PT13.S4.Q7 > Analytics

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Murray: You claim Senator Brandon has accepted gifts from lobbyists. ███ ███ █████ ██ ████ ████ ██████████ ████ ██ ██ █████████ ██ ████████ ███████ ██ █████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ███ ████████████ █████ ███████████ █████ ███████████ ███ ████ ████ ████ ███ ██████ ███████ ███████ ██ ██████

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Murray vs. Jane

Murray doesn't engage with the substance of Jane's accusation against Senator Brandon. Instead, he attacks Jane's motivation for making the criticism. His evidence? Jane singles out Brandon while ignoring other politicians who've done the same thing. In Murray's view, that selective targeting reveals that Jane's criticism is driven by personal dislike, not principle.

Jane concedes that she does dislike Senator Brandon. But she pushes back on Murray's logic: the fact that she hasn't gone after other politicians for the same thing doesn't let Brandon off the hook. The criticism can still be valid even if Jane is being selective about who she criticizes.

Anticipation

This is an Agree question, which means we need to find something both speakers take to be true.

If Murray and Jane are ████ ███████ ██ ████ ████ ████ ████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ █████████ ████ ████ █████ ████

Senator Brandon has ████████ █████ ████ █████████

Do they agree that Senator Brandon has accepted gifts from lobbyists?

Murray: ❓

Jane: ✅

Jane treats Brandon's acceptance of gifts as a fact, calling it "the senator's offense." But Murray is careful never to commit to whether Brandon actually accepted gifts. He says "You claim" and later refers to "what you accuse Senator Brandon of doing." Both of those phrases attribute the claim to Jane rather than accepting it as true. Murray's entire argument is about Jane's motivation for making the criticism, not about whether Brandon actually did anything. Since Murray doesn't clearly agree that Brandon accepted gifts, we can't confirm agreement here.

13%

it is wrong ███ ███████████ ██ ██████ █████ ████ █████████

Do they agree that it is wrong for politicians to accept gifts from lobbyists?

Murray: ❓

Jane: ✅

Jane clearly thinks it's wrong. She calls it a "failing" and an "offense." But Murray never expresses a view on whether accepting gifts from lobbyists is wrong. His argument is entirely about Jane's motivation for criticizing Brandon, not about the ethics of accepting gifts. He might think it's wrong, or he might not. We simply don't know.

17%

Jane’s criticism of ███████ ███████ ██ █████████ ████ ██ ████████ ███████

Do they agree that Jane's criticism is motivated only by personal dislike?

Murray: ✅

Jane: ❌/❓

Murray would agree. That's his whole argument: Jane's criticism is motivated by personal dislike, as demonstrated by her selective targeting of Brandon. Jane, however, concedes only that she dislikes Brandon. She does not concede that personal dislike is the only thing driving her criticism.

Senator Brandon should ██ ██████████ ███ █████████ █████ ████ █████████

Do they agree that Senator Brandon should be criticized for accepting gifts?

Murray: ❌

Jane: ✅

This is something they disagree about. Murray says Jane is "wrong to make this criticism." Jane insists Murray can't excuse the senator's offense. They're on opposite sides of this issue, which is the opposite of what an Agree question asks for.

one or more ███████████ ████ ████████ █████ ████ █████████

Do they agree that one or more politicians have accepted gifts from lobbyists?

Murray: ✅

Jane: ✅

Both speakers take this for granted. Murray accuses Jane of deliberately avoiding criticizing other politicians who have done the same thing. For that accusation to make any sense, those other politicians have to exist. If no other politicians had accepted gifts from lobbyists, Murray couldn't fault Jane for failing to criticize them.

Jane accepts this framing. She refers to "the same failing in others," which acknowledges that other people do have this failing.

63%

PrepTest 13 - Section 4 - Question 7

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