Self-study
McBride: Support The proposed new fuel-efficiency standards, if implemented, will discourage the manufacture of full-size cars. ████ ████████ ██ █████████ ███████ ████ █ ██████████ ███ █ █████████ ███ ████████ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ██████████ ███ ████ ██████ ██ ██ █████████ ███████ ████ ██ ██████ ███ ████ ████ █ █████████ ████ ███ ███ ███████████████ █████████ ██████ █████████ ██ ████████
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McBride's Argument
McBride concludes that we should oppose proposed new fuel-efficiency standards. Why? Because the new standards would discourage manufacturing full-size cars. And if a subcompact car crashes with a full-size car, the subcompact car's passengers are more likely to be seriously injured compared to if two full-size cars crashed. McBride's argument rests on the idea that by discouraging full-size car manufacture, the new standards will decrease safety.
Leggett's Argument
Leggett concludes that we should support the new fuel-efficiency standards. Why? Because the new standards would discourage manufacturing full-size cars. And a car crash involving no full-size cars is much likely to cause a serious injury compared to a car crash involving a full-size car. Leggett's argument rests on the idea that by discouraging full-size car manufacture, the new standards will increase safety.
Objective: Identify a Disagreement
There are a couple of things McBride and Leggett disagree on. First, they come to opposite conclusions: McBride opposes the new standards, and Leggett supports them. But because both speakers agree that the new standards discourage full-size car manufacture, this indicates another disagreement: McBride thinks we shouldn't discourage full-size car manufacture, and Leggett thinks we should. And finally, their reasons for this reveal a third disagreement: McBride thinks full-size cars increase safety, and Leggett thinks they decrease safety.
It's likely that the correct answer will identify one of these disagreements, but it's always possible that the answer will be something unexpected. To make sure we're properly assessing each answer choice, we should ask what each speaker thinks about each answer choice. Do they agree, disagree, or express no opinion? An answer choice will only be correct if one speaker agrees and the other disagrees.
4.
Which one of the following █████████████ ██████████ ████ ███████ ███ ██ ██████████ ██ ██████ ███████████ █████████
a
demonstrating that McBride’s ██████ ███ █████████████
Leggett doesn't show any contradiction in McBride's argument. McBride's argument is internally consistent, the issue is just that Leggett takes a different view of how to assess road safety. That means Leggett contradicts McBride. But that's not the same as Leggett pointing out that McBride contradicts himself.
b
challenging the unstated ██████████ ████ ███ ████ ███ ██████ █████████ ██ ██████████
Leggett, like McBride, seems to take for granted that cars are either full-size or subcompact. If there are other types of cars in the world of this stimulus, Leggett doesn't bring them up.
c
shifting the perspective ████ █████ ███ █████ ██ ██████████ ██████ ██ ██████████
McBride thinks of safety from the perspective of a crash with a full-size car: in that situation, passengers are safer if they're in another full-size car rather than a subcompact. Leggett brings a new perspective on safety by considering the impact of having full-size cars around at all. From this perspective, passengers are safer if there are no full-size cars involved at all.
d
raising doubts about ███ ████████ ██ █ ██████████████ ████ ██ ███████
Leggett doesn't directly disagree with McBride's claim about safety, just considers safety from a different angle. As far as we know, Leggett accepts McBride's claim that, in a crash with a full-size car, passengers are less safe in a subcompact versus in another full-size car.
e
demonstrating that it ██ ██████████ ██ ██████ ███ ██████ ██ ██████ █████████ ██ ███████
McBride's only suggested course of action is to oppose the new standards. Leggett doesn't suggest this is impossible, just thinks that McBride is misguided with regard to safety.