Galina: It must be something other than sugar, because the concentration of sugar in the maple sap is so low that a squirrel would need to drink an enormous amount of sap to get any significant amount of sugar.
Summarize Argument
Galina disagrees with Lydia’s conclusion that red squirrels make holes in sugar maple trees in order to get the sugar in the trees’ sap. Galina concludes instead that the red squirrels are after something other than sugar. As support for this claim, Galina says that the concentration of sugar in the sap is so low that the squirrels would have to drink a very high amount of sap just to get a bit of sugar.
Notable Assumptions
Galina assumes that the red squirrels do not benefit from an insignificant amount of sugar. Galina also assumes that the red squirrels consume the sap by drinking it directly.
A
Squirrels are known to like foods that have a high concentration of sugar.
Squirrels’ preferences for other foods are irrelevant to the argument. Lydia and Galina are discussing squirrels’ motivations for consuming tree sap––we know that the squirrels consume the sap; Galina and Lydia just disagree about if they’re eating the sap to get the sugar.
B
Once a hole in a sugar maple trunk has provided one red squirrel with sap, other red squirrels will make additional holes in its trunk.
The topic of the argument is squirrels’ motivation for consuming sap. (B) just provides information about squirrels’ behavior patterns, but it does not say anything that could help determine whether squirrels are consuming the sap in order to get sugar, or for some other reason.
C
Trees other than sugar maples, whose sap contains a lower concentration of sugar than does sugar maple sap, are less frequently tapped by red squirrels.
Information about sugar concentrations in other trees is irrelevant. The arguments discuss squirrels’ motivation for consuming sugar maple tree sap; we don’t care about other trees. We don’t know why the squirrels are avoiding the other trees, and it’s the “why” that counts here.
D
Red squirrels leave the sugar maple sap that slowly oozes out of the holes in the tree’s trunk until much of the water in the sap has evaporated.
This weakens Galina’s argument because it shows that the squirrels are able to access the sugar in the sugar maple tree sap without drinking an enormous amount of sap. (D) makes it so that Galina’s premise does not provide support for her conclusion.
E
During the season when sap can be obtained from sugar maple trees, the weather often becomes cold enough to prevent sap from oozing out of the trees.
The arguments discuss squirrels’ reasons for consuming the sap. (E) tells us that accessing the sap may be difficult, but does not address squirrels’ motivations, so it does not weaken the argument.
Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The dermatologist concludes that the rash was caused by prolonged contact with the telephone. This is because the rash always appeared on the side of the face that patients held the telephone to.
Notable Assumptions
The dermatologist assumes that no other possible phenomenon besides the telephone could be responsible for the rash. This means there was no infection that tends to affect only one side of the face, and that the patients didn’t participate in any other activity where one side of their faces experienced “external contact.” She also assumes telephones can cause rashes.
A
Many telephones are now manufactured using a kind of plastic to which some people are mildly allergic.
This tells us telephones can cause rashes. Perhaps all the patients the dermatologist saw were allergic to the plastic telephones are made from.
B
Contact between other devices and the patients’ faces occurred equally on both sides of their faces.
Telephones were the only device that patients used exclusively on one side of their faces. Since they used other devices on both sides, then both sides should’ve had rashes if the patients had in fact been allergic to those devices.
C
Most of the patients had occupations that required them to use their telephones extensively.
These patients were just on the phone every now and then. They were experiencing “prolonged contact.”
D
Telephones are used by most people in the industrialized world.
We don’t care. We already know these people used the telephone.
E
The complaints occurred after an increase in the patients’ use of the telephone.
Patients began to experience the rash once they increased their telephone use. This points to a causal relationship between using the telephone and experiencing the rash.