Self-study
Australia has considerably fewer species of carnivorous mammals than any other continent does but about as many carnivorous reptile species as other continents do. ████ ██ ████████ █ ███████████ ██ ███ ███████ ██████████ ██ ███████████ ███████████ ██ ████████ ███████████ ███████ ████ ███ ████ ████ ████ ███████████ ████████ ████ ███ ████ ███████████ ███████ ███ ██ █ ████████████ ██ ██████████ ██ █████ █████ ██ ██████████ ██████ █████
Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The sparseness of Australia’s ecosystems explains why it has the fewest species of carnivorous mammals but an average number of carnivorous reptile species. How? Scarce resources present carnivorous mammals with a disadvantage that carnivorous reptiles don’t face.
Identify Conclusion
The conclusion is a causal explanation for the carnivorous species difference: “This is probably a consequence of the unusual sparseness of Australia's ecosystems.”
11.
Which one of the following ████ ██████████ █████████ ███ ████ ██████████ ██ ███ █████████
a
Australia has considerably █████ ███████ ██ ███████████ ███████ ████ ███ █████ █████████ ████ ███ █████ ██ ████ ███████████ ███████ ███████ ██ █████ ██████████ ███
This is the phenomenon that the argument attempts to explain. It’s context, setting up the argument.
b
In ecosystems in █████ █████ ██ ██████████ ██████ ████ ███████████ ███████ ███ ██ █ ████████████ ████████ ██ ███████████ █████████
This is premise. It provides support for why a sparse ecosystem explains the phenomenon: Because of a disadvantage faced by carnivorous mammals but not reptiles, there’s a difference in species quantity between them.
c
The unusual sparseness ██ ███████████ ██████████ ██ ████████ ███ ██████ █████████ ███ ████████████ █████ ███████████ ██████ ███████ ████ █████ ██████████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ████ ███████████ ███████ ████████
This rephrases the main conclusion. The sparse ecosystem explains the species disparity.
d
The reason that ███████████ ███████ ███ ██ █ ████████████ ██ ██████████ ██ █████ █████ ██ ██████████ ██████ ████ ██ ████ ████ ████ ███ ████ ████ ██ █████ ██ ███████ ████ ███████████ ████████ ████ ███
This is an extension of the premise used in (B). This helps explain why (B) is true, but both (B) and (D) serve to support the conclusion that a sparse ecosystem explains the phenomenon.
e
Because Australia's ecosystems ███ █████████ ███████ ███████████ ███████ █████ ███ ██ █ ████████████ ████████ ██ ███████████ █████████
This is premise. The author does claim that sparseness leads to disadvantage, but she uses sparseness and the resulting disadvantage to ultimately explain a difference in species quantity.