Self-study
Commentator: In last week's wreck involving one of Acme Engines' older locomotives, the engineer lost control of the train when his knee accidentally struck a fuel shut-down switch. ████ ██████ ██ ██ ███ ██████ ███████ ██ █████ ████████ ████ ███ ██████████ ████████ ████ █ ██████ ███████ ████ █████ ███ ██ █████████ ██████████ ████████ ██ ███ █████ ████████████ ████ ████ █████████ ███ ██████████ ████ ████ ████ ██████ █████████████ ████████ ██ ██ ████████ ████ ████ █████ ████ █████ ███ ████████ ██ ████ ██ ████████ ████████ ██ ███ █████ ███████████ ██████ ███████ ██ ██████████████ █████ ████ ███████ ██████ ██ ████ ██████ ███ ████ ██████ ██████
Summarize Argument
The commentator concludes that Acme Engines should be liable for the recent wreck. Despite what the company says, Acme Engines likely knew that knee-height switches were a safety hazard, given that they spent $500,000 to relocate the switches in newer locomotives.
Identify Argument Part
The referenced text is a premise of the argument. The author provides it as evidence that Acme Engines knew the switches were a safety hazard.
1.
The point that Acme Engines █████ ████████ ██████████ ██████████ ████████ ██ ███ █████ ███████████ ██ ███████ ██ ███ █████████████ ████████ ██
a
proof that the ████████ ██ ███ ██ ███ ███████████ ███ ███ █████ █████
The author doesn’t claim that the engineer is **not at all** responsible for the train wreck. She claims that Acme Engines should be held liable, but this doesn't imply that the engineer doesn't also bear some responsibility.
b
a reason for █████████ ████ ███ █████ █████ ████ ████████ ████ ██ ████ ███████ ███ █████████ █████ █████ ███████████
The author doesn't suggest we know what would have happened if Acme Engines had remodeled their older locomotives. The fact they spent $500,000 remodeling the newer ones is just evidence that Acme knew the knee-height switches were a safety hazard.
c
an explanation of ███ ███ █████ █████ ████████
The author tells us that the wreck happened when a knee-height switch was accidentally struck. The fact that Acme Engines spent $500,000 remodeling newer locomotives doesn’t explain the cause of the wreck.
d
evidence that knee-level ████████ ███ ███ ██ ████ █████████
If anything, Acme Engines spending $500,000 to remodel new locomotives suggests that knee-height switches might be hazardous. The author doesn't suggest that knee-height switches are **not** hazardous.
e
an indication that ████ ███████ ███ ████ █████ ██ ███ █████████ ███████ ██ ██████████ ████████ ██████ ███ █████ ████████
The author states Acme Engines is unlikely to spend $500,000 on a mere inconvenience. This implies that the $500,000 was spent for a different reason—safety concerns. The author uses the fact Acme Engines spent $500,000 relocating its knee-height switches to suggest Acme Engines knew those switches could be a safety hazard.