2.9 Assumptions 69
alcohol sweet and fruit-flavoured you
are encouraging children to drink it.
Therefore its sale should be banned.
A Alcopops were manufactured
specially to appeal to children.
B Children of an early age do not like
the taste of alcohol.
C Children like the taste of sweet,
fruit-flavoured drinks.
D Sweet drinks do not appeal as
much to adults as to children.
OCR
2 Read the following argument and suggest
one or more hidden assumptions that it
relies on:
The internet has brought many
advantages. It is a wonderful source of
knowledge and, used intelligently, it
provides for a healthy exchange of
views. But history will prove that the
internet is a far greater force for harm
than for good. Its great flaw is that the
information on it is not, and indeed
cannot be, regulated. Anyone can access
it and anything can be published on it,
freely and at little or no cost.
3 Do you agree or disagree with the following
statement – and why?
Every argument must make at least
one unstated assumption.
4 With reference to argument [6]:
Either have a class or group discussion
and debate the motion:
The Steinbergs have nothing to be
ashamed of in evicting the travellers
from their land.
Or write a short argument for or against
the above motion.
Answers and comments are on pages 314–15.1 Study each of the following arguments and
say which of the multiple-choice options
below it are implicit assumptions on which
the argument depends. To make it more
interesting, there may be more than one
right answer.
a Raisa will hate this book. For a start
it’s non-fiction, not a novel. But worse
still it’s all about mountain-climbing.
A Raisa hates non-fiction.
B Raisa hates mountain-climbing.
C Raisa likes novels.
b Nashida is claiming compensation from
her former employers on the grounds
that she was forced to leave her job.
The employers are saying that they did
not actually dismiss Nashida. However,
they do admit that they altered the
terms and conditions of her job. The
law allows that, if employees are forced
to accept changes in their working
conditions that mean they would suffer
as a result, and for that reason only they
choose to leave, then their entitlement
to compensation is the same as if they
had been dismissed. Therefore Nashida’s
claim should be upheld.A Nashida would have suffered as a
result of the changes to her job.
B Nashida had done nothing to
deserve dismissal.
C Nashida would not have left if the
job changes had been favourable.
D Nashida had no choice about the
changes that were made to her job.
OCR (adapted)
c ‘Alcopop’ is the name given to a range
of drinks that contain alcohol but taste
like fruit drinks. Their sale in the shops
has been blamed for a recorded rise in
alcohol consumption by children and
young people, and with good reason.
It is common sense that if you makeEnd-of-chapter assignments