Self-study
Bernard: For which language, and thus which frequency distribution of letters and letter sequences, was the standard typewriter keyboard designed.
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Summarize Argument
Bernard concludes that the standard typewriter keyboard could not have been designed to slow the typer down. This is because the technological limitations that could lead to problems from fast typing are no longer around, but the keyboard design is still the same.
Notable Assumptions
Bernard assumes that the standard keyboard would be changed to allow for faster typing once the technological limitations around when the keyboard was originally designed are no longer present. (Maybe there are strong reasons that the keyboard wouldn’t be changed, even if we don’t need to slow people down anymore.)
10.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ █████ ██ ████ ██ ████ ██ ███████ █████████ █████████ ██ ███ ████████████
a
Typewriters and word-processing █████████ ███ █████████ ████ ██ ██████ ███ ████ ███████ ██ ███ ███ ████████ ████████ ███ ████ ██████████ ██████ ██ ██ █████████ ████ ████
This is a reason the keyboard design wouldn’t change, even when the technological limits are no longer present. People grew up with the slower-typing design and still want it today. This is why the fact people still use the design today doesn’t undermine Cora’s explanation.
Alternate explanation
Alternate explanation
Weaken: Introduce or support an alternate explanation for a phenomenon.
Strengthen: Helps to eliminate an alternate explanation for a phenomenon.
b
Typewriters have been ██████████ ██ ████ ███████ ██ ███████████████ ██████████ █████ ███ █████████ ███ ████████ ████████ ████ ████████████
Bernard believes the fact people still use the same design shows that the design couldn’t have been intended to slow people down. (B) simply affirms that the same design is used today, which we already knew. But it doesn’t suggest why the same design is used today, unlike (A).
Failed alternate explanation
Failed alternate explanation
Weaken Qs: Answers that try to introduce an alternate explanation, but fall short, or try to explain a different phenomenon.
Strengthen Qs: Answers that try to eliminate an alternate explanation, but fall short, or try to eliminate an explanation for a different phenomenon.
c
The standard keyboard ██████ ███████ █████████ ██ ███████ ████████████ ██████ ███████ ██████ ██ █████ █████████ ████ ██████ ██████████ ██████████
Pointing out that the design still allows fast typing doesn’t engage with Bernard’s reasoning. We want to show how the design could have been intended to slow people down, despite the fact we still use the design today.
Failed alternate explanation
Failed alternate explanation
Weaken Qs: Answers that try to introduce an alternate explanation, but fall short, or try to explain a different phenomenon.
Strengthen Qs: Answers that try to eliminate an alternate explanation, but fall short, or try to eliminate an explanation for a different phenomenon.
d
A person who ███ ███████ ███ ████████ ██████ ███ ███████ █████ ██ ███ █ ██████ ███ ██ █████ ██ ███ ██████ ███ ████ ████ ██████████ █████ ██ ███ █ ██████ ███ █████████ ███ ██████
This supports Bernard’s reasoning. After all, why aren’t people changing to a faster layout if we don’t need to slow people down anymore? Bernard’s suggestion is that the lack of change implies slowing people down couldn’t be the original purpose of the design.
e
It is now ████████ ██ █████████ ███████████ ███ ███████████████ █████████ ██ █████ █ ██████ ████████ ███ ███████████ ███ ██ ████ ████ █████████ ████████ ████████ ████ ██████████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ █████
This supports Bernard’s reasoning. If the keyboard can be changed to accommodate a different layout, then why hasn’t the keyboard changed if it was originally intended to slow people down? To Bernard, the lack of change implies the original purpose wasn’t to slow down typing.