Self-study
Debate coach: Support Britta's command of the historical facts was better than Robert's, and that led to the distinct impression that Britta won the debate. ███ ████ ████ █████████ ██ ████████ ███ ██████████ ███ █████████ █████████ █████ ██████████ ██ █████ ███████ ██ █████ ███ █████ ██ ████ ██ █████ ██████████ ████ ███ ████ ████ ████ ██████████████ ████████ ██████ ███████████ ███ ██ ████ ██ █████████
Summary
Robert’s performance was on par with Britta’s even though she was better in one regard, because performance evaluation should include reasonableness of the arguments.
Notable Assumptions
If reasonableness is why Robert’s performance is as good as Britta’s, when before, Britta seemed to be superior, then we are assuming something about Robert’s reasonableness. If Robert’s reasonableness brought him from a deficit up to equality, then his arguments must have been more reasonable than Britta’s.
14.
The debate coach's argument depends ██ ███ ██████████ ████
a
Britta's arguments were █████ ████████████
This is possible, but not necessary. Britta’s arguments could have been very reasonable—as long as Robert’s arguments were more reasonable, the argument still stands a chance.
b
Robert's arguments were ████ ██████████ ████ ████████
This must be true. If it isn’t, there’s no explanation for why Robert’s performance was as good as Britta’s, when initially Britta appeared to have done better.
c
good debate performances ███████ ████ ██████████ █████████
The author’s argument is comparative, both in the support and conclusion. It doesn’t matter if either person reached a certain bar of reasonableness, as long as Robert was more reasonable than Britta.
d
neither Britta nor ██████ ███ ██ ████ ███████ ██ ███ █████
Similar to (C). The argument is comparative. It doesn’t matter if either of them had mastered the facts.
e
winning a debate ████████ ██████ █ ████ ███████ ██ ███ █████
Again, this argument is comparative. We don’t actually know anything about whether Robert or Britta had a “good” command of the facts (that’s an absolute statement). We only know that Britta had a better command of the facts (that’s a comparative statement).