Self-study
Grasses and woody plants are planted on dirt embankments to keep the embankments from eroding. ███ ███████████ ███ █████ ██ ████ ███ ███████ ████ ███████ ███ █████ ██ █ ███████ █████████ ████ ███ █████ █████ ██ █████████ ███████ ███ █████ ███████ ███████ █████ ██████ █████ █████ ██ ████ ███ ███████████ ████ ████████ ██ ████ ████ ████ ███████ ███████ ████ ██████ ████ ███ ████ ███ ██████ ███ █████ ███████ ██████ ██████████ ████████ ██ █████████ ██ █████████ ███ ███████ ████ ███████ ███████ ██ ███ ████████████
Summarize Argument
The argument concludes that introducing predators to eradicate rodents on dirt embankments will prevent the embankments from eroding. Why? Because the rodents, which are attracted by grass clippings that cause plant roots to rot, burrow into the ground and further damage the roots. These roots are what prevent erosion.
Identify and Describe Flaw
The argument concludes that eliminating rodents would stop erosion, because rodents are one factor in causing the erosion. However, this overlooks the other cause of erosion: the clippings causing plant roots to rot.
8.
Which one of the following ██ ██ █████ ██ █████████ ██ ███ █████████
a
Two events that ██████ ████████ ███ ███████ ██ ██ ███ ██████ ███ ██████
The argument doesn’t mistake a correlation for a causal relationship: the cause-and-effect relationships discussed are genuine.
b
A highly general ████████ ██ █████ ████ ██ ██ ████████████████ ███ ██ ██████
The argument doesn’t make a general proposal based on unrepresentative facts. The facts offered are about a specific set of embankments, and the proposal is about those same embankments.
c
The conclusion is ██ ████ ████ █ ███████████ ██ ███ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ████████ ████████ ██ ███████ ███
The conclusion, that bringing in predators to eliminate rodents would prevent erosion, is not a restatement of any of the supporting evidence.
d
One possible solution ██ █ ███████ ██ ███████ ██ ██ ███ ████ ████████ ████████ ██ ████ ████████
The argument never claims that bringing in predators to eliminate rodents is the only possible solution to erosion.
e
An action that █████ █████████ ███ █████ ██ █ ███████ ██ ███████ ██ ██ ██ █████ █████ ███ ██████ ████████
The argument concludes that eliminating rodents would solve the entire problem of erosion, but rodents are only one cause. This conclusion doesn’t address the other cause of root rot.