Self-study
Political leader: Conclusion In this political dispute, our side will benefit from showing a desire to compromise with the opposition. ██ ███ ██████████ ████████ ███████████ ████ █ ██████████ ████ ██ ████████ ██ ████ ██ ████ ████ ████ ████ ██ ████ ███████████ ███ ███ ███████ ██ █████ █ ██████████ ███ ███ ████ ████ ████████
Summary
The author concludes that our side will benefit from showing a desire to compromise with the opposition. Why? Because of the following:
If the opposition responds positively, a compromise will be reached.
If the opposition does not respond positively, our side will benefit.
Missing Connection
Think about the options if we show a desire to compromise — either the opposition will respond positively, or they won’t. We know from the second premise that in the case they won’t, our side will benefit. But in the case that they do respond positively...all we can conclude is that a compromise will be reached.
Is a compromise to our side’s benefit? We don’t know. So to make the argument valid — to show that no matter how the opposition responds, our side will benefit from showing a desire to compromise — we want to establish that if a compromise is reached, our side will benefit.
15.
The conclusion of the political ████████ ████████ ███████ █████████ ██ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ████████
a
The political leader's ████ ███ █ ██████ ██ ██████████ ████ ███ ███████████
(A) doesn’t establish that a compromise is to our side’s benefit. So it’s possible that if the opposition responds positively, we won’t necessarily benefit.
b
The opposition is ██████ ███████ ██ ██████████ ████ ███ █████████ ████████ █████
(B) doesn’t establish that a compromise is to our side’s benefit. So it’s possible that if the opposition responds positively, we won’t necessarily benefit.
c
The political leader's ████ ████ ███████ ██ █ ██████████ ██ ████████
(C) allows us to infer that if the opposition responds positively, our side will benefit. If we add (C) to the premises, no matter whether the opposition responds positively or negatively, our side benefits. This establishes that our side will benefit from showing a desire to compromise.
d
The opposition would ███████ ████ ███████ █ ██████ ██ ███████████
(D) doesn’t establish that a compromise is to our side’s benefit. So it’s possible that if the opposition responds positively, we won’t necessarily benefit.
e
The opposition will ██████████ ██ ███ █████████ ████████ ████ █████ █ ██████ ██ ███████████
(E) doesn’t establish that a compromise is to our side’s benefit. So it’s possible that if the opposition responds positively, we won’t necessarily benefit.