Practice Questions

Please come to class prepared with answers to these questions.

Argument, Explanation or Neither?

1. I was late to class because my car wouldn’t start.

2. You really need to get your car repaired because your car often doesn’t start.

3. We hired another member for the night shift because the crew that is on cannot keep up with the workload.

4. The sight of the Indian woman, Sacajawea, convinced the Indians of our friendly intentions, as no woman ever accompanies a war party of Indians in this quarter.—William Clark

5. Mustangs are the hottest cars on the road today.

6. Physician-assisted suicide is always wrong because it involves killing human beings. And killing humans is wrong.

7. The number of miles driven per year on America’s highways has risen every year since the statistics were first tracked in the 1950s.

8. Three explanations have been offered for the extinction of the dinosaurs. First, a global rise in temperature caused the testes of male dinosaurs to stop functioning. Second, certain flowering plants (namely, angiosperms) evolved after the dinosaurs evolved; these plants were toxic for the dinosaurs, which ate them and died. Third, a large comet struck the earth, causing a cloud of dust that blocked out the sunlight, which in turn created a frigid climate for which the dinosaurs were ill suited. Now, there is no way to get any evidence either for or against the first hypothesis. And the second hypothesis is unlikely because it is probable that angiosperms were in existence 10 million years before the dinosaurs became extinct. There is, however, some evidence in favor of the third hypothesis. If the earth was struck by a large comet at the time the dinosaurs became extinct (some 65 million years ago), then there should be unusually large amounts of iridium (a rare metal) in the sediments of that period, for most of the iridium on Earth comes from comets and other objects from outer space. And, as a matter of fact, unusually large amounts of iridium have been found in the sediments of that period. So, the third explanation seems best.

9. Global oil demand still lies well below the peak level of 1979. Improved energy efficiency and the expanding role of natural gas in many countries is cutting into petroleum’s market. But oil is still the world’s leading source of energy, supplying 40 percent of the total . . .

10. The good don’t always die young because Mother Teresa was a good person.

Identify the premises, conclusion and issue for each passage.

1. If you want to pass your Chemistry class, you really have to do your homework. But you are not doing any of your homework.

2. Student fees have been raised every year for the past decade. You can figure out what’s going to happen next year, can’t you?

3. Which program should you choose? The one that will make you happiest over the long haul. This is because no amount of money will make up for a boring, unsatisfying career.

4. Will you stop being so squeamish? Surely, you have seen blood before, and besides that, you’re wearing gloves.

5. Stop staying up late studying; it’s ruining your health.

6. Radioactive fallout isn’t the only concern in the aftermath of nuclear explosions. The nations of planet Earth have acquired nuclear weapons with an explosive power equal to more than a million Hiroshima bombs. Studies suggest that explosion of only half these weapons would produce enough soot, smoke, and dust to blanket the Earth, block out the sun, and bring on a nuclear winter that would threaten the survival of the human race.

7. Contrary to the tales of some scuba divers, the toothy, gaping grin on the mouth of an approaching shark is not necessarily anticipatory. It is generally accepted that by constantly swimming with its mouth open, the shark is simply avoiding suffocation. This assures a continuous flow of oxygen-laden water into their mouths, over their gills, and out through the gill slits.

8. College is the time in which a young mind is supposed to mature and acquire wisdom, and one can only do this by experiencing as much diverse intellectual stimuli as possible. A business student may be a whiz at accounting, but has he or she ever experienced the beauty of a Shakespearean sonnet or the boundless events composing Hebrew history? Most likely not. While many of these neoconservatives will probably go on to be financially successful, they are robbing themselves of the true purpose of collegiate academics, a sacrifice that outweighs the future salary checks.

9. It is not always moral to save five lives at the cost of one life. For if it is always moral to save five lives at the cost of one life, then it is moral to remove the organs of a healthy person against his wishes and transplant them in five people who need organ transplants. But it is not moral to perform such transplants because doing so violates the rights of the healthy person. Therefore, it is not always morally right to save five lives at the cost of one life.

10. Will power, the kind that, if need be, makes us set our teeth and endure suffering, is the principal weapon of the apprentice engaged in manual work. But, contrary to the usual belief, it has practically no place in study. The intelligence can only be led by desire. [And] for there to be desire, there must be pleasure and joy in the work.