Logical Reasoning

PT111 · S1 · Q3 More women than men suffer

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More women than men suffer from Alzheimer’s disease—a disease that is most commonly contracted by elderly persons.

Conclusion

This theory may be wrong. rephrase: The reason that women suffer more than men from Alzheimer's might not be because women live longer.

Evidence

A recent study shows that prescribing estrogen to post-menopausal women can prevent them from developing Alzheimer's. Meanwhile, men have a big supply of testosterone, which the body converts into estrogen.

Evaluate

Whenever we do Main Conclusion (and Role) we read the paragraph differently, knowing that 90% of the time the conclusion is the very first sentence, or it's some rebuttal signified with a pivot word (like "but, yet, however"). In either case, 90% of the time the conclusion is earlier than the support, on these two question types.

As we read this first sentence, we ask ourselves whether it's eligible to be a conclusion -- does it sound like an opinion coming from the author? No, it sounds like fact.

But the second sentence contains an attribution (literally). It says . When we see any attribution in the early going of a Main Conclusion paragraph, then we anticipate that our author will probably be rebutting this position.

Sure enough, the second half of the 2nd sentence has one of those signature pivot words that we're listening for on Main Conclusion (but, yet, however).

So now we think,

Does the author going to go on and try to convince us of that? Yes, because she builds up a case for an Alternate Explanation. This theory that "longer life span" is why women are more afflicted may be wrong, because the real reason that women are more afflicted could be that estrogen is the secret weapon against Alzheimer's and women have less estrogen than men in their old age.

Goal

The conclusion was "this theory may be wrong", but since this claim includes a pronoun (this theory), we need to make sure we insert the specific language that pronoun is referring to:

It may be wrong to think that longer life span is why women suffer more from Alzheimer's (lack of estrogen may be the real reason that women suffer more from Alzheimer's)

3.

Which one of the following most accurately expresses the main conclusion of the argument?

  1. Correct

    A decrease in estrogen, rather

    Why this is right

    This is our best match for "this theory may be wrong". It's a little unusual that this answer would include the alternate explanation (that low estrogen is the real cause), but that was an implied conclusion, supported by the final two sentences. It should make us happy that "may explain" in the answer nicely captures the strength of "this theory may be wrong".

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

    90% picked this

  2. As one gets older, one’s

    Unstated

    The quickest way to eliminate this is that it isn't at all a match for "this theory [that longer life span explains why more women get Alzheimer's] may be wrong". This doesn't mention women at all. The correct answer on Main Conclusion will be replicating the meaning of one of the explicit claims. None of the claims in this argument say that "as you get older, your chance of developing Alzheimer's increases".

    3% picked this

  3. Women who go through menopause

    Unstated Inference

    This isn't at all a match for "this theory [that longer life span explains why more women get Alzheimer's] may be wrong". This doesn't mention longer life span at all. The correct answer on Main Conclusion will be replicating the meaning of one of the explicit claims. None of the claims in this argument talk about early menopause. This answer might appeal to people who feel like we could infer this idea from the paragraph, but that's forgetting our job: find the explicit claim that is the main conclusion.

    1% picked this

  4. The conversion of testosterone into

    Unstated Inference

    This isn't at all a match for "this theory [that longer life span explains why more women get Alzheimer's] may be wrong". This doesn't mention longer life spans or women. This answer, like (C), feels like an inference we could derive from what was said, but this wasn't said. It's also technically not even that solid an inference. It's not the conversion that helps men, exactly; it's the fact that they have plenty of testosterone to convert in the first place. Women run low on estrogen. Men have a high, stable supply of testosterone, which can be converted.

    6% picked this

  5. Testosterone is necessary for preventing

    Unstated

    This isn't at all a match for "this theory [that longer life span explains why more women get Alzheimer's] may be wrong". This doesn't mention longer life spans or women. This also tries to bait students into picking an answer that goes beyond what was actually said. In this case, it's also an extremely strong claim (necessary?) that we could support even if there were an Inference question.

    1% picked this

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