John is not happy with Tim's performance at the baseball game.
Based on the statement above, assuming it were true, what can you most logically infer to be true?
A) John is angry with Tim's performance at the baseball game.
B) John is mildly upset over the baseball game.
C) John watched the baseball game.
D) John is neither happy nor upset with Tim's performance at the baseball game.
E) John did not agree with Tim's performance at the baseball game.
Update:The answer is E. The question is asking purely based on the statement, what can be the most logically inferred. There can be more than one answer that "could" be true with giving circumstances, but we are looking for the only one we KNOW. It is also common to associate "not happy" with upset or mad. This is wrong, not happy simply means not happy. Based on that, you can eliminate A and B. C is incorrect because he could have heard about the game, and not watched it. D is wrong because we don't know if he is upset or not. E is correct because just because John did not agree, does not mean he is upset, or happy; All we know is based off John not being happy with Tim's performance, he must not have agreed with Tim's performance (being positive or negative). If Tim was an umpire, and John agreed with a specific call, but was unhappy over the performance, it wouldn't fit into this question. John was not happy with the performance, so therefore John must not have agreed with it.
Answers & Comments
Verified answer
E
Not C - John might be listening to the game on the radio, or hearing about it from someone who is watching it, or anticipating the prospect of a future performance that has not yet occurred.
Not E - It is not logical to "agree with" a performance. (More loosely speaking, Tim might have been umpire who made a very unpopular call that John agreed with even though it made John unhappy, so E is still not a reasonable inference.)
Not D - Although we know for sure that John is not happy, we have no way of knowing whether he is or is not also upset, if we're being strictly logical.
Neither A nor B can be logically inferred. However ....
Many people use the phrase "not happy with" as an understatement (litotes), and it is quite common to indicate understatement or sarcasm by pauses and special emphasis:
> John is ... "not happy" :-) ... with Tim's performance.
> (Decidedly not happy. *Emphatically* not happy, in fact.)
If the statement were uttered like this, A is very likely the intended meaning.
If I heard the statement and there was no undue emphasis or unusual tone of voice, I would interpret it as B. But it would be an interpretation, not a logical inference.
My guess is C.
A. 'not happy' does not necessarily mean he was angry
B. John's not upset with the baseball game but with Tim's performance
D. exactly the opposite is true
E. 'not happy' is not synonymous to 'did not agree'
Therefore the answer must be C!
If John is not happy with tim's performance then he must have seen it. C
I think the answer is c.
d
c
D
E
B