Self-study
Support In a poll of a representative sample of a province's residents, the provincial capital was the city most often selected as the best place to live in that province. █████ ███ ███████ ██ ████ ███ ███████ ██ ████ ██████████ ████ ███████ ███ ████ █████ ████ ████ █████████ ██ ████ ████████ █████████ ██████ ████ ██ █████ ██████ ██ ████ ██ █████ ███████
Summarize Argument
The author concludes that most residents in the province prefer large cities to small cities. As support, he notes that the capital is the largest city in the province and was most often selected as the best place to live in a poll of the province’s residents.
Identify and Describe Flaw
(1) The author assumes that people chose the capital as the best city because it’s large. But if they chose it for other reasons, like its job opportunities or food scene, he can’t assume that these residents prefer large cities.
(2) The author confuses plurality and majority. He assumes that the option with more votes than any other (plurality) is also the option with the majority of the votes (>50%). But maybe 40% of people chose the capital, while 30% chose City A and 30% chose City B. If so, it’s not true that most residents prefer the capital.
18.
The argument is most vulnerable ██ ███ █████████ ████ ██
a
overlooks the possibility ████ ████ ██ ████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ███ ████████ ███ ███ ██ ████ ██ █████ ██████
Like (B), the author’s conclusion is only about the preferences of the residents of the province. It doesn’t matter if other people share these preferences.
b
does not indicate ███████ ████ █████████ ██ █████ █████████ ████ ██████ ████ ██ █████ ██████ ██ ████ ██ █████ ██████
Like (A), the author’s conclusion is only about the preferences of the residents of this province. The preferences of the residents of other provinces are irrelevant.
c
takes for granted ████ ████ ██████ ███ ██████ ███ █████ ███████████ █████ ███████ ████ ████ ██ ████ ███ ███ ████ ████ ████ █████ ██ ███ ████ █████ ██ ████
The author may assume this, but it doesn’t explain why his argument is vulnerable to criticism. The poll is seeking to measure what city the residents think is the best place to live.
d
overlooks the possibility ████ ███ ██████ ███ █████████ █████ ██████ ████ ███ ██████████ ███████ ███ ██ ███ ███████ ██ █████ ███████ ████████ █████ ███ █████ ██ ███████ ███ ███████ ██ █████ ███████ ████████ █████ ███████ ██████
The author overlooks the possibility that people who preferred the capital city didn’t do so because of their general feelings about the sizes of cities, but because of their general feelings about capital cities.
e
overlooks the possibility ████ ████ ██████ ███ ████ █████ ███ █████ ██████ ████ ██████ █ █████ ████ ████████ ████ █████ ████ ███ █████ ██████ ████
The author confuses plurality and majority. Just because the capital city received more votes than any other city doesn’t mean that most residents chose the capital. Maybe most people voted for small cities, even though the capital had more votes than any of the small cities.