Self-study
Opponents of peat harvesting in this country argue that it would alter the ecological balance of our peat-rich wetlands and that, as a direct consequence of this, much of the country's water supply would be threatened with contamination. ███ ████ ██████ ██ █████ ███ ██ ████████ █████ ████ ███ ████ █████████ ███ ██████████ ███ █████ ██████ ██ ███ █████████████ ██ ███ ██████ ███████ ████ ███ ██████████ ██ █████
Summarize Argument
The author concludes that it's safe to harvest peat from the country's wetlands. Why? Because opponents are mistaken to claim that peat harvesting would contaminate the water supply. This is because in Ireland, where peat has been harvested for centuries, the water supply is uncontaminated.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that the country is similar to Ireland in ways that are relevant to peat harvesting. If this wasn’t true, then the author couldn’t draw conclusions about how harvesting peat would affect the water supply.
The author also assumes that peat is safe to harvest so long as it doesn’t contaminate the water supply—in other words, that there are no other risks to peat harvesting.
3.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ ███████████ ███ █████████
a
Over hundreds of ██████ ███ ██████████ ███████ ██ ███ █████ ███████ ██████ ███ ██████████████ █████████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ███████ █████ ███ ██████
The argument isn't concerned with ecological change in general, just with the effects of peat harvesting. This doesn't give us any useful information about peat or wetlands, so it's irrelevant.
b
The original ecology ██ ███ ███████████████ █████ ██ ███████ ███ █████████ █████████ ██ ████ ██ ███ ███████████ ████████ ██ ████ ████████
This affirms the author's assumption that Ireland is relevantly similar to the country in question. This makes it more likely that peat harvesting will be equally safe as in Ireland, strengthening the argument.
c
The activities of █████ ██████████ ██ ██████ █████ ███ ██████ ██ ████ ███████ ███████ ██ ███ █████ ██████ ██ ████ ████████
The argument isn't about water safety overall, just the effects of peat harvesting. In other words, if it isn't about peat, it isn't relevant.
d
The peat resources ██ ████ ███████ ███ ███ ██████ ████ █████ ██ ████ █████████ ████ ████████████ ███████ █████
We don’t know enough about other countries to compare. The only other relevant country here is Ireland, because the author draws a direct analogy. This doesn’t mention Ireland, so it's not helpful.
e
The peat-harvesting industry ██ ███████ ███ ████ ████ ██ ██████ ████ ██ ████ █████████ ████ ███ ████████████
We’re trying to strengthen the claim that peat harvesting won’t contaminate the water supply. The benefits of peat for fuelling a nation are irrelevant to the effects on the water supply.