Logical Reasoning

PT21 · S3 · Q2 Most people who ride bicycles for

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Most people who ride bicycles for pleasure do not ride until the warm weather of spring and summery arrives.

Conclusion (probably = opinion)

It's probably more effective to advertise bicycles earlier in the year than the warm parts of spring / summer.

Evidence

Most bikes are bought in the spring, but by the time they are ready to buy, they have already decided what brand and model they're going to purchase.

By then it's too late to change their minds (mostly).

Evaluate

On Main Conclusion and Role, we expect them to try to hide the conclusion the vast majority of the time by either making it the very First Claim or making it some sort of Rebuttal / Pivot.

Is the first claim in this paragraph an opinion from our author? No, it sounds more like a statistical fact about pleasure bikers.

Is the second claim, the one after the "But, Yet, However" pivot an opinion from our author?

Yes! It has the opinion indicator probably in it, and it sounds like it's offering some advice. The argument goes on to support this advice by saying,

Goal

If we correctly found the Main Conclusion, there's nothing left to it but to find an answer that matches the meaning of that claim.

We decided the Main Conclusion is the 2nd sentence, so we just want an answer that says .

2.

The main point of the argument is that

  1. Correct

    bicycle advertisements are probably more

    Why this is right

    This is a nice match for the 2nd sentence. We can tell it's a conclusion because it's an Opinion belonging to the author, and it's supported (by the final two sentences).

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

    89% picked this

  2. most bicycle purchasers decide on

    Premise

    This is showing us the second claim in the 3rd sentence, which was one of the three premises. This does not sound like an opinion, nor does the author offer any reason why we should believe this.

    4% picked this

  3. more bicycles are purchased in

    Premise

    This is showing us the first claim in the 3rd sentence, which was one of the three premises. This does not sound like an opinion, nor does the author offer any reason why we should believe this.

    1% picked this

  4. in general, once a bicycle

    Premise Last-Claim Trap

    This is showing us the 4th sentence, which was one of the three premises. This is also the final claim in the paragraph, which is a classic trap answer pattern on Main Conclusion. (The conclusion will sometimes be the final claim on Main Conclusion, but it's only like 10% of the time so we want to second-guess ourselves a little if we're thinking about saying the final claim is the conclusion).

    5% picked this

  5. spring and summer are the

    Background

    This is the 1st sentence, which wasn't really a premise. If anything, it's a counterpoint. We can tell, since the author pivots away from it with Yet. Since most people don't start riding until spring, you'd think it wouldn't make sense to advertise until spring. But the author goes in the other direction and argues, "No, actually, it makes more sense to advertise earlier in the year".

    1% picked this

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