Self-study
The olecranon process is a bony part of the mammalian elbow. ███ ███████ ███ █████████ ████████ ███ ██████ ███ █████████ ███ █████████ ██ ██████ █████████ ███████ ████ ████ █████ █████████ ████ ███████ ████ █████████ █████ ███ ████ █████████ ████ █████ █████████ ██████████ ██ ███ ████████ ████ █████ ████ ███ ███████ ██████ ███████████ ███ █ █████ █████████ ████████ ██████ ██ ███ ████████████ ███████████ ███ █ █████████
Summarize Argument
The author concludes that it was likely that the extinct mammal Megatherium was a predator. As support, the author cites the fact that Megatherium had a short olecranon process. Predators tend to have short olecranon processes because they need to move their forelimbs quickly, and shorter olecranon processes allow faster forelimb movement.
Identify and Describe Flaw
The stimulus only tells us that predators tend to have short olecranon processes. The stimulus does not say that only predators have short olecranon processes. With the information given, it can still be the case that animals that aren’t predators also have short olecranon processes.
20.
The argument is most vulnerable ██ █████████ ██ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ████████
a
It fails to ███████ ███ ███████████ ████ ████ ███████ ████ █████ █████████ █████████ ████ ███ ████ ██████████
The stimulus did not establish that having a short olecranon process is evidence that something is a mammal; the stimulus only said that predatory mammals tend to have short olecranon processes. We have no indication that only predators have short olecranon processes.
b
It takes for ███████ ████ ███ ████ ██████ █████████ ████ ██ ████ █████ █████████ ███████ ██ ██ ██████ █████
This is descriptively inaccurate. The stimulus just says that predators need to move their forelimbs quickly when attacking prey; it does not assume that this is the only case in which predators need to move their forelimbs quickly.
c
It overlooks the ███████████ ████ ███████████ █████ ████ ████ █ ██████████ ████████ ████ ██ ██ ███ ███ ████ █ █████ █████████ ████████
While the argument did overlook this possibility, this possibility is not relevant to the argument. Megatherium did have a short olecranon process, so hypothetical situations in which it didn’t are irrelevant to the argument.
d
It takes for ███████ █████ ██ ████████ ███ █████████ █████████ ██ ███████ ███████ ████ ██ ███████ ████ █████ ██ ██████ ███████ ████
This is descriptively inaccurate. The argument does not make any comparison between the average olecranon processes of extinct and living mammals.
e
It fails to ███████ ███ ███████████ ████ █ ██████ █████████ ███████ ███ ██████ ████ █████ ██████████ ████ ██ ███████ █████████
While the stimulus did fail to address. this possibility, it’s not relevant to the argument. We know that Megatherium had a short olecranon process––the argument discusses the implications of this fact. Benefits of longer olecranon processes are irrelevant to this argument.