Self-study
Conclusion The mayor was not telling the truth when he said that the bridge renovation did not waste taxpayers' money. ███ ████ ██████████ ██ ███ ██ ██ ████ ████ ██████████ █████ ████████ ████ ███ ████████ ████ ████████ ██ █████ ███ ██████ ██████████ ███ █ █████ ███ ███████████ █████████
Summarize Argument
The author concludes that the bridge renovation wasted taxpayers’ money. This is based on the fact that a commission reported that the Souther Tier Project was wasteful, and the bridge renovation was a part of that project.
Identify and Describe Flaw
The author assumes that what applies to the whole (Souther Tier Project) must apply to a part(the bridge renovation). This overlooks the possibility that the bridge renovation might not have been a waste, even if the overall project was a waste. Perhaps the project was wasteful because of a different component besides the bridge renovation.
21.
The reasoning in the argument ██ ██████ ██ ████ ███ ████████
a
infers that a ████ ███ █ ███████ ███████ ██████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ███ █████ ██ █████ ██ ███████ ███ ████ ███████
The argument concudes that a part (bridge renovation) has a certain quality (waste of money) merely on the grounds that the whole to which it belongs (Southern Tier Project) has that quality.
b
draws a general ██████████ █████ ██████████ █████ ██ ███ █████ ██ █ ██████ ████████ ██ ████ █████
The conclusion is not about government waste in general. It’s about the bridge renovation and whether that specific thing was wasteful.
c
attacks the mayor's █████████ ██████ ████ █████████ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ████████ ██████████ ███ ███████ █████
The argument does not attack the character of the mayor. The evidence concerns the Southern Tier Project being a waste of money, and the fact that the bridge renovation was part of the project.
d
puts forward evidence ████ ███████████ ██ █████████ ████ ██ ███ █████ ████ ███ ████████ ████████ ██ ███████
(D) describes circular reasoning. No part of the evidence assumes the truth of that conclusion. The conclusion is that the bridge renovation was a waste of money; the evidence does not presuppose that this is true.
e
rejects a position ██ ███ ███████ ████ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ██████ ███ ███ ████████ ███ ████████ ████ ███ █████████████
The author does not comment on the motives of the mayor.