If Skiff's book is published

Answer choices

1. A

   Correct48% picked this

   Skiff's book will be published this year if it is as important as he

   Why this is right

   If it's as important → the book will be published as he claims This is similar, but notably different, from our prediction. They intended for that difference to short circuit us. We were expecting "If as important and well written as claimed, will be published", or A and B → C This is giving us A → C Suppose we know that "If there's karaoke at a party, Josie will have fun". If there's karaoke and Jenga at a party, do we know if Josie will have fun? Yes! The rule we just read said, if there's karaoke, it's a 100% guarantee that Josie will have fun. So adding in Jenga doesn't make us question that original conditional. We already must believe that Josie will have fun, since a party with karaoke and Jenga still involves karaoke at a party. On Sufficient Assumption (especially more modern examples), don't think about the correct answer needing to be the perfect missing link you solved for. Think about the answers flexibly. If we add them to the claims we were given in the evidence, can we derive the conclusion? This answer allows to construct this chain: If S's book is as important as he claims, it gets published, which means Nguyen recommends to dean, which means dean promotes Skiff. So have we proven our Conclusion, that says "If Skiff's book is as important and as well written as he claims, then he'll get promoted"? Sure. If Skiff's book is as important and as well written as he claims, then it's as important as he claims, and thus the book will be published, Nguyen will recommend to the dean, and the dean will promote Skiff

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

   48%
2. B

   No Impact10% picked this

   Skiff needs to publish a book before he can

   Our only concern is establishing that Skiff's book will get published. This asserts a need Skiff has to have it published, but that barely, if at all, strengthens the notion that it will get published. How badly Skiff wants / needs it to be published probably doesn't matter. The decision is out of Skiff's hands. It's about whether or not a publisher wants to publish it.

   10%
3. C

   Unrelated to Goal5% picked this

   Professor Nguyen believes that Skiff's book is

   Since this answer contains no wording about Skiff's book getting published, we don't really need to examine it. As it turns out, it's bringing up something irrelevant, in the sense that Nguyen's role in this argument is just to recommend the promotion to the dean, assuming Skiff's book gets published. We have no reason to think that Skiff's book getting published hinges in any way on Nguyen's evaluation of how well-written it is.

   5%
4. D

   Reversed / Backwards Logic28% picked this

   Skiff's book will not be published unless it is as important and as well written as

   It's hard to do a Sufficient Assumption question without encountering an answer choice that has the correct ideas in the wrong logical sequence. We wanted if as imp and well-written → book will be as Skiff claimed published This gives us the illegal light switch version of that: if not as important book will not and well-written → be published as Skiff claimed

   28%
5. E

   Unrelated to Goal9% picked this

   Skiff will not be promoted unless Professor Nguyen urges the dean

   Since this answer contains no wording about Skiff's book getting published, we don't really need to examine it. This answer just increases the importance of Nguyen's role in getting Skiff promoted, but we didn't need to be convinced that Nguyen's role was necessary. We know it's sufficient, and all we're trying to do is trigger Nguyen's recommendation (by finding an answer that establishes that Skiff's book will be published).

   9%