Hey! I'm in the bay area and also looking for accountability buddies. Haven't tested yet, prepping for June.

@AddisonBass Arrow doesn't point from first clause to second clause, it points from subset (sufficient condition) to superset (necessary condition).

@DeliaCanDoIt! I think the skill builder exercises illustrate the intended habit. When you encounter a comparative, make sure you identify (1) the two things being compared, (2) the quality being compared, and (3) which thing “wins” the comparison.

For test day, most of the advice I’ve seen is that time spent writing is often not a good investment unless you’re returning to a flagged question with time to spare. Part of the purpose of us doing all of this practice is to make it so this type of analysis and reasoning comes naturally and we don’t need the crutch of a diagram or notes to get through this type of question quickly and accurately on test day.

@tylermwhite I wish you only the best, man. Was just trying to help.

@tylermwhite I think you’re getting tripped up on the idea of a winner. It’s a model, not the actual way that humans speak and communicate. Like I tell my high school students: the map is not the territory; the model is not reality.

The point of this whole exercise isn’t to follow a rigid set of steps whenever you encounter a comparative. It’s to use this model as a tool to aid in your understanding.

An analogous sentence:

“Nobody would honestly say that Tim keeps his room clean more often than not.”

Take out the context, and it’s “Tim keeps his room clean more often than not.” The comparative has not changed, but the context gives it a totally different meaning. If that shift in meaning is stunlocking you when you use this model, maybe try using a different method for analyzing comparatives?

@tylermwhite everything preceding “that” is a clause that isn’t part of the comparative. The comparative itself says “humans acting selfishly is more likely than humans acting unselfishly”, and the previous clause’s role is to say “the following comparative is not supported by evidence.”

(Sorry if it’s paraphrased; I’m on mobile)

@SeanWatson I was tripped up exactly in this way.

@AmiraVanLeeuwen “inter-“ means “between”, so interglacial periods are periods between glacial periods.

@mattrettig only if we assume that the only people who could win or lose are you and I, and that winning and losing are the only outcomes and mutually exclusive of one another. Reasonable assumptions, but assumptions nonetheless!

@morrisj2 I took a public speaking class in college and their rule was “don’t use profanity… unless it helps you make a point.” The fact that profanity is NOT used throughout this series makes this particular sentence stick out. It’s emphasis. And frankly I think it’s effective.

The method that has helped me the most is what I call the “therefore” method. If the argument has 3 claims (A, B, C), you can test which way the support flows by stating to yourself, “A, therefore B”. If that framing follows logically, then you know that B is closer to the conclusion than A is. I really struggled with establishing flow of support when I started, but this method has helped me a lot.

To extend the idea:

A, therefore B ✅ A supports B

A, therefore C ❎ A does not support C

C, therefore B ✅ C supports B

The chain of support ends at B. B is the conclusion. You can also use this to determine if there are sub-conclusions. Like if C supports A, then A may be a sub-conclusion supported by C, and there is a possibility for assumptions to link premise C and sub-conclusion A.

“Chocolate is better for you than gummy bears [A], so you should choose chocolate instead of gummy bears when getting a treat [B]. After all, chocolate has beneficial compounds that gummy bears lack [C].”

C therefore A therefore B is the best way to frame it. You can also swip-swap the claims around if it’s not quite clicking. Hope this helps some other folks who also have conclusion confusion!

@rickyrivas94 I feel like you're critiquing one of the examples I made, but I can't figure out which one?

@EvanP7s Ahhh there you go, that’s exactly the piece I was missing. Thanks for pointing that out!

I think this might relate to entailment. If a specific conclusion MUST be true, i.e., it is entailed by the premises, then that is the strongest kind of argument. We could have predicted the conclusion of the Disney argument just from the premises alone.

Other conclusions aren’t necessarily entailed by their premises, but the premises provide support that the conclusion COULD be true. Mr. Fat Cat COULD have knocked over the trash can, but maybe Mrs. Skinny Dog knocked it over and Mr. Fat Cat just picked up some of the spilled salmon. The conclusion is supported, but it’s not the only possible conclusion to draw.

The tiger example feels like it’s in between. It makes a less strong claim in the conclusion (“not all” mammals is very broad), but the support is sufficient to entail the conclusion. As long as we can name ONE mammal that’s not fit to keep as a pet, we have a sound argument. We might not have been able to predict the exact conclusion just given the premise alone, but given both the premise and conclusion the flow of support is clear.

Tiger: Not all professors are good teachers. Professors engaged in research sometimes prioritize their research at the expense of their teaching.

Disney: In order to meet graduation requirements at Local High School, students need to take either Macroeconomics or Comparative Government. Sandra is a graduating student at Local High School, but she has never taken a Macroeconomics course. Sandra must have taken Comparative Government.

Mr. Fat Cat: There are funds missing from the accounts of Profit, Inc. The account has a record of being accessed recently by someone with a passcode available to the CEO of Profit, Inc. That same CEO just threw a very nice party to celebrate a windfall. I believe the CEO stole the money from the company’s account.

The framing of “support” meaning “to make more likely to be true” unlocked something in my brain.

@HistSte Hey Steven, I'm Tobi. I'm a chemistry and physics teacher in CA. Here's to a smooth pivot!

@DeliaByrnes apes together strong