Logical Reasoning

PT23 · S2 · Q2 The point of the veterinarian’s

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Veterinarian: A disease of purebred racehorses that is caused by a genetic defect prevents afflicted horses from racing and can cause paralysis and death.

Conclusion (But)

They are wrong. i.e., Some horse breeders are wrong to conclude that horses with this defect should not be bred (i.e. it's fine to breed horses with this defect).

Evidence (because)

In most cases, the disease caused by this genetic defect can be controlled (it doesn't reach the severity of paralysis and death) by diet and meds.

And, the defect leads to some wicked nice horses!

Evaluate

The most common places to find the conclusion on Main Conclusion questions are - first sentence - rebuttal

This one was a rebuttal. We see the attribution "Some horse breeders", which gets us ready for an Author's Pivot.

It comes in the form of a "But", and then the paragraph tells us this first claim after the "But" is the conclusion, because it goes on to support that claim with the word because.

FABS = for, after all, because, since (always indicate supporting ideas)

Structurally this paragraph looks like this:

Background Fact. Some horse breeders conclude that, because X, Y should not happen. But they are wrong (conclusion) because X and Y.

Goal

Let's go look for something that has the same meaning as "they are wrong", something like, "it's okay to breed horses with this defect".

Because this question stem is Main Point, not Main Conclusion (the typical kind), there may be some surprise to how the correct answer looks.

Sometimes it includes the premise as well, like

2.

The point of the veterinarian's response to the horse breeders is most accurately expressed by which one of the following?

  1. Racehorses that have the genetic

    Out of Scope: prevented from racing

    The rebuttal the author is making is about whether or not horses with this defect should be bred, not whether or not they should be prevented from racing.

    5% picked this

  2. Correct

    There should not be an

    Why this is right

    This matches "but they are wrong". What did they say? Horses with this defect should not be bred. So our author is saying, "It's not the case that horses with this defect should not be bred." In other words, "it's okay if horses with this defect are bred." That means the same thing as "there shouldn't be an absolute ban".

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

    71% picked this

  3. Racehorses that are severely afflicted

    Never Mentioned: not provided diet

    Some trap answers try to sound like "a correct answer for a different question type". On Main Conclusion, you'll see answers that feel like an Inference or a Necessary Assumption, but that's not our task here. We're just trying to name the actual explicit conclusion, which in this case was "but they're wrong [to say that horses with this defect should not be bred]."

    2% picked this

  4. The best way to produce

    Never Mentioned: best way

    This was never said. We're just trying to name the actual explicit conclusion, which in this case was "but they're wrong [to say that horses with this defect should not be bred]."

    1% picked this

  5. There should be no prohibition

    Too Broad

    This is close, but the author is rebutting a claim that says, "horses with this defect should not be bred". This claim is about whether "horses with diseases that can be controlled by diet and exercise should be bred".

    22% picked this

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