Self-study
Nutritionist: Recently a craze has developed for home juicers, $300 machines that separate the pulp of fruits and vegetables from the juice they contain. ██████████ ██████ ███ █████ ████ █████ ███ ████████ ██ █████ ████████ ████████ ███ █████ ████ ███████ ██ ████ ██ ████ ███ ████ ██████ ██ ███████ █ █████ ███████████ ██ ███ ██████████ ███ ████ ██ ███████ ███████ ███ █████ ██ ██ ██████████ ████ █████ █████████ ████ ███ ████ ██ ███ █████ ██ █████████ ███ ███ ██████████ ████ ██ ████ ███ ████ ████ ████████████ ████ ████ ██████ ██ ███ ████ ██████ ██████ ███ █ ███████
Summarize Argument
The nutritionist claims that home juicers are not worth the expense. Why? Because they don’t provide tremendous health benefits, given there’s no evidence that juice separated from the pulp has different health properties from juice attached to the original fruit or vegetable.
Notable Assumptions
The nutritionist assumes that people praise the health benefits of home juicers because they think the homemade juice is healthier than whole fruits and vegetables, and that people have no other reason for buying them.
2.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ █████ ████ ████████ ███ ██████████████ █████████
a
Most people find ██ ████ ██████ ██ ███████ █ █████ ████████ ██ █████████ ██ ██████ ████ ████ ██ ███ █████ █████ ██████████ ███ ████ ████████ ██ ███ ████ ██████████
This challenges the nutritionist’s assumption that home juicers could only have health benefits if the juice they produce is unusually healthy. Rather, the juicers are beneficial because they process nutrients into a form that’s easier for people to consume.
b
Drinking juice from ████ ███████ ██ ████ ███████ ████ ██ ██████ ██████ ███ ██████████ ███████ ████ █████ ████ ███ ███████ ███ █████ ████ ██ █████ ██ ███ ████████ ███ ██████ █████ ██ ██████████
This strengthens the nutritionist’s argument. It implies homemade juices are actually less healthy than whole fruits and vegetables, supporting her claim that the juicers make food no healthier.
Directionally wrong
Directionally wrong
Answers that, if they have any effect, do the opposite of what we want (weaken when we're trying to strengthen, or strengthen when we're trying to weaken).
c
To most people ███ █████ ██ ███████ ██ ███ █ ████ ███████ ████ █████ ███ ██ █ █████ ████████
This does not imply the juicer is a worthwhile purchase. If it brings no benefit to the consumer, it will be a waste of money no matter how minor the cost.
Illusory inconsistency
Illusory inconsistency
Answer is attractive because it seems to (but doesn't actually) contradict the premises or conclusion.
d
The nutritionist was █ ██████ ██ █ █████ ████ ███████████ █████████ █████ ██████████ ██ ████ ████████
This doesn’t imply the nutritionist is being insincere and it doesn’t affect her argument. She advises against buying the juicers by arguing they bring no health benefit—her purpose for making the argument is irrelevant.
e
Vitamin pills that ██████████ ███████ █████████ █████████ █████████ ████ ██ ██████ ███ ██████████ █████ ███████ █ ████ ██ █████ █████████ ████ ██████ ██ ██ ██████ ███████████ ██ ███ █████████ █████ ██ ██████ ███ ███████████
This puts fruits, vegetables, and their juices in the same category. It compares them to vitamin pills, making no distinction between the health benefits of fruits and vegetables and the health benefits of their juices.