Logical Reasoning

PT143 · S1 · Q14 If people refrained from being

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If people refrained from being impolite to one another the condition of society would be greatly improved.

Conclusion

Society would not be better off if the government enacted laws requiring people to be polite to each other.

Evidence

Enforcing such laws would create even more problems than does impoliteness.

Evaluate

Whenever we read the argument in Role or Main Conclusion, we remind ourselves that in 85% of more of these, the conclusion is earlier than the evidence. Specifically, it's either - the very first claim - some sort of rebuttal / pivot

Could this first sentence be the conclusion?

Sure, it sounds like an opinion. . Does the author support that opinion. It's not a conclusion until it gets supported. Does she tell us why society would be better if people were polite?

No. If there were support for why society would be better if people were more polite, it would sound like,

The second sentence has a pivot word, "But", so this is also a ripe contender for being the conclusion. Is this an opinion from our author?

Sure. The opinion is that . Does the author support / defend that claim?

Yes, the final sentence supports it. We wouldn't be better off because enforcing politeness laws would create even more problems than our normal impoliteness does.

Goal

We're being asked about the second sentence, which was the Main Conclusion. So let's look for "Main Conclusion".

14.

Which one of the following most accurately describes the role played in the argument by the claim that society would not be better off if the government enacted laws requiring people to be polite to each other?

  1. Correct

    It is the conclusion drawn

    Why this is right

    It is an opinion from the author that is supported by the 3rd sentence.

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

    77% picked this

  2. It is cited as evidence

    Wrong Role

    It is the conclusion, it's not evidence for the conclusion.

    5% picked this

  3. It is cited as evidence

    Wrong Role

    It is the conclusion; it's not evidence for an intermediate conclusion that supports the conclusion.

    7% picked this

  4. It is cited as an

    Wrong Role

    It's the conclusion. I don't know what to say (D). This is a mouthful, but what's in your mouth should be "conclusion".

    6% picked this

  5. It describes a phenomenon that

    Wrong Role

    It is the conclusion. It's not describing the phenomenon that the conclusion tries to explain.

    4% picked this

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