Evaluating Evidence: Assignment 1

Evaluating Evidence” is worth 15% of your final grade. Please refer to the instructions below preceding each of the 3 sections to help you tackle each section.  

The following 3 sections (and associated questions in each section) are based on material from chapters 1-5 of the course text.

For the marks breakdown for each section, please refer to the grading rubric available on Centennial.

Which of the following passages are arguments? For each passage below (Q1, Q2, etc.), indicate the following:

1) Indicate whether the passage is an argument, counterfactual argument, or not an argument.

2) For those passages that you decide are arguments, identify the premise(s) and the conclusion. In your answer, indicate the premises by using the notation used in the text, for example, for premise 1, indicate using “P1” preceding the premise, for premise 2, use P2, etc., and for conclusions, indicate with “C” preceding the conclusion. If you decide the passage is not an argument, indicate by using “NA,” short for Non-Argument.

3) For some passages, it may be necessary to provide a missing premise or premises, and/or a missing conclusion. Indicate the missing premises(s) and/or conclusion where appropriate. In your answer indicate any missing premise(s) using the notation MP1, MP2, etc., and any missing conclusion using MC, MC2, etc.

Q1: Woke up. Fell out of bed. Dragged a comb across my head.

Q2: I missed the bus I usually get, and they only come every half hour, so that’s why I’m late.

Q3: Arnold hasn’t phoned. He would have left a message on the answering machine if he did.

Q4: Fred is a liar and untrustworthy. He’s self-seeking and tiresome. Nobody wants to spend much time with him.

Q5: Sally will show up here on Friday. She said she’d arrive some time this week, and she hasn’t shown up so far.

Q6: Sally will show up here on Friday. Everyone will be glad to see her, and she hasn’t been here for a long time.

Q7: Now, let’s get something clear. I most definitely did tell you that I couldn’t pick you up on Thursday. I really did. Honestly.

Q8: That’s not an argument, it’s just a contradiction.

Q9: You think there’s going to be an election soon. But whenever an election is imminent, the government hires a lot of workers to pave the roads, and, as you can see, the roads are in terrible shape and nobody’s fixing them.

Section 1: Argument Identification

Q10: Suppose that the test is going to happen on Friday. That means that after Thursday’s class, we’d know when the test would happen. But the test is going to be a surprise. So it can’t happen on Friday.

Using the contextual clues provided in brackets, which of the nine functions listed in chapter 2, section 2.3 (in our course text, pp. 24-29) is the most likely primary purpose for each of the following sentences? In your answer for each sentence, also indicate your reason(s) for your decision.

Q1: A horse walks into a bar; bartender says, “Why the long face?” (Telling a joke.)

Q2: Can you tell me how to get to Edward Street? (Said on the street to a stranger.)

Q3: Place your chair backs and chair tables in an upright position. (Said by flight attendant to passengers.)

Q4: Polls with a larger sampling give more accurate information. (Written in a textbook on scientific method.)

Q5: The capital of Bolivia is La Paz. (Said by a teacher to a high school class.)

Q6: The ending to the movie was unsatisfying. (Written in a newspaper movie review.)

Q7: Wild blueberries are smaller than the cultivated kind. (Said by a cooking demonstrator on a TV cooking show.)

Q8: We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender... (Winston Churchill, Speech, June 1940)

Q9:  Paper Plastic Bottles (Signs on trash cans.)

Q10: I apologize. (To your lover, with whom you’ve had a fight.)

For each of the following passages, indicate whether it is an argument in the usual probative sense, an explanation, a report of an argument, or (less likely), a combination of argument and explanation. Also, for each of your answers, in a sentence or two provide a very brief explanation of your reason(s) for your answer.

Q1: Precipitation in the form of snow will be about ten times as deep as it would have been if it fell as rain. So, for convenience they measure rain in millimeters and snow in centimeters (i.e., a centimeter is ten times larger than a millimeter.)

Q2: We shouldn’t expect Fred to be back soon because, according to Monica, he left town because he was angry at her and said not to expect to see him again for a long while.

Q3: My car didn’t start yesterday morning because the battery was weak and it had been very cold overnight.

Q4: My car won’t start this morning because the battery is weak and it’s been very cold overnight.

Q5: My car won’t start this morning because the battery is weak and it’s been very cold overnight—according to Fred, anyway.

Q6: Unwashed lettuce carries dangerous bacteria, according to the Canada Safety Council, so it should be washed thoroughly before eating.

Q7: First you said you were going. Then you said you weren’t. Then you said you’d go if I really wanted you to. I’m fed up, and I’m just going to go without you.

Q8: Poltergeists are the most common form of ghostly manifestation. They move and throw things around the house and cause general disorder. So that must explain the mess I found when I came home.

Q9: Robins find worms largely by hearing their munching noises underground. That’s what they’re doing when they stand still, apparently at attention, in the middle of the lawn.

Q10: Fool’s gold will shatter when hit with a hammer, but real gold will not. So, when you’ve found a yellowish metallic lump, you can tell which one you have by hitting it with a hammer.