Self-study
Conclusion Carl is clearly an incompetent detective. ██ ███ ██████ █ ███████ ██████████ ██ ███ █████ ████████ ██ ███ ██ ███ ████ █ ████████████ █ ███ ██ █████████ ███ █████ █████████ ██ ███ ██████ ██████
Summarize Argument
The author concludes that Carl is an incompetent detective. This is because Carl has solved a smaller percentage of his cases than any other detective in the police force.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that competence is determined by what proportion of cases any given detective has solved relative to what proportion of cases their peers have solved. She also assumes that the case Carl solved didn’t involve significantly more work or more difficult work than the cases his peers solved, which would call into the question the idea of his “incompetence.”
1.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ █████████ ███████ ███ ████████ ██████
a
Because the police █████ ███████ ████ ██ ███ ████ ███████ ██████████ ███ ███████ ███ ████ ███ ████ █████████ ██████ ████ ████ ██████ ████ ██████ ██ ██████
Carl solves a smaller percentage of cases because the cases he works on are uniquely difficult. He works on these cases because he’s seen as very capable by his superior. Thus, it’s unfair and likely incorrect to call him an “incompetent detective.”
b
Before he became █ ██████████ ████ ███ █ ████████████ ██████ ███████ ███ ███ ██████ █████████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ███ ████████████ ██ ██████████
We don’t care how competent Carl was as a police officer. We’re only interested in his abilities as a detective.
c
Detectives on the ██████ █████ ██ █████ ████ ██████ ███ ████████ ████ █████████ ██████████ █████████ ███ ███ ██ █ █████ ████████ █████████ ██ ████ ████ █████ ███████
All this says is that Carl has the same resources as other detectives. This doesn’t weaken the claim that he’s an incompetent detective.
d
Carl was previously █ █████████ ██ █ ██████ ██████████ ██ ███████ █████ ███ ██ ███ █ █████ ██ █████ ██████ ██ ██████ ████ █ ███ ██ ██ ███████
If anything, this supports the author’s argument. Carl solved a low proportion of cases when he worked in a different town, which suggests his current circumstances aren’t the problem.
e
Many of the ████████ ██ ███ ██████ ██████████ ██ █████ ████ ██████ ████ █████ ██ ████████ ██████ ███ ████ █ ██████
Was Carl among those officers? We don’t know, and it doesn’t really matter. We care how competent he is as a detective, regardless of his tenure.