Self-study
Letter to the editor: You have asserted that philanthropists want to make the nonprofit sector as efficient as private business in this country. ███████████████ ████ ██ ████ ██████ ██ ███████ ███ █████ ██████ ████ ██ ████ ██████████ ██ ███████████ ██ ███████ ████████████ █████ ███ ██████ ████ ██████ ███ ██████
Summarize Argument: Counter-Position
The author denies the claim that philanthropists want to make nonprofits as efficient as businesses, offering an example of an inefficient business that no one would want to emulate.
Identify and Describe Flaw
The argument is flawed because it presumes that the Byworks Corporation is representative of the country’s private sector. The position that the author responds to claimed that philanthropists want to be as efficient as private businesses in general. If other businesses are more efficient than the Byworks Corporation—and we’re given no reason to believe this isn’t the case—then the argument fails.
3.
The reasoning of the argument ██ ███ ██████ ██ ████ ██████████ ██ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ███ ████████
a
draws a conclusion █████ ████ █████ ██ ██ ███ ████ ████ ████████ ████ ███ ████████ █████ ████ ██ ███ ████
This is descriptively inaccurate. The author makes a claim as to what the motivations of philanthropists are, not what they should or shouldn’t do.
b
takes the condition ██ ███ ██████ ██ █ ████████ ██ ██ ██████████████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ███████
This describes how the argument presumes that other businesses are as inefficient as the Byworks Corporation. It’s entirely possible that philanthropists seek to emulate other, more efficient businesses.
c
rejects a claim ██ █████████ ███ █████████ ██ ███ █████ ██████ ████ ██████████ ███ █████ ██████
This is descriptively inaccurate. The author responds to the other conclusion by citing an example of an inefficient business, not by attacking the arguer as a person.
d
concludes that a █████ ████ ██ █████ ███████ ██ ███ ████ ███████ ██ ████████ ██ ███ █████
This is descriptively inaccurate. The argument never addresses whether the opposing claim does or does not have evidence; it just provides one example of a business which it presumes is representative of the entire private sector.
e
concludes that a ██████████ ████ ████ █ ███████ ████████ ██████ ███████ ███ ████████████ █████ ███ ████ ████████
This is descriptively inaccurate. The argument doesn’t presume that an effect has the same trait as its cause; it presumes that one business is representative of businesses in general.