Ted, A senior employee

Answer choices

1. A

   Correct58% picked this

   Supervisors should request that an employee be replaced only if they know that all the work done by that employee can be

   Why this is right

   If we contrapose this, it's saying if you don't know all the then you should work done by X can be → not request that performed equally well an employee by another employee be replaced The right side of this conditional matches our conclusion, which is the #1 goal for a Strengthen-Principle answer choice. Does the trigger apply to Ted and Tatiana? Does Tatiana know that all the work by done by Ted could be performed equally well by another employee? She does not. After all, Ted makes some unique and perhaps irreplaceable contributions. If they are 'perhaps irreplaceable' then we are not sure it could be done equally well by another employee. This rule applies to Ted and instructs Tatiana to not request a replacement.

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

   58%
2. B

   Unrelated to Goal3% picked this

   Employers should compensate all their employees in a way that is adequate in relation to the value of

   This is a rule about how employers should compensate an employee. We're looking for a rule about whether an employer should request a replacement for an employee.

   3%
3. C

   Unrelated to Goal3% picked this

   Only someone with greater authority than a particular employee’s supervisor is entitled to decide whether that

   This is a rule about how who should be entitled to decide on whether Ted should be replaced. We're not trying to justify that Tatiana is a person who's entitled to request a replacement for Ted. We're trying to justify Tatiana's decision to not request a replacement.

   3%
4. D

   Unrelated to Goal2% picked this

   Workers in a work setting should regard themselves as jointly responsible for the work

   This is a rule about whether a coworker should consider themselves responsible for work. We're looking for a rule about whether an employer should request a replacement for an employee.

   2%
5. E

   Very Weak33% picked this

   An employee’s contributions in the workplace are not always a function of the amount of time

   This would mildly strengthen. Ted works short hours, but we're trying to justify a decision to keep him. So it helps a little to say that "just because he works short hours doesn't mean he only makes 'short' contributions. An employee's contributions are not always a function of time spent on the job." But the strength of "X is not always Y" is really just saying, "at least once, something was X but not Y". Not much heft there. When we compare this to (A), it's not even close. (A) is a conditional that applies to our situation and basically proves Tatiana's decision is the correct one.

   33%