Prompt: Which one of the following exhibits flawed reasoning most similar…
Difficulty: ππππ
How will the right answer fit in terms of support and conclusion?
Only the right answer will use the same kind of support and the same kind of conclusion as the passage (and thus have the same flaw).
Highlight the main conclusion in the passage, if there is one:
he is my enemy.
[BACKGROUND]. [BACKGROUND]. So, since [SUPPORT], [CONCLUSION].
You can get the right answer just carefully mapping everything in the answers until you’re down to only one that matches. Buuut, you could also catch the false dichotomy here. Just because someone isn’t your friend doesn’t mean they’re your enemy. There’s plenty of middle ground getting left out. The right answer will do the exact same thing.
Map the wording of the answers to the wording of the passage:
(A) …Evelyn cannot be an officer…
We need a conclusion that someone is something based on not being something else. This conclusion isn’t matching that structure.
(B) …that explains why…
The passage isn’t explaining “why” anything. This conclusion has a totally different form from that one.
(C) …all the critics have loved this book.
Just because reviews aren’t “hostile” doesn’t mean the critics “loved” the book. There’s a lot of middle ground getting left out there, just like in the passage. Let’s keep this one.
(D) …it is possible that at least one…
This wording makes for a different kind of conclusion. The passage stated its conclusion matter-of-factly, it didn’t say something was “possible”.
(E) …will not come to a crashing halt.
Either society comes to a crashing halt or it doesn’t. There isn’t middle ground missing there like the gulf between friend and enemy.
(C) is the correct answer.
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