The Language of Argument

8 9

A r r a n g i n g su b a r g u m e n t s

the premises and conclusions. Give each different claim a different number.

When two premises work together to support a single conclusion, put a “+”

between the premises and a line under them connected to a single arrow that

points to the conclusion. When two or more premises (or sets of premises) pro-

vide separate reasons for a conclusion, draw separate arrows from each reason

to the conclusion. When a conclusion of one argument is a premise in another,

put it in the middle of a chain. The complete diagram together will then show

how the parts of the argument fit together and form a complex whole.

Put the following arguments into standard form. Break up the premises and

form chains of arguments wherever this can be done without distorting the

argument. Then diagram the argument.

1. I know that Pat can’t be a father, because she is not a male. So she can’t be
   a grandfather either.


2. Either Jack is a fool or Mary is a crook, because she ended up with all of
   his money.


3. Our team can’t win this Saturday, both because they are not going to play,
   and because they are no good, so they wouldn’t win even if they did play.


4. Mercury is known to be the only metal that is liquid at room temperature,
   so a pound of mercury would be liquid in this room, which is at room
   temperature, and it would also conduct electricity, since all metals do.
   Therefore, some liquids do conduct electricity.


5. Since he won the lottery, he’s rich and lucky, so he’ll probably do well in
   the stock market, too, unless his luck runs out.


6. Joe is not a freshman, since he lives in a fraternity, and freshmen are not
   allowed to live in fraternities. He also can’t be a senior, since he has not
   declared a major, and every senior has declared a major. And he can’t be
   a junior, because I never met him before today, and I would have met him
   before now if he were a junior. So Joe must be a sophomore.


7. Since many newly emerging nations do not have the capital resources
   necessary for sustained growth, they will continue to need help from
   industrial nations to avoid mass starvation.

exercise ii

exercise iii

In “A Piece of ‘God’s Handiwork’” (Exercise II in Chapter 4), Robert Redford

argues that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) should not allow Conoco

to drill for oil in Utah’s Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. The

following passage is a crucial part where Redford answers an objection.

Arrange its subarguments in standard form so as to reveal the structure of his

argument. Then diagram the overall argument.

(continued)

97364_ch05_ptg01_079-110.indd 89 15/11/13 9:53 AM

some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materiallyCopyright 201^3 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights,

affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.