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Test your basic knowledge |
SAT Essay Logical Fallacies
Start Test
Study First
Subjects
:
sat
,
english
,
writing-skills
Instructions:
Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
If you are not ready to take this test, you can
study here
.
Match each statement with the correct term.
Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.
This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.
1. Generalization: an argument that ignores all unfavorable evidence
Genetic Fallacy
False scenario
Numbers
Special pleading
2. 'To the authority' appeal based on the authority of a source
Ad vericundium
Hasty generalization
Correlation as cause
Equivocation
3. Cause and Effect: claim than an event with more than one cause has only one cause
Correlation as cause
Division
Slippery Slope
Single cause
4. Reasoning by Proof: an argument that because someone worked hard at something - their conclusions must be right
Evaluating Reasoning by Debate
Numbers
Ad populum
Circular Reasoning
5. Writer encourages readers to accept a conclusion without any support
Fact
Evaluating Reasoning by Debate
Prevalent Proof
Begging the question
6. 'After this therefore because of this' implying that because on event follows another - the first caused the second
Post hoc ergo propter hoc
False authority
Vagueness
Special pleading
7. Appeal based on the credibility of the author
False scenario
Ethos
Smoke screen
Evaluating Reasoning by Generalization
8. Generalization: Assumes that an individual must have a characteristic because the group to which he or she belongs supposedly has that characteristic
False scenario
Pathos
Division
Ad hominem
9. Stating the only two interpretations of actions are alternatives - ignoring any compromise or moderate course
Hasty generalization
Either-or Reasoning
Stereotyping
Post hoc ergo propter hoc
10. Citing an expert on one subject as expert on another
Fact
False authority
Single cause
Deductive Reasoning
11. Information that is an interpretation of numerical data
Red Herring
Equivocation
Statistic
Cause-effect relationships
12. Reasoning by Proof: absence of evidence is not evidence; he didn't say that... so it must be false
Deductive Reasoning
Slippery Slope
Negative Proof
Anecdote
13. Fallacy that asserts that given two positions - there exists a compromise between them which must be correct.
Red Herring
Appeal to the golden mean
Values
Ad populum
14. Cause and Effect: Assuming that an incident that precedes another is the cause of the second incident
Opinion
Ad hominem
Post hoc ergo propter hoc
Cause-effect relationships
15. Have all reasonable alternatives been considered/eliminated? Does this author attack the other views in a fair way?
Slippery Slope
Correlation as cause
Evaluating Reasoning by Debate
Evaluating Reasoning by Generalization
16. Drawing conclusions based on insufficient or unrepresentative evidence; using all instances when only some apply
Single cause
Logos
Hasty generalization
Inductive Reasoning
17. Information gained from personal experience representing a general pattern
Circular Reasoning
False scenario
Nonsequiter
Anecdote
18. Obscuring or denying the complexity of an issue
Oversimplification
Evaluating Reasoning by Comparison
False authority
Straw man
19. Reasoning in which a conclusion is reached by stating a general principle and then applying that principle to a specific case
Evaluating Cause and Effect Reasoning
Fact
Ad populum
Deductive Reasoning
20. Logical reasoning that establishes specific facts or contentions leading to a general conclusion
Inductive Reasoning
Red Herring
Appeal to the golden mean
Equivocation
21. Two comparable issues or ideas are judged by different criteria
Double standard
Pathos
Evaluating Reasoning by Comparison
Ad misericordia
22. Appeal to the the pity - sympathy or 'misery' of the audience
Prevalent Proof
Ad misericordia
Division
Fact
23. Condemning an argument because of where it began - how it began - or who began it
Deductive Reasoning
Statistic
Appeal to the golden mean
Genetic Fallacy
24. Information the writer asserts as being the result of an event
Red herring
Cause-effect relationships
Logos
Either-or Reasoning
25. Trying to prove one idea with another idea that is too similar to the first idea
Slippery Slope
Circular Reasoning
Anecdote
Either -or
26. Reasoning by Debate: In an argument - this is an attack on the person rather than on the opponent's ideas. It comes from the Latin meaning 'against the man.'
Ad misericordia
Ad vericundium
Ad hominem
Post hoc ergo propter hoc
27. 'Against the man' attacking the person or group to which you are opposed rather than addressing the issue
Evaluating Reasoning by Debate
Cause-effect relationships
Ad hominem
Begging the question
28. Ambiguity or multiplicity of interpretations of a repeated word or phrase
Equivocation
False scenario
Inductive Reasoning
Cause-effect relationships
29. Analogy or comparison that is not logically consistent
Evaluating Reasoning by Debate
Nonsequiter
False analogy
Ad misericordia
30. Does the evidence prove the point being argued? Is this authority an expert on this particular topic?
Stereotyping
Straw man
Equivocation
Evaluating Reasoning by Proof/Authority
31. Common knowledge or beliefs readers accept as true
Evaluating Cause and Effect Reasoning
Red Herring
Ad populum
Values
32. Introducing an irrelevant point to divert readers' attention from the main issue being discussed
Equivocation
Post hoc ergo propter hoc
Prevalent Proof
Red herring
33. The use by a speaker of coded language that appears to mean one thing to the general population but has a different (and negative) meaning for a targeted subgroup of the audience.
Fact
Values
Hasty generalization
Dog whistle
34. How large is the sample size? How representative is the sample?
Logos
Ad populum
Slippery slope
Evaluating Reasoning by Generalization
35. Reasoning by Proof: the evidence offered does not really support the claim. Non Sequitur (It does not follow)
Irrelevant Proof
Special pleading
Hasty generalization
Equivocation
36. Any diversion intended to distract attention from the main issue
Hasty generalization
Evaluating Reasoning by Debate
Oversimplification
Red Herring
37. Cause and Effect: 'What if' fallacy. Argues that everything would be different if one variable was different. Example: 'If the Nazis had won WWII - we'd all be speaking German!'
Slippery slope
False scenario
Opinion
Nonsequiter
38. Reasoning by Proof: A fallacy in which a speaker or writer seeks to persuade not by giving evidence but by appealing to the respect people have for a person or institution.
Post hoc ergo propter hoc
Evaluating Reasoning by Comparison
Appeal to Authority
Logos
39. Statements that are intentionally vague so that the audience may supply its own interpretations
Ethos
Appeal to the golden mean
Straw man
Vagueness
40. False transitive property - you assume that just because two things share a characteristic - all of their characteristics are shared: - 'penguins are black and white - old tv shows are black and white - therefore penguins are old tv shows'
Either -or
Values
Undistributed Middle
Ad hominem
41. Reasoning by Debate: When a writer argues against a claim that nobody actually holds or is universally considered weak. Setting up a straw man diverts attention from the real issues.
Slippery slope
Special pleading
Straw man
Prevalent Proof
42. Claiming that one step in the wrong direction will lead to another - potentially disastrous consequence
Slippery slope
Evaluating Reasoning by Debate
Either -or
Numbers
43. Appeal to reason
Negative Proof
Numbers
Fact
Logos
44. When a writer uses the same term in two different senses in an argument. i.e. People choose what laws they obey. The Law of Gravity is a law. I choose to disobey the law of gravity.
Equivocation
Circular Reasoning
Cause-effect relationships
Logos
45. A fallacy that assumes that taking a first step will lead to subsequent steps that cannot be prevented
Ad misericordia
Evaluating Reasoning by Proof/Authority
Red Herring
Slippery Slope
46. Reasoning by Debate: A fallacy that forces listeners to choose between two alternatives when more than two alternatives exist
Prevalent Proof
Either -or
Special pleading
Genetic Fallacy
47. Generalization: drawing conclusions based on insufficient or unrepresentative evidence
Logos
Either -or
Hasty generalization
Special pleading
48. 'it does not follow' drawing a conclusion or making a transition that is not a logical result of the facts
Evaluating Reasoning by Debate
Division
Nonsequiter
Slippery Slope
49. Concealing the author's true intent - belief - or attitude towards an issue
False scenario
Red herring
Smoke screen
Negative Proof
50. Is there a reasonable connection between the cause and the effect? Is that connection explained? Are there other possible causes that have not been considered?
Begging the question
Statistic
Deductive Reasoning
Evaluating Cause and Effect Reasoning