Self-study
Last month OCF, Inc., announced what it described as a unique new product: an adjustable computer workstation. █████ ████ █████ ████████ ████████ ██ ██████ █████████ ████████ ███ ███ █████████ █████ ████ ███ ████████████ ███ ████████████ ███ ████████ ███████ ███ █████████ █████████████ ███████ ███ ████ ████████ ██ ███ ████ ████████ ███ ████████████ ███ ███ ███████████ ██ ██ ████ ████████████ ████████ ███ ███ ████████ ███ ████ ████ ██████ ███ ████ ████ ████ ██████ ████ ███ █████ ██████ ████ ███████████ ██████ ███████ ██████ ████ ███ ████ █████ ██ █████████ ████ █████ ███ ████ █████ ██ ███████████ ███ ███ ████ █████ ██ ████████ █████████████
Summarize Argument: Counter-Position
The similarities between two products recently released by different companies are not coincidence. Why not? The similarities are too fundamental—they have matching appearance and function.
Identify Conclusion
The conclusion is a rejection of both company’s claims: “The similarities are too fundamental to be mere coincidence.”
2.
The main point of the ████████ ██ ████
a
the two products ████ ████ ███████████████ ██ ██████
This is premise. The author uses (A) to support the claim that the similarities between the products aren’t coincidental.
b
ErgoTech must have ██████ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ███ ███████ ████ █████ ██████
The author never says this. She doesn’t address why the products are similar (who copied whom, or if the companies colluded), she only denies that it’s coincidence.
c
the similarities between ███ ███ ████████ ███ ███ ████████████
This is exactly what the author concludes. The argument supports the claim that the similarities are not a “mere coincidence” by giving examples of similarities too fundamental to have occurred accidentally.
d
product designers sometimes █████ ███ ████ ████████ ██ █ █████ ███████ ███████ ██████████ ████ █████
This isn’t stated in the argument. We don’t know whether the author believes this could be a plausible explanation in some cases. She’s only concerned with addressing this specific case.
e
new products that ██ █████ ██████ ██ ██ ██████ ███ █████████ ██████ ██████████ ██ █████ ████████
The author doesn’t say this; she doesn’t discuss anything appearing to be unique. She’s concerned with rejecting the idea that these similarities are coincidence.