Beverage company representative: The plastic rings that hold six‐packs of beverage cans together pose a threat to wild animals, which often become entangled in the discarded rings and suffocate as a result.
Conclusion
The threat of suffocation that plastic rings pose to wild animals will be eliminated once all companies switch to the new plastic rings.
Evidence
The old plastic rings cause wild animals to become entangled and suffocate.
The company plans to switch to rings made of a new plastic that disintegrates after only three days’ exposure to sunlight.
Evaluate
Conditional Reasoning:
The argument assumes that the new rings will indeed prevent suffocation by disintegrating quickly, which would prevent animals from being trapped long enough to suffer suffocation. In other words, the author’s conclusion depends on the idea that wild animals won’t get entangled in the new rings before they disintegrate.
Goal
Look for an answer that supplies the missing link between the rings’ quick disintegration and the elimination of the suffocation risk—namely, that wild animals are unlikely to become entangled in the new rings before they disintegrate.