BBI3420 / 3436

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BBI3420 / 3436

• ARGUMENTS

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Persuasive Discourse

• Why do they want to persuade?
• Authors
• Advertisers
• Prosecutors
• Politicians
• Perspective employees

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Persuasive Discourse

• Why do they want to persuade?
• Authors the truth of particular ideas
• Advertisers consumers to buy products
• Prosecutors convince the jury that the accused
  is guilty
• Politicians the electorate to vote for them
• Perspective employees employers to hire them

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Persuasive Discourse Arguments

• Argument a form of reasoning in which one draws
  a conclusion based upon particular pieces of
  evidence.
• Bierman and Assali (1996), a sequence of
  statements in which statements, called premises,
  are given as reasons or evidence for the truth of
  a statement, called the conclusion (p. 33).

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Persuasive Discourse Arguments

• In persuasive communications, arguments are very
  important because a speaker has to convince the
  listeners.
• The speaker should be able to construct arguments
  that have good argument structures

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• Critical thinking is primarily about the
  evaluation of arguments.
• Definition of an argument
• a set of statements of which it is claimed that
  one of those statements (the conclusion) is
  supported by the others (the premises).
• a reason or reasons offered for or against
  something

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• ARGUMENT CONCLUSION (assertion)
• PREMISES
• THESIS STATEMENTS
• SUPPORTING DETAILS

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Example A Simple Argument

1. Lawyers earn a lot of money. (Premise)
2. I want to earn a lot of money. (Premise)
3. I should become a Lawyer. (Conclusion)

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• Sometimes some arguments have unstated premise
  and conclusion.
• In this case, inference indicators signal the
  occurrence of the premise and conclusion.

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• Example
• Premise You cant check books out of the
  library without an ID card. So conclusion Bill
  wont be able to check any books out
• The word so is the inference indicator to
  signal the conclusion.

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Identifying Premises Conclusions
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Identifying the conclusion

• An argument's conclusion is what the person
  making the argument is ultimately trying to
  convince you of, i.e., the person's point.
• To identify the conclusion of an argument ?
• 'what does the person making the argument want
  me to walk away thinking?'
• (If the answer is 'nothing', then you're not
  dealing with an argument.)

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Identifying the conclusion

• Location
• Logical Indicator of words
• Analysis of the content of the paragraphs

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Identifying the conclusion

• Location
• The thesis of the paragraph, section or article
  is often the conclusion.
• Usually at the beginning, at the end or both

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Identifying the conclusion

• Location
• When the city reconstructs our street next
  autumn, it should not widen it. I live on a hill
  and my current driveway is very steep where it
  connects with the street. If the city widens the
  street, my driveway will be so steep that I will
  scrape my tailpipe and bumper on the asphalt,
  ruining my car and gouging the new street. Keep
  the street that same width!

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Identifying the conclusion

• Logical Indicator of words
• Try putting the word "therefore" before each of
  the statements in turn. The statement that fits
  best will be the conclusion.

1. Lawyers earn a lot of money.
2. I want to earn a lot of money.
3. I should become a Lawyer.

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Some Conclusion Indicator Words

• Look for conclusion indicator words, such as
• therefore, consequently, as a result, thus, it
  follows that, so, which shows that, hence,
  accordingly

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Identifying the Premises

• Every argument must also consist of at least one
  premise.
• A premise is a statement that is meant to support
  the conclusion. Ideally, a premise provides a
  good reason for believing the conclusion.
• (justification)

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Some Premise Indicator Words

• To identify premises, it often easiest to look
  for premise indicator words, words that are often
  used to introduce a claim as a premise such as
  because, since, as, for, given that, as, judging
  from, seeing that

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Missing Premises and Conclusions

• People don't always come out and say what their
  point is. Similarly people may not always
  explicitly mention all the premises they are
  working with.
• As a result, we must be prepared to identify both
  missing premises and missing conclusions (i.e.,
  conclusions or premises that are not explicitly
  stated by the arguer, but that are implicit in
  what the arguer does say).

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Missing Premises and Conclusions

• Apply all our background knowledge about the
  probable intentions of the author.
• Use an important principle of interpretation
  called the Principle of Charity ? tells you
  always to interpret an argument so as to make its
  reasoning the best possible.

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Missing Premises and Conclusions

• "830 is too early to go to bed. All my friends
  are allowed to stay up till 930.
• If we were to put an inference indicator into
  this argument, which indicator would we choose
  and where would we put it? There are two main
  choices

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Missing Premises and Conclusions

• "830 is too early to go to bed. All my friends
  are allowed to stay up till 930.
• A   "830 is too early to go to bed, therefore
  all my friends are allowed to stay up till 930.
• B   "830 is too early to go to bed, because all
  my friends are allowed to stay up till 930."

Which is the better reading A or B?
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Exercise 1
Make a will. Otherwise, the state will determine
who gets your stuff. (Andrew Tobias, "Isn't It
Time You Faced the Future?" 2001)
Identify the premise(s) and conclusion of this
argument.
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Exercise 2
Because she could not see so far, the children
were able to play in safety.
Identify the premise(s) and conclusion of this
argument.
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Exercise 3
The main reason I believe Australia should have
nothing to do with SDI (Star Wars) research is
that the whole plan is discredited. Hardly any
scientists of note support it
Find the first word of the conclusion
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Identify the inference indicator

• Indian Classical music is very difficult to play
  because it requires you to improvise in a very
  sophisticated fashion.
• While many people realise that global warming
  will change the nature of our agricultural
  practices, very few people realise the extent of
  the changes that are coming. Thus most people in
  agriculture are quite complacent about their
  current ways of doing things.

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Identify the inference indicator

• Indian Classical music is very difficult to play
  because it requires you to improvise in a very
  sophisticated fashion.
• While many people realise that global warming
  will change the nature of our agricultural
  practices, very few people realise the extent of
  the changes that are coming. Thus most people in
  agriculture are quite complacent about their
  current ways of doing things.

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Identify the inference indicator

• Australia has only sufficient water resources to
  permanently sustain a population of 15 million.
  This means that the current Australian population
  is much too large.
• Suppose I agree with you that economic prosperity
  is not fairly distributed among all the world's
  people. It doesn't follow that I have a moral
  duty to do something about it. I am not
  personally responsible for the plight of the
  world's poor. I didn't impoverish them, so I am
  not morally bound to help them.

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Identify the inference indicator

• Australia has only sufficient water resources to
  permanently sustain a population of 15 million.
  This means that the current Australian population
  is much too large.
• Suppose I agree with you that economic prosperity
  is not fairly distributed among all the world's
  people. It doesn't follow that I have a moral
  duty to do something about it. I am not
  personally responsible for the plight of the
  world's poor. I didn't impoverish them, so I am
  not morally bound to help them.

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Argument Structures
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Types of Argument Structures

• 4 major argument types
• Simple Arguments
• Convergent Support Arguments
• Linked Support Arguments
• Serial Arguments

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Simple arguments

• Simple arguments have one "layer" of premise.
  That is, no premise also functions as a
  conclusion.
• 1. Single Support Arguments
• Example
• I think I should buy this used Toyota Corolla.
  Why? They're practically giving it away.
• P1 They're practically giving it away.
• MC I think I should buy this used Toyota
  Corolla.

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Convergent Arguments

• If a premise can stand on its own, i.e. if it
  adds to the likelihood of the conclusion being
  true on its own, and there is more than one
  premise like this, we have a convergent argument.
• I think I should buy this used Toyota Corolla. It
  is in good shape, it gets good mileage, and
  besides, it is within my budget.
• P1 The car is in good shape
• P2 It gets good mileage
• P3 It is within my budget
• MC I should buy this used Toyota Corolla

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Convergent Arguments

• If a premise can stand on its own, i.e. if it
  adds to the likelihood of the conclusion being
  true on its own, and there is more than one
  premise like this, we have a convergent argument.
• I think I should buy this used Toyota Corolla. It
  is in good shape, it gets good mileage, and
  besides, it is within my budget.
• P1 The car is in good shape
• P2 It gets good mileage
• P3 It is within my budget
• MC I should buy this used Toyota Corolla

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Convergent Arguments

• In convergent arguments, the premises provide
  different and independent reasons for the claim.
  Each can support the claim by itself.

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Convergent Argument

• Nuclear power plants should not be built, because
  they are dangerous. And, the power from these
  plants is not essential. Finally, these plants
  are not fair to future generations.
• Either premise provides support for the
  conclusion without the other, although the three
  together form a stronger argument than either on
  its own.

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Convergent Argument
Nuclear power plants should not be built
they are dangerous
the power from these plants is not essential
these plants are not fair to future generations
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Linked Arguments

• We link premises when it is clear that a premise
  by itself will not lead to the conclusion.
• Example
• I think I should buy this used Toyota Corolla. I
  need a car, and I like this one.
• P1 I need a car
• P2 I like this car
• MC I should buy this used Toyota Corolla

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Linked Arguments

• Linked argument - one in which the reasons are
  dependent on one another for their strength.
  They cannot stand alone.

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Linked Arguments

• I think I should buy this used Toyota Corolla.

I need a car
I like this one
a linked premise must link with one or more other
premises to form support
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Linked Arguments

• Note that neither premise can stand by itself.
• Could the argument be, "I need a car, therefore I
  should buy this used Toyota Corolla."? No,
  because we might ask, why this car?
• Could it be "I like this car, therefore I should
  buy this used Toyota Corolla."? No - just because
  you like a car doesn't mean you should buy it.
• Both premises are needed together.

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Linked Argument

• There is reason to think the suspect is linked to
  this crime. The shots were fired from a jaguar
  jaguars are not usual to this area and the
  suspect owns a white jaguar.

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Serial Argument

• A serial argument is a string of reasons and
  conclusions in which every conclusion is
  supported by one reason. Consider the following
  argument

Cheap imitations are unreliable and therefore are
likely to cost you a good deal more in the long
run. So you should not buy cheap imitations.
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Serial Argument
(1) Cheap imitations are unreliable and therefore
(2) are likely to cost you a good deal more in
the long run. So (3) you should not buy cheap
imitations.

• In this argument, (1) is offered as a reason for
  (2) and (2) is offered as a reason for (3). Both
  the final conclusion (3) and the intermediate
  conclusion (2) are supported by one reason. It is
  therefore a serial argument.

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Serial Argument
We diagram this argument as follows

• (1) Cheap imitations are unreliable

(2) They are likely to cost you a good deal
more in the long run.
(3) you should not buy cheap imitations.
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Serial Argument

• Each intermediate conclusion is a premise for the
  next step in the argument
• One premise leads to another in a chain until it
  leads to the conclusion.
• Before coming to a main conclusion of the whole
  argument, there may be a series of sub-conclusion
  that follows from the previous premises and then
  function as yet another premise for the next
  conclusion, either sub or main.

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What Is Not an Argument?
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What Is Not an Argument?
An argument is a claim defended with reasons.

• More precisely, a passage is an argument if and
  only if
• It is a group of two or more statements.
• One of those statements (the conclusion) is
  claimed or intended to be supported by the
  other(s) (the premises).

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What Is Not an Argument?

• Arguments consist entirely of statements
  (sentences that it makes sense to regard as
  either true or false).
• Examples
• Red is a colour. (physical statement) Abortion
  is morally wrong. (moral statement) The Matrix
  is a better movie than Titanic. (evaluative
  statement)

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What Is Not an Argument?

• Arguments consist entirely of statements
  (sentences that it makes sense to regard as
  either true or false).
• Questions, commands, and other kinds of
  non-statements cannot be parts of arguments (Keep
  in mind, however, that rhetorical questions
  should be treated as statements.)
• What time is it? (question) Close the window!
  (command) Oh my goodness! (exclamation)

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What Is Not an Argument?

• Statement test Does it make sense to put it is
  true that or it is false that in front of it?
• If so, it is a statement. If not, its not.
• What time is it? (question) Close the window!
  (command) Oh my goodness! (exclamation)
• Red is a colour. (physical statement) Abortion
  is morally wrong. (moral statement) The Matrix
  is a better movie than Titanic. (evaluative
  statement)

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What Is Not an Argument?

• TRICKY STATEMENTS
• Rhetorical question a sentence that has the
  grammatical form of a question but is meant to be
  understood as a statement.
• Dont you know smoking will kill you? (means
  Smoking will kill you.)
• How am I supposed to do that? (means I cant do
  that.)

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What Is Not an Argument?

• No single statement is an argument.
• Arguments always consist of at least two
  statements.
• Nothing counts as an argument unless it is
  claimed or intended that one statement follows
  from one or more other statements in the passage.
  
• In other words, a passage is an argument only if
  the speaker or writer intends to offer evidence
  or reasons why another statement should be
  accepted as true.

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What Is Not an Argument?
Reports A statement or group of statements intended simply to convey information about a subject.
Unsupported statements of belief or opinions Is a statement or set of statements in which the speaker or writer expresses his or her personal opinion, but offers no reasons or evidence to back up that opinion.
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What Is Not an Argument?
Illustrations Is a passage intended to provide examples that illustrate or support a claim, not to provide convincing evidence that the claim is true.
Conditional Statements Is an if-then statement. It is an assertion that such-and-such is true if something else is true.
Explanations Is a statement or set of statements that seeks to provide an account of why something has occurred or why something is the case.
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Example Report

• Planet Earth was much drier in the Triassic than
  it is now, and there were large deserts in inland
  areas. There were no flowering plants or
  grasses--they evolved much later. The most common
  trees were conifers, similar to today's pines.
  Other large plants included yews, ginkgos, and
  the palmlike cycads. Moisture-loving ferns and
  horsetails thrived by lakes and rivers.
• (Philip Whitfield, Simon Schuster's Children's
  Guide to Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Animals,
  1992)

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Example Report

• More people moved to the south this year.

Oil prices dropped today, thus so did gas
prices.

• Statements made to convey information.
• Notice that, even though there is a conclusion
  indicator, this is still a report.

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Example Unsupported statements of belief or
opinion

• For the person who called and said Larry Bird was
  better than Michael Jordan, wake up. No one was
  ever better than Michael Jordan, not even Kareem
  in his glory and not even Dr. J.
• (From a newspaper call-in column)

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Example Illustration

• Many wildflowers are edible. For example, daises
  and day lilies are delicious in salads.

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Example Conditional Statement

• If Aida comes to the wedding then I will come to
  the wedding.

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Example Explanation

• I speak good English because my parents
  encouraged me to practice it everyday.

Titanic sank because it struck an iceberg.
Tries to show why something is the case (not
argue that it is the case).
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• INFERENCE

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Making inference

• Why do you think the cat is in the tree?

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Making inference

• We dont know exactly why the cat is in the tree,
  but looking at the picture, we can guess that the
  dog chased the cat up the tree.
• The guess that we mad is called an inference.

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Inferring from Text

• What is an inference?
• An educated guess / a reasoned guess about what
  you dont know based on what you do know.
• When we make an inference, we draw a conclusion
  by reasoning from evidence.
• They inferred she was upset when she left the
  room.
• How did they know that she was upset?
• She was hysterical.
• There were tears in her eyes.
• She ran out and ignored the others although they
  tried to calm her down.

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Reading Tips

• 1. Make sure your inferences rely mainly on the
  authors words rather than your own feelings or
  experience. Your goal is to read the authors
  mind, not invent your own message.
• 2. Check to see if your inference is contradicted
  by any statements in the paragraph. If it is, it
  is not an appropriate or useful inference.
• 3. If the passage is a tough one, check to see if
  you can actually identify the statements that led
  you to your conclusion. This kind of close
  reading is a good comprehension check. It will
  also help you remember the material.

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The following questions can be powerful igniters
of both text-to-text and text-to-self/world
inferences. Ideally, we can figure out ways to
make such inference-generating questions
automatic

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• Who is doing the action? Why?
• How does a part fit into the overall text?
• What are the effects of an event, both
  psychological and physical?
• What feelings does a person experience?
• What is the authors purpose?
• What if I had been in that situation?
• How does this apply to my life or the world
  around me?
• What does this word mean?

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Easy Money

• Bob and Sam Collect cans. They sell the cans to a
  recycling center. Lately business has been so
  good that they have divided their work in half.
  Bobs area includes a park where teams play
  baseball everyday. Sam collects cans from office
  buildings and stores.

Many people drink canned drinks
Sams route includes office buildings
Bob and Sam earn more money now than when they started.
Bobs route includes a park
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Easy Money

• Bob and Sam Collect cans. They sell the cans to a
  recycling center. Lately business has been so
  good that they have divided their work in half.
  Bobs area includes a park where teams play
  baseball everyday. Sam collects cans from office
  buildings and stores.

Many people drink canned drinks Inference
Sams route includes office buildings Fact
Bob and Sam earn more money now than when they started. Inference
Bobs route includes a park Fact
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What evidence can you find in the text to support
the issue?

• Look for details within the text
• Include Example of the sentence, lines
  paragraph

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Assumptions

• An assumption, is an unstated reason. It is
  something that must be true for an argument to
  work, but which is not explicitly stated in the
  argument.
• Part of your belief system. Something you don't
  question. Your mind takes for granted that your
  assumption is true

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Question 2

•     You will be happy with your Internet access
  if you sign up with Ampac. They are the worlds
  largest ISP with over 12 million subscribers.
• What is being assumed? 
• Is biggest always the best?
• Just because Ampac is the largest ISP in the
  world, does it mean that they will provide the
  best Internet service? 

The argument holds together only because this
assumption was made. Should you accept it?
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Winning the Lottery

• A woman gets home, screeches her car into the
  driveway, runs into the house, slams the door and
  shouts at the top of her lungs, "Honey, pack your
  bags! I won the Lottery!
• The husband says, "Wow, I can't believe it!! What
  should I pack, beach stuff or mountain stuff?
• "It doesn't matter", the wife yells back, "just
  get the HECK out!"

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Assumptions vs Inference
Situation Sara has got an F for her July
test. Inference Sara failed her English
test. Assumption Sara did not study for her test
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Dont Quote!

• When answering a question that asks you to
  identify an assumption, unlike when answering
  other questions, you should never give a quote
  from the text by definition, assumptions are
  unstated.

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• FACTS VS OPINIONS

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WHAT ARE FACTS?

• A statement is a fact if you can answer yes to
  these two questions
• Is it true?
• Can it be proved?

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What is an opinion?

• An opinion statement can be well thought out but
  cant be proved true or false it is always open
  to debate.
• Ask yourself
• Does this statement tell a thought or feeling?
• Would the statement be true all the time?
• Look for signal words

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Opinion Caution

• Agreeing with a statement doesnt make it true.
  For example
• Dairy Queen ice cream tastes better than ice
  cream you buy from the grocery store.
• Why is this statement an opinion?
• This is a personal judgment someone else may not
  agree.
• did you notice the signal word?

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Identify the fact or opinion
Maryland is located in the United States
Reading is the most interesting subject in school.
The character of Cinderella should marry the prince.
Bats use echolocation when they fly to see where they are going
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Identify the fact or opinion
Maryland is located in the United States F
Reading is the most interesting subject in school. O
The character of Cinderella should marry the prince. O
Bats use echolocation when they fly to see where they are going F
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Authors use facts to support opinions

• Ads promise that youll be happier if you buy
  certain clothes or toys.
• Articles try to talk you into believing an idea.
• Speeches and propaganda try to persuade you to
  change your mind to do something.
• These are examples of persuasive writing
• In persuasive writing the writers goal is to
  explain why a reader should think, act, or feel
  the same way he or she does.

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• THANK YOU