Consumer income reports produced by the government distinguish between households and families by means of the following definition: "A family...
GMAT Critical Reasoning : (CR) Questions
Consumer income reports produced by the government distinguish between households and families by means of the following definition: "A family is a household containing a householder and at least one person related to the householder." Except for the homeless and people in group living quarters, most people live in households.
According to the definition above, which of the following must be true?
Passage Visualization
| Passage Statement | Visualization and Linkage |
|---|---|
| "Consumer income reports produced by the government distinguish between households and families by means of the following definition: 'A family is a household containing a householder and at least one person related to the householder.'" | Establishes Definition: \(\mathrm{Family} \subseteq \mathrm{Household}\)
Key Insight: All families are households, but not all households are families |
| "Except for the homeless and people in group living quarters, most people live in households." | Establishes Population Distribution:
Pattern: Household living is the dominant but not universal arrangement
|
| Overall Implication | Hierarchical Classification System: The passage establishes a nested classification where families represent a subset of households, which themselves represent the majority (but not entirety) of living arrangements. This creates logical constraints on what must be true about the relationships between these categories.
|
Valid Inferences
Inference: Every family must also be classified as a household according to the government's income reporting system.
Supporting Logic: Since the definition explicitly states "A family is a household containing a householder and at least one person related to the householder," this establishes that being a household is a necessary prerequisite for being classified as a family. Therefore, no entity can be categorized as a family without simultaneously being categorized as a household.
Clarification Note: While all families are households, the passage does not support the reverse inference that all households are families, as households may contain only unrelated individuals or single persons.
'All householders are members of families.' This is incorrect because a householder could live alone or only with unrelated people. The definition requires 'at least one person related to the householder' for something to be a family. A householder by themselves or with unrelated roommates would create a household but not a family according to the definition.
'All families include a householder.' This is correct and must be true. The definition explicitly states that a family is 'a household containing a householder and at least one person related to the householder.' Since a householder is a required component in the definition of a family, every family must include a householder by definition.
'All of the people related to a householder form a family.' This is incorrect because it's missing a crucial element. The definition requires both a householder AND at least one related person to form a family. Just having people related to a householder, without the householder being present, doesn't create a family according to the definition.
'Some people residing in group living quarters are members of families.' This cannot be determined as necessarily true from the passage. The passage tells us that most people live in households (except homeless and those in group living quarters), but it doesn't provide information about whether people in group living quarters can also be part of families.
'Some homeless people reside in group living quarters.' This cannot be determined from the passage. The passage mentions homeless people and people in group living quarters as separate exceptions to household living, but doesn't establish any relationship between these two groups.