offering bad loans, will have concluded by year’s end, with most economic sectors witnessing substantial growth.

Alan Moore, in his graphic novel narratives, deliberately infusing them with his intellectual interests, used his incisive mind to revolutionize what were once considered “mere comic books.”

Even though a few of the manuscripts found recently in southern Germany would seem to corroborate popular accounts of early-medieval migrations, the abundance of ambiguous sources seem more likely at the moment that they will prolong controversy over the patterns of migration rather than resolve them.

He was less successful after the publication of his magnum opus compared to his more famous contemporaries, writer Gene Wolfe nevertheless cultivated a devoted following of enthusiasts, and his work remains among the most passionately discussed of any science fiction author of his generation.

Similar to other modernist architects, the building designs of Richard Neutra derived from the pursuit of functionality drawing out the period’s revolutionary materials cast iron, plate glass, and reinforced concrete and almost incidentally transformed from experimentation into a style of its own.

The accomplishments of the intrepid climber Junko Tabei range from becoming the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest and heading the Himalayan Adventure Trust of Japan, an organization that works to preserve mountain ecology.

Unlike Foucault, Gramsci rejected the idea that power relations within a society were diffuse.

The administration of the university has enacted a policy that organizations cannot fail to provide food at an event if its attendees are given to understanding via advertising that there will be food.

The 2008 mortgage crisis is thought to have been caused in large part by lender behavior changes, which, like the continuously eroding lending standards that saddled numerous borrowers with impossible payments and led to unsustainably high-risk loans, and the mortgage options that allowed homeowners to pay interest alone for a time, after which many unsuspecting borrowers found themselves unable to pay the increased bills that included payments on the principal.

Though hobbled in part by prohibitive costs and by the necessity of specialized equipment, the world additive manufacturing industry, which has applications in a multitude of fields ranging from technology and electronics to healthcare, seems to have positioned itself well for widespread adoption in the coming years.

The movie’s fictional astronaut, stranded on Saturn’s moon Titan, would have had to endure a gravity that is approximately 14 percent that of Earth’s, experience a temperature that averaged about -290°F, breathing a dense and smoggy atmosphere, and perhaps even having to navigate a global methane ocean.

Protein, like other nutrients, performs several functions for an organism, such as providing energy, repairing and to maintain tissues throughout the body, and assisting in the transport of numerous molecules.

Which of the following best describes the relationship of the statement about gravitational waves () to the paragraph as a whole?

As a form of public transportation, trains are faster than buses and more accessible than subways. Furthermore, in most situations, constructing a train line is much less expensive than establishing a subway line. In most situations, as a result, establishing a railroad is the best way to connect communities, except for communities that derive most of their income from winter sports tourism.

Which of the following, if true, would best explain the exception given above?

City budget advisor: If Thomaston wants to decrease its unemployment rate, it should lower the minimum wage, so companies can hire more employees. Records from neighboring cities show that whenever the minimum wage is lowered, within three years the city’s unemployment rate decreases by 1 to 2 percent.

Which of the following would it be most helpful to know in order to assess the city budget advisor’s suggestion?

Many companies in the software industry are known for maintaining stressful, highly competitive work environments, often driving overworked employees to quit or to burn out. MuaDiB Softworks, however, is widely known for easing employees’ workplace stress through its pleasant office environment. MuaDiB attributes this reputation to its preference for traditional, enclosed offices over the open office layouts in vogue among other software companies.

Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports MuaDiB’s explanation of its reputation for easing employees’ workplace stress?

Which of the following most logically completes the passage?

The EPA released a report on Wednesday indicating that increasing incidence of algal blooms in a lake close to Eleusis is linked to fertilizer washed into the water from nearby farms after periods of heavy rain. To prevent reoccurrence of the blooms, the agency implemented regulations that will go into effect in two years mandating the use of another fertilizer shown not to cause algal blooms if introduced into water sources.

Though area farmers anticipate making the switch within one year, the agency does not expect that the incidence of algal blooms will decline before its regulations take effect, because _______.

In municipalities where home insurance delivers compensation for property destruction resulting from damage caused by natural events such as tornadoes or hurricanes (known as “acts of god”), reports of incurring such losses are a little more than three times as common as they are in municipalities where “acts of god” are not compensated. At the moment, there is no definitive way to measure whether a given event is an “act of god.” Regardless, it would be unreasonable to say, like many commentators, that in municipalities where increased numbers of “acts of god” are being reported, more than half of the reported instances are falsified. Obviously, in municipalities where home insurance does not offer compensation for property loss as a result of “acts of god,” homeowners have little reason to report “acts of god” from which they have suffered and are not helped to recover in any official capacity.

In the argument given, the two boldfaced portions play which of the following roles?