Self-study
Support A recent archaeological find in what was once the ancient kingdom of Macedonia contains the remains of the largest tomb ever found in the region. ██ ████ ██ ███ ████ ██ █████████ ███ █████ █████ ██ ███ ███ ████████ ██████████ ██ ████████ ███ ██ █████ ████ ███ ███ ███████ █████ █████ ████ ██ █████████ ██ ██████ ████ █████████ ████ ██████ ██ ████ ██ █████ ██████ ██ █████████ █████ ███ ██████
Summarize Argument
The author concludes that a recently discovered tomb must be the tomb of Alexander the Great. This is because he would have had the largest tomb, and the recently discovered tomb is the largest tomb ever found in the region.
Identify and Describe Flaw
The author assumes that the largest tomb EVER FOUND is the largest tomb that existed. This overlooks the possibility that we haven’t found the largest tomb. The recently discovered tomb might be the largest found so far...but there could be larger tombs that we haven’t found.
26.
The reasoning in the argument ██ ████ ██████████ ██ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ███ ████████
a
takes for granted ████ █████████ ███ ██ ████████ ████ ██ ████████ ████████
The author believes Alexander’s conquests constitute a reason to think he was great. This doesn’t imply the author believes one cannot become great through other methods besides conquest.
b
takes for granted ████ ███ ███████ ████ █████ ██ ███ ████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ███ █████
The author overlooks the possibility that there are larger tombs in the region that we just haven’t found. If that’s true, we can’t conclude the largest tomb found so far must be Alexander’s. So the author must assume the largest one found so far is the largest that existed.
c
does not show ███ ███ ████████ ██████████ ████ ████████ ████ █████ █████ ████ ███ ████ ██████ ████ ████ ████ █████ ██ █████ ███████
How tombs in other regions compared to this tomb doesn’t affect the argument, because we have no reason to think tombs in other regions are relevant. The author’s assuming Alexander’s tomb was in the region we’re talking about.
d
fails to evaluate ███ ████████████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ███████████ ██████ ███ ███ ███████ ███ █████
The argument is concerned with whether a particular tomb was Alexander’s. What happened to Alexander’s empire after he died doesn’t affect the reasoning. We have a premise that says Alexander was the greatest Macedonian; what happened to his empire doesn’t change that fact.
e
takes for granted ████ ██████████████ ███ █████████ ███ ████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ███ ███████
We know the recently discovered tomb is the largest found in the region. Whether we determined the size from remains or from something else doesn’t matter. We know it’s the largest found, so questioning this fact isn’t where we’ll find a flaw.