Self-study
Support A gram of the artificial sweetener aspartame is much sweeter than a gram of sugar. ████ ██████ ████ ███ █████████ ████ █████ ████ ██ ███████ ██████ ██ █████ █████████ ████ █████████ ████ ██ ████ ████████ ████ ██████ ███ █████████ █████ ████ ██████ █████████ ████ █████████ ████ ███████ █ ██████████ ███ █████████ █████ █████████
Method of Reasoning
The argument starts by comparing two things (aspartame and sugar) and explaining their different properties (a gram of aspartame is sweeter than a gram of sugar). It then talks about an item (soft drinks) that contains those two things (aspartame and sugar) and arrives at a sub-conclusion (drinks sweetened with aspartame are sweeter than those sweetened with sugar). Finally, it moves to the main conclusion (people who regularly drink aspartame-sweetened soft drinks will develop a preference for extremely sweet products).
Identify and Describe Flaw
The argument is flawed because it doesn’t account for the volume of the things (aspartame and sugar) it’s discussing. While a gram of aspartame may be sweeter than a gram of sugar, we can’t infer that drinks sweetened with aspartame are sweeter than those sweetened with sugar. It’s possible that drinks sweetened with aspartame use significantly less aspartame than the amount of sugar used in drinks sweetened with sugar and, as a result, aspartame drinks may be no sweeter than sugar drinks.
23.
Which one of the following █████████ ████████ ██████ █████████ ████ ██ ████ ███████ ██ ██████ █████████ ██ ███ ████████ ██████
a
People sometimes develop █ ██████████ ███ █████ ████ ████ █████████ █████████ ██ ██ ███ ███████ █ ███ █████ ████ ███ ████ ██████████ ███████ █ ██████████ ███ ███
Wrong flaw. (A) treats a “some” statement as an absolute statement. While people may sometimes develop a preference for food they initially disliked, we can’t infer that you’ll eventually like a food you initially disliked. There may be some foods you’ll never like. The stimulus, on the other hand, doesn’t confuse any “some” statements with absolute statements.
b
Most people own ████ █████ ████ ████████████ █████████ ██ █████ ██████ ██ ████ █ ████ ████ ██ █████ ██ ███████ ██ █ ██████████ █████ ██ ████ ██████ ████ █████ ████ ████ ███████ ████ ████ ██ ████████ ███████████
Wrong flaw. (B) errs by comparing items by focusing on irrelevant qualities. While people may own more books than televisions, that doesn’t imply that they spend more time reading those books than watching television. Also, books taking longer to complete has nothing to do with whether people watch TV or read more. Alternatively, the stimulus compares items (aspartame and sugar) by focusing on a quality that the two items share (sweetness).
c
Joe's piggy bank ███ ████ ███████ ██ ███ ███ ███████ ███ ████ ████████ ███████ ███ █████ ████ ████ ████ ████████ ██ █████████ ███████ ████ █████ ██ ████ █████ ██ ███████ █████ ████ ████ ██ ██████
The argument starts by comparing two things (Maria’s and Joe’s piggy banks) and explaining their different properties (Joe’s contains pennies and Maria’s contains nickels, which are worth more than pennies). It then moves to the conclusion (there’s more money in Maria’s piggy bank than Joe’s because Maria’s contains nickels and Joe’s contains pennies). This argument commits the same flaw as the stimulus of not accounting for the volume of the things it’s discussing. While nickels may be worth more than pennies, it’s possible that Joe has way more pennies in his piggy bank than Maria has nickels, and Joe, therefore, has more money in his piggy bank.
d
Stephanie likes hot ██████ ███████ ████ ████ ████ █████████ █████ ██ ███ █████ █████ █████████ ████ ██ ████ ████ ███ ████ ████ ██ ███ ██████ ███████ ████ ███ █████ █████ █████████ ████ ███
Wrong flaw. (D) errs by drawing a definitive conclusion based on preferences. While Stephanie may prefer hot weather more than Katherine, that tells us nothing about where either of them grew up. The stimulus, meanwhile, errs by not accounting for the volume of things it’s discussing.
e
Guillermo has a ████ ███████ █████ ██ ████ ████ █████ █████ ██ ███████████ ████████ ██ ███ ███████ ███████ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ █ █████ ██ ██████ ██ ██ █████ ████ ███████ █████████
Wrong flaw. (E) commits a belief v. facts flaw. While Guillermo’s drive to work may be shorter than Abdul’s, we have no clue how that affects Guillermo’s belief about the average commute for workers in the country. The stimulus, meanwhile, commits no belief v. facts flaw.