Logical Reasoning

PT120 · S4 · Q12 Novelist: Any author who thinks

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Novelist: Any author who thinks a sentence is ungrammatical will not write it down in the first place, and thus will have no need to use a grammar book.

Conclusion

Grammar books are useless as reference sources for authors

Evidence

thinks ungrammatical → write → consult sure grammatical → consult

Evaluation

"Useless" is so strong. All we need to push back is to argue that .

However, these two conditionals try to convince us it will always be useless. In both cases, the author won't consult the grammar book. Is there a way to argue that a grammar book is useful, even though you won't consult it? Maybe it's a paperweight or a weapon? Oh, wait. We have to be arguing that it's useful as a reference source.

Goal

If we weren't able to crack the riddle, then we would just go to the answers now thinking, If most people want it, we won't have enough. If too few people want it, we'll lose money. Thus, we're screwed" would leave out the in-between possibility of "what if the # of people who want it is less than most but more than too few?")

12.

The reasoning in the novelist's argument is flawed because the argument

  1. infers, from the claim that

    Bad Evidence Match

    Does the conclusion say that authors will not consult grammar books? Yeah, basically. He says that grammar books will be useless as reference sources, so that pretty much implies authors won't consult them. But does the evidence say "authors should not consult grammar books"? Not at all. There's no normative language in the evidence. It's just two descriptive conditional rules.

    4% picked this

  2. infers, from the claim that

    Bad Conclusion Match

    Does the author conclude that an author "will feel sure a sentence is grammatical"? Nope. He concludes that "grammar books are useless as reference sources to authors". The evidence is also off, should we keep reading, since the evidence never deals with the potential of mistakenly thinking a sentence is ungrammatical.

    10% picked this

  3. overlooks the possibility that grammar

    Out of Scope: non-authors

    The conclusion is only about whether these books are useful for authors.

    2% picked this

  4. presumes, without providing justification, that

    Out of Scope

    Out of Scope: not used as reference source The conclusion is only about whether these books are useful as reference sources.

    15% picked this

  5. Correct

    ignores the possibility that there

    Why this is right

    This points out the False Choice between the triggers of the author's two conditionals. It's not like in every single case you choose between "sure it's correct" and "think it's wrong". There could be middle degrees, such as "think it's correct" or "not really sure in either direction", for which an author might consult that grammar book as a reference.

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

    69% picked this

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