Asking the Right Questions- Chapter 2+3

I. Complete the following statements:

1. Descriptive issues are those that raise questions about the way things were, are, or will
be. (2 words)
2. We cannot critically evaluate until we find the conclusion. (2 words)
3. The surest way to detect an issue when it is not explicitly stated is to locate the
conclusion(1 word)
4. Conclusions are inferred statements used to prove something else. (1 word)
5. “What is the author’s main point?” is a question used to search for the writer’s
conclusion1 w
6. Every argument must have at least one reason and a conclusion (1 word each).
7. The conclusion of an argument is derived from reasoning (1 words).
8. A statement of personal belief or opinion that is not supported by reasons or evidence is
not an argument. (2 words).
9. It is impossible to determine the worth of a conclusion until you identify the reasons. (1
word)
10. Three characteristics of arguments are: they have intent; their quality varies; and they
have two essential visible components (1 word each.).
II. For each passage in this exercise, identify which of the items that follow best states
the primary issue discussed in the passage.
1. Let me tell you why Hank ought not to take that math course. First, it’s too hard, and
he’ll probably flunk it. Second, he’s going to spend the whole term in a state of frustration.
Third, he’ll probably get depressed and do poorly in all the rest of his courses.
a. Whether Hank ought to take the math course
b. Whether Hank would flunk the math course
c. Whether Hank will spend the whole term in a state of frustration
d. Whether Hank will get depressed and do poorly in all the rest of his courses
2. Pollution of the waters of the Everglades and of Florida Bay is due to multiple causes.
These include cattle farming, dairy farming, industry, tourism, and urban development. So it
is simply not that the sugar industry is completely responsible for the pollution of these
waters.
 a. Whether pollution of the waters of the Everglades and Florida Bay is due to multiple
causes
b. Whether pollution is caused by cattle farming, dairy farming, industry, tourism, and
urban development
c. Whether the sugar industry is partly responsible for the pollution of these waters
d. Whether the sugar industry is completely responsible for the pollution of these waters
3. It’s clear that the mainstream media have lost interest in classical music. For example, the
NBC network used to have its own classical orchestra conducted by Arturo Toscanini, but no
such orchestra exists now. One newspaper, the no-longer-existent Washington Star, used to
have thirteen classical music reviewers—that’s more than twice as many as the New York
Times has now. H. L. Mencken and other columnists used to devote considerable space to
classical music; nowadays, you almost never see it mentioned in a major column.
a. Whether popular taste has turned away from classical music
b. Whether newspapers are employing fewer writers on classical music
c. Whether the mainstream media have lost interest in classical music syndrome.
4. From an editorial in a newspaper outside Southern California: “The people in Southern
California who lost a fortune in the wildfires last year could have bought insurance that
would have covered their houses and practically everything in them. And anybody with any
foresight would have made sure there were no brush and no trees near the houses so that there
would be a buffer zone between the house and any fire, as the Forest Service recommends.
Finally, anybody living in a fire danger zone ought to know enough to have a fireproof or
fire-resistant roof on the house. So, you see, most of the losses those people suffered were
simply their own fault.”
a. Whether there were things the fire victims could have done to prevent their losses
b. Whether insurance, fire buffer zones, and fire-resistant roofs could have prevented
much of the loss
c. Whether the losses suffered by people in the fires were their own fault
5. The TV show The Sopranos might have been a pretty good series without the profanity
that occurred all the way through it. But without the profanity, it would not have been
believable. Those people just talk that way. If you have them speaking Shakespearean
English or middle-class suburban English, then nobody is going to pay any attention to the
message because nobody will see it as realistic. It’s true, of course, that, like many other
programs with some offensive feature—whether it’s bad language, sex, or whatever—it will
never appeal to the squeamish.
 a. Whether movies with offensive features can appeal to the squeamish
b. Whether The Sopranos would have been a good series without the bad language
c. Whether The Sopranos would have been believable without the bad language
d. Whether believable programs must always have an offensive feature of one kind or
another
e. Whether communism, in the long run, is a much worse system than capitalism when it
comes to protecting the population from harm
6. “The United States puts a greater percentage of its population in prison than any other
developed country in the world. We persist in locking more and more people up despite the
obvious fact that it doesn’t work. Even as we build more prisons and stuff them ever more
tightly, the crime rate goes up and up. But we respond, ‘Since it isn’t working, let’s do more
of it’! “It’s about time we learned that fighting criminals is not the same thing as fighting
crime.”
— Richard Parker, radio commentary on CalNet, California Public Radio
a. Whether we build more prisons than any other country
b. Whether we imprison more people than do other countries
c. Whether reliance on imprisonment is an effective method of reducing crime
d. Whether attacking the sources of crime (poverty, lack of education, and so on) will
reduce crime more than just imprisoning people who commit crimes
7. Letting your children surf the Net is like dropping them off downtown to spend the day
doing whatever they want. They’ll get in trouble.
a. Whether letting your children off downtown to spend the day doing whatever they want
will lead them into trouble.
b. Whether letting your children surf the Net will lead them into trouble
c. Whether restrictions should be placed on children’s activities
8. The winner of this year’s spelling bee is a straight-A student whose favorite subject is
science, which isn’t surprising, since students interested in science learn to pay attention to
details.
a. Whether the winner of this year’s spelling bee is a straight-A student
b. Whether science students learn to pay attention to detail
c. Whether learning science will improve a student’s ability to spell
d. Whether learning science teaches a student to pay attention to details
e. None of the above
9. In 2007, the Dominican Republic banned the sale of two brands of Chinese toothpaste
because they contained a toxic chemical responsible for dozens of poisoning deaths in
Panama last year. The company that exported the toothpaste, the Danyang Household
Chemical Company, defended its product. “Toothpaste is not something you’d swallow, but
spit out, and so it’s totally different from something you would eat,” one company manager
said. The company manager was taking a position on which issue?
a. Whether the Danyang Household Chemical Company included toxic chemicals in its
toothpaste.
b. Whether toothpaste should be eaten
c. Whether the Danyang Household Chemical Company did anything wrong by exporting its
toothpaste
d. Whether China should have better product safety controls

III. Identifying parts of an argument. For each of the following arguments, identify the
main conclusion and the reasons. Say whether there are any intermediate conclusions.
Say whether the reasons support the conclusion jointly or independently.
1. The odds that a dangerous leak from a nuclear power plant could occur are so small as to
be almost impossible to calculate. I have as much chance of being seriously injured backing
out of my drive as I would be living next to a nuclear power plant for a year. So someone
living next door to a nuclear power plant should feel 100 per cent safe. independently
2. The one third of people who smoke in public places are subjecting the rest of us to
discomfort. What is more, they are putting our health at risk, because ‘passive’ smoking
causes cancer. That is why it is time to ban smoking in public places. independently
3. Radioactive elements disintegrate and eventually turn into lead. So if matter has always
existed there should be no radioactive elements left. The presence of uranium and other
radioactive elements is scientific proof that matter has not always existed. jointly
4. A foetus’s heart is beating by 25 days after fertilization. Abortions are typically done
seven to ten weeks after fertilization. Even if there were any doubt about the fact that the life
of each individual begins at fertilization, abortion clearly destroys a living human being with
a beating heart and a functioning brain. If the first right of a human being is the right to his or
her life, the direct killing of an unborn child is a manifest violation of that right. jointly
5. It has always been the case in the past that new discoveries of mineral reserves have kept
pace with demand. For example, bauxite reserves have tripled in the last ten years, while
demand has doubled over the same period. At no time have the known reserves of minerals
been as great as the total mineral resources of the world. Therefore, even though at any given
time we know of only a limited supply of any mineral, there is no reason for us to be
concerned about running out of mineral resources. independently
6. In rape cases, sentences should be lighter for those who plead guilty than for those who
plead not guilty. For a victim of rape, appearing in court is a very distressing experience. If
the defendant pleads guilty, the victim does not have to appear in court. If sentences are as
heavy for those who plead guilty as for those who plead not guilty, all defendants will plead
not guilty, because there is nothing to lose. jointly
7. If imprisonment worked as a deterrent to potential criminals, the more people we had in
prison to serve as examples, the more would their lesson be conveyed to those outside
prison. But today we have record numbers of people in prison, and a crime rate which is
growing, not decreasing. Thus, imprisonment is not an effective deterrent. jointly
8. Those who oppose any and all restrictions on freedom of the press are wrong. Consider
the effects of freedom to report on cases of kidnap. Experience shows that kidnap victims are
less likely to be killed by their captors if the kidnapping is not reported. To report a kidnap
can thus endanger a victim’s life. If we do not pass legislation against publishing in these
circumstances, some newspapers will continue to be irresponsible and will publish details of
the kidnapping before the victim is released or rescued. jointly