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Test your basic knowledge |
SAT Essay Logical Fallacies
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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. 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.
Straw man
Appeal to Authority
Special pleading
False authority
2. Cause and Effect: claim than an event with more than one cause has only one cause
Undistributed Middle
Either-or Reasoning
Red Herring
Single cause
3. How similar or how different are the cases being compared? How many point of comparison is the arguer using?
Correlation as cause
Evaluating Reasoning by Proof/Authority
Vagueness
Evaluating Reasoning by Comparison
4. Analogy or comparison that is not logically consistent
Ad hominem
False analogy
Either -or
Post hoc ergo propter hoc
5. Any diversion intended to distract attention from the main issue
Post hoc ergo propter hoc
Ad hominem
Genetic Fallacy
Red Herring
6. Generalization: an argument that ignores all unfavorable evidence
Circular Reasoning
Appeal to the golden mean
Ad hominem
Special pleading
7. Reasoning by Debate: A fallacy that forces listeners to choose between two alternatives when more than two alternatives exist
Ethos
Evaluating Cause and Effect Reasoning
Circular Reasoning
Either -or
8. Obscuring or denying the complexity of an issue
Ad vericundium
Oversimplification
Ad hominem
Red herring
9. 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.
Ad populum
Equivocation
Logos
Cause-effect relationships
10. 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.
Evaluating Reasoning by Generalization
Red Herring
Appeal to the golden mean
Dog whistle
11. Reasoning by Proof: an argument that because someone worked hard at something - their conclusions must be right
Appeal to the golden mean
Negative Proof
Ethos
Numbers
12. Two comparable issues or ideas are judged by different criteria
Hasty generalization
Appeal to Authority
Ad misericordia
Double standard
13. Reasoning by Proof: the evidence offered does not really support the claim. Non Sequitur (It does not follow)
Single cause
Begging the question
Special pleading
Irrelevant Proof
14. Logical reasoning that establishes specific facts or contentions leading to a general conclusion
Inductive Reasoning
Logos
Genetic Fallacy
Smoke screen
15. Appeal based on the credibility of the author
Ad vericundium
Irrelevant Proof
Deductive Reasoning
Ethos
16. 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 hominem
Oversimplification
Slippery slope
Negative Proof
17. Trying to prove one idea with another idea that is too similar to the first idea
Ad misericordia
False scenario
Statistic
Circular Reasoning
18. Statements that are intentionally vague so that the audience may supply its own interpretations
Ad vericundium
Vagueness
Evaluating Reasoning by Debate
Fact
19. Citing an expert on one subject as expert on another
Statistic
Appeal to Authority
Circular Reasoning
False authority
20. Ambiguity or multiplicity of interpretations of a repeated word or phrase
Oversimplification
Red herring
Equivocation
Deductive Reasoning
21. 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!'
Appeal to the golden mean
False scenario
Logos
Ad vericundium
22. Drawing conclusions based on insufficient or unrepresentative evidence; using all instances when only some apply
Evaluating Reasoning by Debate
Inductive Reasoning
Hasty generalization
Ad populum
23. Common knowledge or beliefs readers accept as true
Values
Ethos
Stereotyping
Slippery slope
24. 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.
Appeal to Authority
Ad misericordia
Red Herring
Evaluating Reasoning by Proof/Authority
25. A fallacy that assumes that taking a first step will lead to subsequent steps that cannot be prevented
Slippery Slope
Numbers
Evaluating Reasoning by Proof/Authority
Red Herring
26. 'Against the man' attacking the person or group to which you are opposed rather than addressing the issue
Ad populum
Cause-effect relationships
Smoke screen
Ad hominem
27. Reasoning in which a conclusion is reached by stating a general principle and then applying that principle to a specific case
Deductive Reasoning
Smoke screen
Appeal to Authority
Evaluating Cause and Effect Reasoning
28. Information the writer asserts as being the result of an event
Cause-effect relationships
Stereotyping
Evaluating Cause and Effect Reasoning
False scenario
29. 'To the authority' appeal based on the authority of a source
Dog whistle
Ad populum
Ad vericundium
Irrelevant Proof
30. Generalization: Assumes that members of a group must have a characteristic because one or more of its members has that characteristic.
Special pleading
Red Herring
Composition
Evaluating Reasoning by Comparison
31. Claiming that one step in the wrong direction will lead to another - potentially disastrous consequence
Equivocation
Slippery slope
Cause-effect relationships
Numbers
32. 'After this therefore because of this' implying that because on event follows another - the first caused the second
Post hoc ergo propter hoc
Composition
Numbers
Single cause
33. 'it does not follow' drawing a conclusion or making a transition that is not a logical result of the facts
Nonsequiter
False scenario
False analogy
Appeal to the golden mean
34. Fallacy that asserts that given two positions - there exists a compromise between them which must be correct.
Negative Proof
Nonsequiter
Evaluating Reasoning by Proof/Authority
Appeal to the golden mean
35. Stating the only two interpretations of actions are alternatives - ignoring any compromise or moderate course
Appeal to Authority
Genetic Fallacy
Ad hominem
Either-or Reasoning
36. Prejudging an individual based on ideas one has about the group the individual belongs to
Cause-effect relationships
Equivocation
Stereotyping
Genetic Fallacy
37. Information based on personal interpretation of facts
Post hoc ergo propter hoc
Opinion
Either-or Reasoning
Negative Proof
38. Generalization: Assumes that an individual must have a characteristic because the group to which he or she belongs supposedly has that characteristic
Straw man
Genetic Fallacy
Oversimplification
Division
39. Appeal to the reader's emotions
Dog whistle
Pathos
Ad misericordia
Logos
40. How large is the sample size? How representative is the sample?
Ad hominem
Double standard
Appeal to Authority
Evaluating Reasoning by Generalization
41. 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'
Single cause
Ad populum
Undistributed Middle
Slippery slope
42. Appeal to reason
Genetic Fallacy
Logos
Hasty generalization
Ad misericordia
43. Condemning an argument because of where it began - how it began - or who began it
Either -or
Post hoc ergo propter hoc
Genetic Fallacy
Red herring
44. 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?
Composition
Evaluating Cause and Effect Reasoning
Deductive Reasoning
False scenario
45. Cause and Effect: A fallacy that assumes that because two variables are correlated (happen at the same time) that one must have caused the other
Equivocation
Single cause
Either -or
Correlation as cause
46. Information that is an interpretation of numerical data
Special pleading
Inductive Reasoning
Ad populum
Statistic
47. Information gained from personal experience representing a general pattern
Oversimplification
Stereotyping
Anecdote
Special pleading
48. Have all reasonable alternatives been considered/eliminated? Does this author attack the other views in a fair way?
Correlation as cause
Nonsequiter
Ad vericundium
Evaluating Reasoning by Debate
49. Reasoning by Proof: absence of evidence is not evidence; he didn't say that... so it must be false
Numbers
Undistributed Middle
Negative Proof
Genetic Fallacy
50. Does the evidence prove the point being argued? Is this authority an expert on this particular topic?
Ad vericundium
Nonsequiter
Circular Reasoning
Evaluating Reasoning by Proof/Authority
Can you answer 50 questions in 15 minutes?
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