Restaurant manager: In response to

Answer choices

1. A

   Bad Conclusion Match2% picked this

   concluding that two things that occur at the same time have

   Is the conclusion saying that "two things have a common cause"? We know the author is saying that "people's dislike of potatoes is causing the potato and cheese dish to not sell well". Is it causing some second thing as well? No, the author is never saying that two things are caused by a dislike of potatoes. This answer is describing an argument that sounds like, "X and Y both started happening around the same time. Thus, the same thing must be responsible for both X and Y."

   2%
2. B

   Not Self-Contradiction3% picked this

   drawing a conclusion that is inconsistent with one premise of

   This answer alludes to one of the 10 Famous Flaws, Self-Contradiction, in which something the author says early on undermines something they say later on. The word "inconsistent" means contradictory. These answers are almost always wrong. The conclusion is that "our patrons prefer not to eat potatoes", so this answer is saying there was a premise that said, "Our patrons love to eat potatoes!", which of course there was not.

   3%
3. C

   Irrelevant Distinction5% picked this

   ignoring possible differences between what people say they want and what

   People said they wanted vegetarian entree options. And ever since the restaurant introduced three such options, people have "frequently" ordered two of them. So there isn't a mismatch between what people say they want and what they choose. It sounds like they said they wanted vegetarian entrees and have frequently been choosing vegetarian entrees.

   5%
4. D

   Bad Evidence Match2% picked this

   attempting to prove a claim on the basis of evidence that a number of people hold that

   The author is attempting to prove the claim that "our patrons prefer not to eat potatoes". Is the evidence stating that "a number of people claim that it's true that patrons prefer not to eat potatoes"? Definitely not. The evidence is that the potato meal is never ordered while the non-potato meals are frequently ordered.

   2%
5. E

   Correct88% picked this

   treating one of several plausible explanations of a phenomenon as the

   Why this is right

   This is another way of saying the author "failed to consider alternate explanations". How come no one orders the potato and cheese dish? - maybe they don't like potatoes - maybe they don't like cheese - maybe they don't like that combination - maybe the other two entrees simply look more enticing There are many potential ways to explain why no one is ordering this dish, but this author overconfidently acts like "potato-hating" is the only possible explanation.

   Skill tested: Flaw · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

   88%