Self-study
This region's swimmers generally swim during the day because they are too afraid of sharks to swim after dark but feel safe swimming during daylight hours. ███ ███ ██████ █████ ███████ ██ ████████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ████████ ██████ ███ ████ ██████████ █████ ████████ ██ ███████ ████████ ██ ██ ███ ████ █████████ ██ ████ ████ ██ █████ ████ ██████ ███ ████
Summarize Argument
The author concludes that it is not more dangerous to swim at night than during the day in the region, even though swimmers generally swim during the day because of a fear of sharks. As support, the author says that all recent shark attacks on swimmers were during the day.
Identify and Describe Flaw
This is a percentages v. amounts flaw. While the number of shark attacks during the day is much higher than at night, we know that more people swim during the day. We can’t conclude that it’s not more dangerous to swim at night because we don’t know the rate of attacks during the day vs. at night.
As an example, if there are 50 attacks during the day and 2 attacks at night, but 10,000 people swim during the day and 10 people swim at night, it’s much more dangerous to swim at night, even though the number of night attacks is fewer.
1.
The reasoning in the argument ██ ████ ██████████ ██ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ██
a
overlooks the possibility ████ ████ ██████ ███ █████████ █████████ ███████
The argument does overlook this possibility, but it’s not a flaw to overlook it. This is not relevant to the argument. Even if some sharks are primarily nocturnal hunters, it could be the case that most sharks hunt during the day, making it more dangerous to swim during the day.
b
bases its conclusion ██ ████████ ████ ██ ██████████ ██████
This is descriptively inaccurate. We have no reason to doubt the source of the information given.
c
overlooks the possibility ████ ████████ █████ ████ ███████ ██████ ██ ███ █████ ████ ██ ███ █████ ████████████ ██ ███ ████
The argument is concerned with when it’s dangerous to swim, not with the causes of swimmers’ anxiety. The conclusion is about whether it’s actually more dangerous to swim at night; swimmers’ feelings of anxiety and the causes of their anxiety is outside the scope of the argument.
d
presumes, without providing ██████████████ ████ ████████ ██████ ██ ███ ████ █████████████ █████ █████ █████ ██ ███ ███ ██████ ███ ████████
The argument is not about swimmers’ knowledge; it’s about whether it’s more dangerous to swim at night. The argument is based on when shark attacks occur, not an assumption about what swimmers know about safety.
e
fails to take ████ ███████ ███ ███████████ ████ ███ ██████ ██ █████ ███████ ██ █████ █████ ████████ ████████████ ██ ████ ██████ ████ ██ █████
This is the flaw. Since we don’t know the rate of shark attacks during the day vs. at night, it is definitely possible that there are more attacks during the day because more people swim during the day, and if more people swam at night, there would be far more night attacks.