Self-study
Editorial: Support Last year, many polls found that most people in our country claimed to be tired of television news programs' obsession with celebrity scandals and to be unwilling to watch such programs. ███ ██ ███ ████ █████ ███████ ██ ██████████ ████ █████ ███████ ████ █████████ ████ ████ ██████████ ██ ██████ ███████ ██ ███ ████ ███ █████ ██ ███ ██████ █████ ███████ ██████████ ██ ████ ████ ██ ██ ██████████ ██████ ████ ██ ████ ████████ ████
Summary
The author concludes that when responding to polls, people often portray themselves as they wish to be perceived, rather than as they actually are.
Why does the author think this?
Because many polls last year found that most people in the country claimed to be unwilling to watch TV news programs.
But ratings of TV news shows significantly increased last year.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that some of the people who responded to the polls saying that they were unwilling to watch TV news programs actually did watch TV news programs. (This overlooks the possibility that the soaring TV news show viewership comes from people who never claimed not to watch TV news programs.)
The author assumes that some of the people who responded to the polls saying that they were unwilling to watch TV news programs want to be perceived as not willing to watch TV news programs.
24.
Which one of the following ██ ██ ██████████ ████ ███ ████████ ██ ███ █████████ █████████
a
Last year, everyone ██ ███ ██████████████ ███████ ███ ███████ ██ █████ ██ ██ █████ ██ ██████████ ████ █████████ █████████ ████ █████████ ████████ ████ ███████ ██ ██ █████████ ██ █████ ████ █████████
Not necessary, because we know that even if there were some people who claimed to be tired of celebrity scandals but did not say they were unwilling to watch TV news programs, it’s still the case that “most people in our country” claimed to be tired of obsession with celebrity scandals AND to be unwilling to watch TV news programs. The argument relies on the group of people who happened to make both claims; the argument doesn’t need to assume that everyone who made the first claim also made the second claim.
b
Last year, almost ████████ ██ ███ ██████████████ ███████ ███ ███████ ██ █████ ██ ██ █████ ██ ██████████ ████ █████████ █████████ ████ █████████ ████████ ███ ██ ██ █████████ ██ █████ ████ ████████ █████████ ██ █████ █████ █████████
Not necessary, because the conclusion merely asserts that people “often” portray themselves as they wish to be perceived, rather than as they actually are. This just requires the author to believe that many people who claimed not to watch the programs actually did watch the programs. It doesn’t require the author to think “almost everyone” who made that claim didn’t watch the programs.
c
Last year, at █████ ████ ██ ███ ██████ ███ █████████ ██ █████ ██ ███ ██████████████ ███████ ███ ███ ███████ ████ ██ █████ █████████ ████ ████ ██████████ ██████████ ██ ████ ████████ █████
Not necessary, because the author acknowledges in the conclusion that people might not have been aware that they were portraying themselves differently from how they actually were. The author said, “whether or not they are aware of it.”
d
Last year, none ██ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ██████████████ ███████ ███ █████████ ██ █████ █████ █████ █████ █████ ██████████ ████ ████████ █████████ ██████████ ██ ████ ████████ █████
Not necessary, because the conclusion merely asserts that people “often” portray themselves as they wish to be perceived, rather than as they actually are. This just requires the author to believe that many people who claimed not to watch the programs actually did watch the programs. It doesn’t require the author to think “none” of the people portrayed themselves as they actually were.
e
Last year, at █████ ████ ██████ ██████████ ██ █████ ██ ███ ██████████████ ███████ ██████ ██ ██ █████████ ██ █████████ ██ █████ ██████████ ████ █████████
Necessary, because if it were not true — if last year NO one responding to polls wished to be perceived as unwilling to watch TV news programs — then there’s no support for the claim that people often portray themselves “as they wish to be perceived.”