Self-study
Mall manager: By congregating in large groups near the stores in our mall, teenagers create an atmosphere in which many adult shoppers feel uncomfortable. ██ █ ███████ ███ ██████ ████ █████ ██ █████ ████ ████ ████████ ████ ████ ████ ██ ███ █████ ███ ██████ ████ ██ ████ █████████ ██ ██ ███████ █ ███████████ ████ ██ ███████ ██████ ██ █████████ ██████ ██ █████ ██████ ██ ██████████ █████████ ████ ████████████ ████ ███████
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Summarize Argument: Counter-Position
The mall manager claims that teenagers congregating in large groups near stores have caused adult shoppers to spend less time shopping than before. In order to prevent a significant loss in overall mall sales, the manager says, merchants should discourage teenagers from forming groups near stores. The merchant responds by pointing out that the teenagers congregating in these groups actually spend a significant percentage of the amount of money spent in those stores.
Describe Method of Reasoning
The merchant doesn't necessarily disagree with anything the manager has said — he just points out another relevant factor the manager hasn't considered. Even if adults are spending less time shopping at the mall because of the teenagers, the teenagers themselves are spending a significant amount of money. And we don't know how the amount of money that would be spent by adults compares to the amount spent by the teenagers now.
So stopping teenagers from congregating might not help in achieving the mall's goal of avoiding a loss in overall sales. If anything, driving the teenagers away might itself cause a significant loss in sales, which would be the opposite effect to what the manager intends. So the merchant provides relevant additional information that raises questions about the effect of the manager's suggestion.
13.
The merchant's response to the █████████ ████████ ██ ████ ██████████ █████████ ██
a
disputing the truth ██ ██████ ███ ███████ ██████ ██ ███████ ███ ███ ██████████████
The merchant does not dispute the truth of anything the manager has said. He doesn't claim any of the manager's premises are false. He only provides an additional premise for consideration.
b
giving information that ████████ ██ ███ ████████ ███████ ███ █████████ ██████████████ ███ ███ ██████ ████
This is correct. The information that teenagers congregating near stores contribute significantly to overall sales in those stores is very relevant to understanding whether the manager's recommendation will help the mall achieve its goal of avoiding a major loss in sales or not.
c
suggesting that the ██████ ████ ██ ██ ███████████ ███
The merchant does not make any value judgments. He doesn't claim that the mall’s goal is undesirable, he just presents additional information that is relevant to this goal.
d
contending that the █████████ ██████████████ ██ █████ ███ ███ ███████ █████ ████ █████ █████ ██ ███ ███████
The merchant does not claim that the manager’s recommendation is sound. In fact, the additional information supplied by the merchant implies that the manager’s recommendation might not be a good way to achieve the mall's goal.
e
using the information █████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ████ ██ ██████████ ██████████████ ████ █████ ████ ███████ ███ ██████ ████
The merchant does not make a recommendation of his own. He only provides additional information relevant to evaluating the manager’s recommendation.