PT140.S1.Q2

PrepTest 140 - Section 1 - Question 2

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Accountant: The newspaper industry habitually cites the rising cost of newsprint to explain falling profits. ███ ████ █████████ ███ ██████████ ███ ████ ██ █████████ ██ ██ ████ ████ ██ ███ ███ █████ ████ ███ ████ █████ ███████ ██ ████ ██████ ██████████ ████ ████ ██████████ ████ █████ █████████ ███ ████████ ███ ████ ███████ ██ █████ █████████████ ███ ███████ ███████████ ███ ███████ ████████████

Summarize Argument: Counter-Position

The accountant concludes that falling circulation and advertising, not the rising cost of newsprint, are the real threats to newspapers' profits. She supports this by noting that, adjusted for inflation, newsprint costs are the same as they were ten years ago, and newspapers have actually benefited from cheap newsprint for decades.

Describe Method of Reasoning

The accountant supports her own explanation for falling newspaper profits by countering an explanation cited by the newspaper industry. She does this by pointing out that newsprint hasn't become more expensive in the last ten years and that newspapers have benefited from cheap newsprint for decades. She then concludes that the real threat to newspaper profits is falling circulation and advertising, not rising newsprint costs.

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2.

The accountant's argument proceeds by

a

reinterpreting a popular ███████ ██ █████ ██ ███ ████ ███████ ██ ███████ ██ ███████████ ██████████

The accountant’s argument doesn’t make use of an analogy at all. Instead, it rejects one explanation for newspapers’ falling profits and supports a different explanation.

2%
b

using economic data ██ █████ ██████ █████ ███ ███████ █████████████ ██ █ ████████████ ████████ ████████

The accountant does refer to economic data when she notes that, when adjusted for inflation, newsprint costs are the same as they were ten years ago. But she never talks about the “effectiveness of a historically accepted approach.”

6%
c

criticizing a newly █████████ ██████ ██ █████████████ ████ █ ████████████ ██████ █████ ██████ ███████

The accountant’s argument doesn’t say anything about any methods. She rejects one explanation to make way for a different explanation, but she never discusses any methods or results.

1%
d

challenging an explanation ████ ███ ████ █████ ███ █ ██████████ ██ █████ ██ █████████ █ █████████ ███████████

The accountant challenges the newspaper industry’s explanation— that profits are falling because of rising newsprint costs— in order to introduce her own explanation— that falling circulation and advertising are the real threats to newspapers’ profits.

89%
e

calling into question █ █████████████ ███ █ ████████ ██ ███████ ███ ███ ████ █████████████ ███ ██ ████ ██ ███████ █ ███████ ███████████ ████████

The accountant doesn’t discuss any undesirable practices or their justifications. She only discusses two explanations for falling newspaper profits, rejecting one and supporting the other.

2%

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