Self-paced
Letter to the editor: According to last Thursday’s editorial, someone who commits a burglary runs almost no risk of being caught. ████ ██ ███████ ██████ ██████ ███████ ████ ████ ██ █████ ██ ███████ ██ ██████ ███ ██████ ██████ ███ ███████ ███ ████████ ███ ██████████ ██ ████████ ████ ████████ ████ ███████████ ███████ █ █████ ██████████ ██ ████ ████ ██████████ ██ ███████
Argument Breakdown: Part v. Whole
The letter writer concludes that many burglars will eventually be caught, contrary to an editorial that says burglars are almost never caught. In support, the letter writer cites police statistics that say a significant majority of those who commit crimes are caught—and of course, all burglars commit crimes.
The issue is that burglars may not be representative of criminals as a whole in this regard. In other words, just because a majority of criminals in general are caught, that doesn't mean a majority of burglars specifically are caught. The letter writer improperly treats a property of the whole (criminals) as being a property of part of that whole (burglars).
14.
Which one of the following █████████ ████████ █ ██████ ███████ ██ █████████ ████████ ██ ████ █████████ ██ ███ ████████ ████ █ █████ ██████████ ██ ████████ ████ ██ ███████
a
A large percentage ██ ████████████ ███████ ███ ██████████████ █████ █████ ██████ ███ ████████████ ████████ █ █████ ██████████ ██ ██████ ███ ██████████████
Like the letter writer's argument, (A) improperly treats a property of the whole (professionals) as being a property of part of that whole (nurses). It's entirely possible that many professionals are self-employed even though very few nurses are, just like it's possible that most criminals are caught even though most burglars are not.
b
Psychiatrists have medical █████████ ███ █ █████ ██████████ ██ ████ ████ ████ ███████████ █████████ ██████████ ████ ██████ ███ ████ ███████████ ████████ ████ ████ ███████ █████████
(B) gives us a valid argument. If all psychiatrists have medical training, and some also have social-work training, then it has to be true that some people have both medical and social-work training.
c
Since a large ██████████ ██ ████████████ ███████ ████ ███████ █████ ████████ ███ █████ ██████ ███████ ███████ ███ █████████ ███ ████████████ ███████ ███ ████ ███████ █████ ███████ ████████ ███ █████████
(C) gives us a valid argument. If a professional person changes their career, and career changes require new training, then of course that professional person required new training.
d
A large percentage ██ ███████ ███ ████████████ █████ ██████ ███ ██ █ ██████████ ████ ████ ████████ ██████ ███ █████ ███████ ███████████ ██ ███████ ████ ████ ███████ ████ ████████ ██████ ███ █████ ███████ ███████████
(D) gives us a valid argument. If some doctors are specialists, and all specialists need extra training, it follows logically that some doctors have had extra training.
e
Many engineers are ████████ ██ ██████████ ██████████ ███ █████ ██████ ██ █ ██████████ ████████ █████ ████████ ██ ███████████ ████ █████████ ████ ████████ ██ ███████████
(E) gives us a valid argument that's structurally identical to (D). If some engineers are managers, and all managers need management training, it follows logically that some engineers have had management training.