Self-study
Violent crime in this town is becoming a serious problem. ████████ ██ ████ █████ █████ ███ ███████████ ████████ ████ █████████ ██ ██ ███████ ████ █████ █████████ ███████ ███████ ███████ ████ ███ ███████ ███████ ██ ████ ████ ██ ████ ██████ ████ ████ ██ ██████ █ ██████ ██ █ ███████ ██████
Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The author concludes that the average citizen of this town is more likely than in the past to become a victim of violent crime. (This is a restatement of the first sentence, which you could also view as the conlcusion). This conclusion is based on the fact that compared to last year, local law enforcement agencies have responded to more calls involving violent crimes.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that the increased calls involving violent crimes is due to an actual increase in violent crime. (It could be due to something else, such as a greater tendency among the population to call the police when they see violent crime.) The author also assumes that any increase in the number of violent crimes actually increased the rate of crime. It’s possible the population has just grown disproportionately, such that the rate of crime has actually gone down.
6.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ █████████ ███████ ███ █████████
a
The town's overall █████ ████ ███████ ██ ████ █████ ████████ ████ ████ ████████ ██ ███ ████ ██████ ████ █████
The argument is about violent crimes, not just crimes generally, so there’s no clear impact. If anything, this might strengthen the argument by showing that the overall crime rate has increased, which might include violent crime, too.
b
In general, persons █████ ███ ███ ██ ██ ███ ████ ██████ ██ ██ ███████ ██ ███████ ██████ ████ ███████ ████ ███ ███ ██ ███
But the average person can still be more likely to be a victim this year, even if there are different likelihoods between different age groups.
c
As a result ██ ███ ██████ █████████ ████████ █████████ ████ ██████ ████ ████ ███ ███████ ██ ██████ ███████ ██████ ██ ███ ██████ ████████████
This provides an alternate explanation for the increased calls involving violent crimes. These calls might not reflect an increase in actual crimes, but just an increase in the willingness to call about violent crimes.
Alternate explanation
Alternate explanation
Weaken: Introduce or support an alternate explanation for a phenomenon.
Strengthen: Helps to eliminate an alternate explanation for a phenomenon.
d
In response to ███████ █████ ███████ ██████ ███ ████ ███ ████████ ██████ █ █████████ ██████ █████████ ██████████ ██████████ ███ ██████████
The town’s response doesn’t reveal anything about the crime rate. Maybe the town thinks there’s been an increase in violent crime? That doesn’t suggest whether there has or hasn’t been an increase in violent crime.
e
Community officials have █████ ████ █ ██████████ █████ ██████ ██ ██████ █████████ ██████ ███ ████████ ██ ███████ ██████ ██ ███ █████
A small number of people committing most of the crimes can still lead to a higher violent crime rate compared to last year.