Self-study
Support Some eloquent speakers impress their audiences with the vividness and clarity of the messages conveyed. ████████ ███ ██████ ██ ██████████ ████████ ███ ███ █████████ █████████ ██ ████ ██ █████ ████████ ███████ █████ ██████████
Method of Reasoning
The author states that some eloquent speakers impress their audiences, and that all speakers who use obscenity are not eloquent. The author then concludes that all speakers who use obscenity do not impress their audiences.
Some of A (eloquent speakers) can accomplish B (impress audience). All C (users of obscenity) are not A. All C don’t accomplish B.
Identify and Describe Flaw
The author assumes that being eloquent is the only route to impressing your audience, and ignores that there might be other ways to do so. Just because being eloquent is one way to impress an audience doesn’t mean that speakers who use obscenity might not have some other way of impressing an audience.
26.
The flawed reasoning in which ███ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ████ ███████ ██ ████ ██ ███ ████████ ██████
a
A culture without █████ ████ ████ ████ ███████████ █████ ████████████ █████ ████ ███████ ████ ████ ███████████ █████ ████████████ █████ ██ ██ ██████ ██ █████
(A) is a valid argument. A society without myths will lack fundamental moral certainties, so since this society doesn’t have myths, it must lack fundamental moral certainties.
b
There are authors ███ █████ ███ ████ █ ███ ███ ███████ ███ ████ ███ █████ ███████ ████████ ████████ ██ ███ █████ ███ ████ ███ ████ ██ ████ ███████ ███ █████ ███ ████ █ ████ ███ ███ ████████
(B) is a valid argument. We know that at least one author writes both one page a day and one book per year. We know that if an author writes one page per day, they are not serious. Thus, we can logically conclude that at least one author who writes one book a year is not serious.
c
Cities that are ███████ ██ ████████ ███ ██████ ███████ ██ ████████ ██ █████ ██ ███████ ████ ████ ███████ ██ ████████ ███ █████ ███████ █████ █████ ███ ███████ ██ ████████ ████ ███ ███ █████ ███████
(C) says that all A (centers of commerce) are also B (centers of industry). It then concludes that some A are small cities, since some B are not small cities. This isn’t a valid argument — but it doesn’t have the same flaw as the stimulus.
d
Most farmers like ██████ ██ █████ ██████ █████ █████ ██ ███ █ ███████ ███ ████████ █████ ███ █████ ██████ ██ ███ ████████
(D) states that most of A (farmers) like B (living in rural areas), and concludes that since Carla isn’t part of A, she won’t like B. This is invalid, but doesn’t match the stimulus.
e
Sculptors sometimes produce ███████████ █████ ██ ████ ███ █████████ ███ ███ ██████████ ██████ █████████ █████ ███████ ███████████ █████ ██ ████
(E) says that A (sculptors) sometimes accomplish B (produce significant art), that C (musicians) are not part of A, and that thus C never accomplishes B. This is the same reasoning as in the stimulus, and has the same flaw: the author assumes that being a sculptor is the only route to producing significant art.