Self-study
A commonly accepted myth is that left-handed people are more prone to cause accidents than are right-handed people. ███ ████ ███ ██ █████ ████ █ █████ ██ ██ █████████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ████ █████████ █████████ ███ ██████ ██ ████████████ ██████ ████ ███ ██████ ██ ███████████ ███████
Summarize Argument: Counter-Position
The argument concludes that left-handed people are not more prone to cause accidents than right-handed people. This is supported by the point that more household accidents are caused by right-handed people than by left-handed people.
Identify and Describe Flaw
The argument is flawed because it confuses percentages and amounts. The claim that right-handed people cause a greater number of accidents doesn’t disprove that left-handed individuals are more prone to accidents. If most people are right-handed, then left-handed people may still cause more accidents relative to their population size, making them more prone to accidents.
7.
The reasoning is flawed because ███ ████████
a
makes a distinction █████ █████ ██ ██ ████ ██████████ ███████ ███ ██████ █████████████
The only distinction the argument makes is between left-handed and right-handed people, where there is a real difference.
b
takes no account ██ ███ ████████ █████████ ██ ███████████ ██████ ██ ███ ██████████ ██ █ █████
The argument concludes that left-handed people aren’t more prone to accidents, but its support only addresses the number of accidents caused by left- and right-handed people. Without knowing the percentage of different-handed people, that evidence can’t support that conclusion.
c
uses the word ███████████ ██ ███ █████████ ██████
The argument uses “accidents” in a consistent sense. When the term “accidents” is used, it’s always referring to unintentional incidents that cause some kind of damage.
d
ignores the possibility ████ ████ █████████ █████████ ███ ██████ ██ ████ ████ ███ ██████
This possibility wouldn’t have any effect on the argument. We would still be accounting for all the left- and right-handed people involved in causing household accidents, even if they weren’t the sole cause.
e
gives wholly irrelevant ████████ ███ ██████ ██████████ ██ ████████ ████████ ██ ███████ ██ █ ██████
The argument does give relevant evidence about the frequency of accidents caused by right- and left-handed people. It’s just missing clarifying evidence about the size of the right- and left-handed populations.