5.12: Exercises

■ 1. What is wrong with the following headline, which appeared in an American daily newspaper?

Religion Plays Major Part in the Message of Easter

2. Write a realistic 10-second TV commercial for Goldstar perfume in which you say too little with too many words.

3. Match the harsh words in the first column with their euphemisms in the following column:

retreat

mad

drop

murder

son of a bitch

bite the dust

────

adjust downward

neutralize

strategic movement to the rear

pass away

s.o.b.

mentally deranged

4. Find a more euphemistic equivalent of these terms: disaster, spying, fired (from a job), old person, (tell a) lie

■ 5. Give a euphemism for urination; and use it in a sentence.

6. The best euphemism for his "death" is his

being butchered

living

Passing away

inspiration to us all

treachery

■ 7. A boy named Stephen gets the nickname "Steve" and a girl named Sarah gets the nickname "Sue," but a girl named Helen has a connotation problem. Explain.

8. Which one of these synonyms has the greatest negative connotation?

inform

squeal

apprise

notify

9. Rewrite these excuses more clearly

1. Stanley had to miss some school. He had an attack of whooping cranes in his chest.
2. Please excuse Jane on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. She had an absent tooth.
3. Please excuse Jim Friday. He had loose vowels.
4. The basement of our house got flooded where the children slept so they had to be evaporated.
5. Please excuse Connie from gym class today, as she has difficulty breeding.
6. Anne did not do her homework because I couldn't understand it.

10. Imagine that Sarah Waltham is a receptionist in the laser printer division of your corporation, and you are her direct supervisor. Write two letters of recommendation for her, one very positive and the other much less so, although it is still a recommendation, not an attack. Both your letters should contain the same facts: (a) she gets to work on time, (b) she is courteous and helpful both on the phone and with employees and clients who contact her, and (c) she is as good a receptionist as the last three you've employed. Don't add other significant facts.

■ 11. Create a euphemism for the term "lobbyist."

12. For each of the following sentences, guess what the author meant to say, then rewrite it more clearly.

a. I had been driving for forty-five years when I fell asleep at the wheel and had an accident.
b. The guy was all over the road. I had to swerve a number of times before I hit him.
c. The telephone pole was approaching. I was attempting to swerve out of its way, when it struck my front end.
d. An invisible car came out of nowhere, struck my vehicle, and vanished.

13. Select some controversial topic about which you have an opinion (i.e., a belief).

14. Write a one- or two-page argument giving reasons to support your opinion. The reasons should not merely be a history of your thinking in arriving at your opinion but instead should be reasons that are likely to convince other people to adopt it. That is, deemphasize the genesis of your opinion and emphasize the justification of your opinion.

■ 15. What did Mrs. Malaprop probably mean in Sheridan's play The Rivals when she said, "He is the very pineapple of politeness"?

■ 16. Suppose you are only trying to make a case for your position. You don't want to create some knock-down, drag-out, absolute proof; you just want to persuade the person you are talking to. Do you have the burden of proof in such a situation?

17. What is the main issue in the following argument?

Several lines of biological evidence have now fixed the time at which humans and chimpanzees descended from a common, primitive African apelike species. It must have been less than 20 million but more than 5 million years ago. This is because Homo sapiens (humans) and Pan troglodytes (chimpanzees) are so similar in details of anatomy, physiology, chromosome structure, and enzyme chemistry. Admittedly the clocks of anatomy, physiology, chromosome structure, and enzyme chemistry do disagree slightly, but they all agree that the evolutionary tree must have branched during this time.

18. Where in the following dialogue does one of the participants not accept his burden of proof? Justify your answer. The scene: Mr. Harris is walking up to a group of people that includes you, several of your neighbors, Jeremy (the twelve-year-old son of Mr. Harris), and Jeff (a fifteen-year-old son of one of the neighbors who isn't present).

Mr. Harris: There you are! Jeff, did you slit the tires on my son Jeremy's bike?
Jeff: What? What are you talking about?
Mr. Harris: Thursday afternoon. (Pointing to the bike) Look at those slits, one in the front tire, one in the back.
Jeff: I didn't do it.
Mr. Harris: Maria saw you on Thursday showing somebody a red knife.
Jeff: It was new, so I showed people. I'm sorry about the tires, but I didn't cut them.
Mr. Harris: Maria said you were arguing with Jeremy. Jeremy's spray paint cans are missing from our garage. So are some boards. I hear that boards in your garage have new spray paint all over them. Black and green. Jeremy's black and green cans are missing.
Jeff: I was just taking back some boards that were mine. Jeremy owed me boards. He said he would pay me back, but he never did. I didn't take any more than what was due me. I didn't do the tires.
Mr. Harris: Are you denying you had a knife on Thursday afternoon?
Jeff: My grandfather gave me his Swiss army knife. I showed it to everybody. Jeremy was jealous. He wanted the knife. Those tires could have been slit with any knife.
Mr. Harris: OK, you're right that any knife could have been used, but the person who used the knife was probably mad at Jeremy, mad enough to steal his paint cans and boards, too. Where'd you get the paint for those boards you took?
Jeff: Why did you talk to Maria?
Mr. Harris: Where did you get the paint? Let's see those cans.
Jeff: Maria had no business butting in.
Mr. Harris: She didn't do anything wrong. You did.
Jeff: I was going to pay Jeremy for his paint cans. Jeremy, what do you want for the paint? Here's two dollars. The cans were practically empty. You were done with them. You said so.

19. Write a 100 to 300-word essay defending your own rational belief about how likely it is that Jeff (in the previous exercise) is guilty.

■ 20. What is wrong with this reasoning?

I believe that there can be time travel back to the time of the Egyptian pyramids and the pharaohs because nobody has ever proved that there can't be.

■ 21. State the issue of the following argument:

I know you are thinking of not going to the film with Emilio, but remember that you promised him you would go with him. You now seem to be saying to me that you might go with Juanita instead and might tell Emilio you are sick and won't be going with him. Don't. One consequence of doing this is that you will be breaking your promise to Emilio. That would be morally wrong, wouldn't it? In addition, if Emilio finds out the truth, you could lose your friend. Aren't those reasons enough?

22. Create a dialogue in which (a) one speaker shows insight when he or she says, "That's fine, but the real issue is...." (b) the second speaker disagrees with the first speaker, and (c) the first speaker makes a convincing case for being correct.

23. Create a dialogue in which progress is made by narrowing the issue.

24. Find an editorial or letter to the editor in one of your local newspapers and create a short (75-100 words) argument for why the author is mistaken about something. Begin by stating the issue. Assume that your audience is the other students in your class. In your answer, include a copy of the editorial or letter.

25. Create a dialogue between two people in which progress is made in their dispute because they agree to redefine the issue.

26. What is the central issue of the following dialogue?

Mother: My fifteen-year-old daughter failed two courses at school. The worst part is, she didn't even try. She just said, "Oh well, it's not important." If she had tried and failed, that wouldn't be so bad.
Friend: Are you sure it wouldn't be so bad? Maybe it would be worse if she tried and failed.
Mother: No, it wouldn't, because if she tried, then she wouldn't fail the courses.
Friend: Oh, I think I see what you mean. Do you mean that anybody who tries will succeed at least in the sense that they did try and didn't just give up?
Mother: No, I just mean that if my daughter tries, she will get a grade higher than an F.

27. What is the issue or question that the author is concerned with in the following letter to the editor? Choose from the options listed.

No one says that the death penalty is the only answer to brutal murder. But it is a sure way to stop repeat offenses, and it's far cheaper than keeping a killer in jail 30 or 40 years. While it may not deter a hard-core killer or a psychotic, it probably would deter the Bernard Goetzes and the kind of youths accused of assaulting the jogger in Central Park.

a. What will stop repeat cases of crime?
b. Whether brutal murders will increase or decrease, given current trends.
c. Should brutal murderers be killed by the government?
D. Whether the death penalty deters hard-core killers or psychotic killers.

■ 28. Identify the issue in the following conversation:

Saghit: Take a look at Jane Fonda and her ex-husband Tom Hayden. There's a couple of typical Democrats for you. Those two radicals are self-admitted organizers of anti-war protests against our sons who were laying down their lives during the Vietnam War. Nowadays, Democratic State Assemblyman Hayden is corrupting the California Legislature. That's the story with the whole party. The California Democratic Party has done a few good things now and then, but basically it is corrupt. It's even corrupt financially. You know the saying, "California has the best legislature that money can buy."
Jorgen: Ja. Ja. Funny joke; but get serious. Not everybody in the California Legislature is a Democrat. Just most of them.
Saghit: You are making my case. The leaders of the State Assembly and the State Senate are Democrats, and everyone knows that these two men are interested only in getting enough money for their reelection campaigns; whether their votes help or hurt the citizens is not their major concern.
Jorgen: Look. The ex-Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan was elected as a Republican to the Louisiana Legislature. Can the Republicans be proud of that? Are you going to stand there and defend the Ku Klux Klan and the rest of those bigots? So, let's not hear so much from you about Democrats in California.

What is the principal issue in the above conversation?

a. Are California Democrats corrupt?
b. Are Jane Fonda and Tom Hayden corrupting the legislature?
c. Are the majority of Democrats too interested in getting money?
d. Whether a member of the Klan was ever elected to the Louisiana Legislature.

29. Regarding the previous question, comment on all the other possible answers that you did not pick. Do the possible answers contain some sub issues or smaller issues surrounding the main issues?

■ 30. If we analyze Saghit’s argument in the earlier question about Tom Hayden and the California Legislature, we see that one of the following statements is not a reason he uses to back up his conclusion. That one statement is

a. Tom Hayden is a California Democrat who is corrupting the California Legislature.
b. Jane Fonda and Tom Hayden are typical of California Democrats.
c. At least two, and maybe a lot more, California Democrats are too interested in getting enough money for their reelection campaigns.
d. California has the best legislature that money can buy.
e. Corruption is bad for America.

31. During the next week, pay attention to the occurrence of any argumentation that you find outside your school—argumentation you take part in or observe. Describe one of those arguments. More specifically, describe one person's argument by restating the reasons and the conclusion as full, declarative sentences. Label each sentence as being a reason or a conclusion. State the issue that is in dispute. Remember that when we say informally that two people are in an argument, from a logical perspective there are at least two arguments, not one. Each person in "the" argument has his or her own argument. When answering the question, give only the argument of one person for one side of one issue.

32. (i) Create a list of three beliefs you have. Each belief must be sufficiently controversial that you can imagine there being reasonable people who hold the opposite opinion and disagree with you. Hand the list in to your instructor, (ii) Create arguments in defense of your beliefs, but do not yet hand them in unless requested to do so by your instructor. From your list, your instructor later will arbitrarily pick one of your three beliefs and ask you to give a convincing argument for why other people should accept your belief, (iii) Create arguments against your beliefs. Your instructor will also pick one belief from your list and ask you to give an argument against it. Each argument should be a short essay of a page or two, typed double-spaced, if possible.

■ 33. Arnold Haypole is a member of a state legislature. His ex-lawyer, David Kunsinger, has complained that Arnold Haypole is no longer in favor of banning the death penalty in all situations. Kunsinger says Haypole used to be against the death penalty with no exceptions. Here is a newspaper report of Haypole's response to Kunsinger's charge. Explain why the issue stated by Haypole is not the real issue.

After Kunsinger's charge that Haypole switched positions on the death penalty in order to advance his career, Haypole replied that Kunsinger "should start looking at some of his own clients before he criticizes other people. The issue is whether Kunsinger has a record of honesty. A good look at the record will reveal a forked tongue."

Labeling Kunsinger's criticism of him "very offensive," Haypole added a charge of his own as to why his former defender spoke out. "I think he's just trying to promote a book."

34. Suppose someone argues that since murder is wrong, and that, since capital punishment is murder by the state, it follows that capital punishment is wrong, too. The main issue here is

a. that murder is wrong.
b. whether murder is wrong.
c. that capital punishment is murder.
d. whether capital punishment is murder.
e. is capital punishment wrong?
f. why capital punishment is wrong.

35. What is the issue in the following passage?

The inside of this portable computer's box is not the standard fare. Mounted on the system board are a 33-Mhz 80386SX chip, a socket for an 80387SX math coprocessor, a VGA video chip set, and an AMI BIOS. As tested, the system had 2MB of 33-nanosecond DIP RAM, using 1-megabite chips. Do you find these items as standard fare on a portable?

36. For each of the following disagreements, explain why it is or isn't merely a semantic disagreement.

a. Jose: Scientists have proved that there is no such thing as telepathy. Apparent cases of direct mind-to-mind communication, when investigated and tested, cannot be repeated under carefully controlled conditions required for scientific experiments.
Sarah: They may have done good science, but they proved no such thing. A proof that there is no telepathy requires axioms and inferences from axioms, but no scientist has yet produced the axioms of telepathy. So, they surely have not established the theorem that telepathy does not exist.

b. Leon: Christopher Columbus was a Jew. I read it in the Jewish Chronicle.
Washington: He was no Jew. If he had been a Jew, I would have heard about it. I'm a Jew.

c. Munitions expert: Fifty percent of the missiles in the U.S. arsenal would fail if they were fired. Maintenance is too haphazard.
Missile expert: Ninety percent of those missiles will work perfectly fine. I have looked at ten of them, and nine worked during a simulated firing.

d. Daryl: My candidate is no fool. She is well educated because she has lots of common sense and is well read and could carry on a coherent, interesting conversation on any of a wide variety of subjects from politics to science to sports.
Mary: Your candidate is not well educated. She doesn't even have a college degree.

■ 37. Explain why this passage commits the red herring fallacy:

Will the new tax in Senate Bill 47 unfairly hurt business? I notice that the main provision of the bill is that the tax is higher for large employers (fifty or more employees) as opposed to small employers (six to forty-nine employees). To decide on the fairness of the bill, we must first determine whether employees who work for large employers have better working conditions than employees who work for small employers. I am ready to volunteer for a new committee to study this question. How do you suppose the committee should go about collecting the data we need?

38. Your candidate is trying to get elected to the U.S. Congress; their candidate is trying infiltrate the U. S. Congress.

The previous comment is an example of

a. framing the issue
b. confusing ambiguity with vagueness
c. assessing a source's credibility
d. not realizing what you are saying
e. over-using euphemisms

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Solutions

1 The headline makes a trivially true claim. It conveys essentially no new information to the reader. However, you can imagine the creator of the headline probably intended to make the point that, unlike Christmas with its commercialism, Easter is a less commercialized and more religiously oriented holiday

5 "Passing water is a natural bodily act." Other euphemisms are "relieving" oneself, "using the facilities," “going to the little girl's room," and so on. Pissing is a synonym but not a euphemism.

7 The connotation Hell is too negative

9 From CT Flea Market, Spring 1988, vol. 2, no. 1, Mayfield Publishing Co., Belmont, California, p. 2.

11 Legislative advocate.

12 These examples were collected by James Hollinseed at California State University, Sacramento.

15 He is the very pinnacle of politeness or he is the epitome of politeness. This paradigm example is why a funny misuse of words is called a malapropism

16 Yes, you still have a burden of proof. A proof doesn't have to be 100 percent; that standard is required only in mathematics. Informally, a proof is what ought to convince anyone who can follow the steps in the argument. So, if you want to be convincing, you have the burden of proving your case

20 Here, the speaker does not realize that, because of the oddity of the claim that there can be time travel, he or she has the burden of proof. It is not sufficient to say the claim has never been disproved; it must instead be proved.

21 The issue is whether you should break your promise to Emilio, not that you should break your promise to Emilio.

26 The issue is whether it would be better for the daughter to have tried and also failed rather than not to have tried at all. It would have been unclear to have answered the question as follows: "The issue is that the friend believes it wouldn't have been better for the daughter to have tried and yet failed." This is true, but it would have been an incorrect answer. It would also have been incorrect simply to make the true statement, "The mother does not really listen to what the friend is saying."

27 Adapted from a letter to the editor by Edward Peizer, The New York Times, national edition, June 6, 1989, p. A18.

28 Answer (a).

30 Answer (e).

33 Haypole says that the issue is whether Kunsinger is an honest person, but the real issue is whether Haypole changed his position on the death penalty to advance his career or instead changed it because of a good-faith reassessment of the evidence. Haypole doesn't answer Kunsinger's charges that Haypole switched positions to advance his career. Instead, he avoids the issue by launching an attack on Kunsinger himself.

37 Bringing up the issue of working conditions and the committee is the red herring diverting us from the main issue of whether Senate Bill 47 unfairly hurts business.