Most kinds of soil contain clay

Answer choices

1. A

   Bad Conclusion Match14% picked this

   Most pharmacies sell cosmetics. Virtually every pharmacy sells shampoo or toothpaste, or both. Therefore, if there are pharmacies that sell both cosmetics and toothpaste,

   This conclusion is conditional. We want a conclusion that makes two Some claims. The premises did match: Most pharmacies sell cosmetics. Most pharmacies sell shampoo or toothpaste. But the conclusion would have needed to be “Some places that sell cosmetics also sell shampoo, and some places that sell cosmetics also sell toothpaste”.

   14%
2. B

   Bad Conclusion Match9% picked this

   Undoubtedly, most pharmacies sell cosmetics, for almost all pharmacies sell either shampoo or toothpaste, or both, and there are some pharmacies that sell both

   This conclusion is a Most claim. We want a conclusion that makes two Some claims. The words “for, after all, since, because” (F.A.B.S.) directly indicate premises and indirectly indicate conclusions. Ideally, we don’t read any of this answer once we’ve already seen that the first claim was the conclusion and that the conclusion was a mismatch.

   9%
3. C

   Bad Conclusion Match4% picked this

   Most pharmacies sell cosmetics. Nearly all pharmacies sell shampoo or toothpaste, or both. Therefore, unless there are some pharmacies that sell both cosmetics and

   This conclusion is conditional. We want a conclusion that makes two Some claims. The premises did match: Most pharmacies sell cosmetics. Most pharmacies sell shampoo or toothpaste. But the conclusion would have needed to be “Some places that sell cosmetics also sell shampoo, and some places that sell cosmetics also sell toothpaste”.

   4%
4. D

   Weak Premise Match17% picked this

   Virtually every pharmacy that sells shampoo also sells toothpaste. Most pharmacies sell cosmetics. Therefore, there must be some pharmacies that sell both cosmetics and

   This conclusion makes two Some claims, so it’s worth reading. The problem is that the first premise isn’t saying “Most P’s are S or T”, it’s saying “Most P’s that are S are also T”. In the original argument, both Most claims were about the same group: “types of soil”. This answer would only match had the original argument said, Most pharmacies that sell shampoo also sells toothpaste. Most sandy soil has organic material. Consider the difference in meaning between these two claims: Most people have an iPhone or an Android phone. vs. Most people that have an iPhone also have an Android phone.

   17%
5. E

   Correct56% picked this

   Nearly all pharmacies sell either shampoo or toothpaste, or both. Therefore, since most pharmacies sell cosmetics, there must be some pharmacies that sell both

   Why this is right

   This has two Some claims in the conclusion, so it's worth reading. Premise 1: Most pharmacies sell cosmetics. Premise 2: Most pharmacies sell shampoo or toothpaste. Conclusion: Some cosmetics sell shampoo, and some cosmetics and toothpaste.

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

   56%