Self-study
Support It is virtually certain that the government contract for building the new highway will be awarded to either Phoenix Contracting or Cartwright Company. █ ████ ████ ███████ ████ ███ ██████████ ███ ███████ ███ ██ █████ ███ ████████ ██ ██████████ ████████ ██ ██ █████████ ██████ ██████████ ████ ███████ ███████████ ████ ██ ███████ ███ █████████
Summarize Argument
The author concludes that Phoenix Contracting will almost certainly get the government contract for the new highway. He supports this by noting that the contract was expected to go to either Phoenix Contracting or Cartwright Company, and the government has decided not to award it to Cartwright Company.
Describe Method of Reasoning
The author draws his conclusion that Phoenix Contracting will very likely get the government contract by using the process of elimination. He notes that the contract was likely going to go to either Phoenix Contracting or Cartwright Company. Then, by claiming that Cartwright Company has been ruled out as a possibility, the author concludes that Phoenix Contracting will almost certainly get the contract.
21.
The argument proceeds by
a
concluding that it ██ █████████ ██████ ████ ██ █████ ████ █████ ██ ██████ ███ ███ ████ ████████ ███████████
The author concludes that it is extremely like that an event (Phoenix Contracting getting the government contract) will occur by ruling out the only probable alternative (Cartwright Company getting the government contract).
b
inferring, from a █████ ████ ███ ██ ███ ████████ ██████ ████ ██████ ████ ███ █████ █████ ████ ███ █████
Actually, the author infers, from a claim that one event will not occur, that another event will occur. His claim is about an event not occurring, while his conclusion is about an event occurring. (B) reverses these.
c
refuting a claim ████ █ ██████████ █████ ██ ██████████ ██ ████████████ ███ ███████████ ██ ██ ███████████ █████
The author doesn’t refute a claim that a particular event is inevitable. Rather, he concludes that a particular event is almost inevitable. Also, he eliminates, rather than establishes, the possibility of an alternative event.
d
predicting a future █████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ██ ███████████ ███████ ██ ████ ██████
The author does predict a future event, but he does so by ruling out the only probable alternative, not on the basis of an established pattern of events.
e
inferring a claim █████ ███ ███████████ ██ █ ██████████ █████ ████ █ ███████ ███████████ █████████
By concluding that Phoenix Contracting will almost inevitably get the government contract, the author does infer a claim about the probability of a particular event. But he does this by eliminating the only probable alternative, not based on a general statistical statement.