Self-study
Biologists often announce that a certain kind of animal has been found capable of using tools; this usually refers to something like using a stick to hunt for ants in a log, or a stone to crack nuts. ███ ████ █████████████ ███ ██████████ █████████████ █████ ███ ███████ ███ ██████ █████ █████ ██████ ████ ████ ██ ███ ███ ██ ██████ ██████████ ███ █████████ ███ █████████ ██ █████████ ███████ ██████ ██ ██ ██████ ████████ ███ ███████ ██ █████ ██ ██ ████████ ████████ ███████ ████ ████ ██████ ███ ██████████ ██ ████████ ██ █ █████
Summarize Argument: Counter-Position
It’s not surprising to say that animals can use tools because all animals use them. If an animal uses something outside its body to help it do something, the animal is using a tool. For example, birds use twigs as tools to build nests, fish use mud as a tool to hide from predators, and squirrels use buildings as tools to move quickly between trees.
Identify Argument Part
The stimulus text refers to the argument's main conclusion: It’s not surprising to say that animals can use tools.
10.
Which one of the following ████ ██████████ █████████ ███ ████ ██████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ███ █████ ████ ███ ███████████ █████████████ ████ █ ███████ ██████ ███ ████ █████ ███████ ██ █████ █████ ███ █████████████
a
It provides evidence ████ ███ ████████ ██████████ █████ ██ ████████ ███ ███████████
The stimulus text is the argument’s main conclusion. It does not provide evidence for any other statement in the argument. Additionally, the stimulus does not offer evidence that the animals’ activities given as examples are purposeful, so no statement fulfills that role.
b
It is the ██████████ ██ ███ █████████
This describes the role of the stimulus text in the overall argument. The author provides context about an announcement that biologists frequently make, concludes that the announcement is unsurprising, and then spends the rest of the stimulus explaining why it is unsurprising.
c
It is an ██████████ ████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ███████ ██████████ ██ █ ███████ ██████████ ██ ████ █ ████ ██ ████ ████ ███████ ████████ ██ ███ ███████████
The stimulus text is the argument’s main conclusion. It is not an assumption—an unstated premise—of the argument. As the main conclusion, all the other statements in the stimulus support it; it doesn’t support or justify any other statement in the stimulus.
d
It calls into ████████ ███ █████ ██ ███ ███████████ ██████████ ██ █ █████
The stimulus text is the argument’s main conclusion, stating that the biologists’ announcements are “unsurprising.” It does not question the biologists’ definition of a tool; it simply notes that many animals use tools.
e
It addresses a ████████ ██ ███ ███████████ █████████████ ████ █████ ████ █████ █████████ ███ ██ ███ ████ ███████████
The stimulus text is the argument’s main conclusion, which simply states that the biologists’ announcements are “unsurprising.” The stimulus does not argue that the announcements are weak or that the biologists use “external” ambiguously.