SUBJECTS
|
BROWSE
|
CAREER CENTER
|
POPULAR
|
JOIN
|
LOGIN
Business Skills
|
Soft Skills
|
Basic Literacy
|
Certifications
About
|
Help
|
Privacy
|
Terms
|
Email
Search
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. Information the writer asserts as being the result of an event
Cause-effect relationships
Vagueness
Hasty generalization
False scenario
2. Trying to prove one idea with another idea that is too similar to the first idea
Hasty generalization
Circular Reasoning
Ad vericundium
Composition
3. 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
Appeal to Authority
Vagueness
Negative Proof
4. Information that is an interpretation of numerical data
Statistic
Ad vericundium
Correlation as cause
Hasty generalization
5. 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.'
Ethos
Straw man
Evaluating Reasoning by Generalization
Ad hominem
6. Concealing the author's true intent - belief - or attitude towards an issue
Slippery Slope
Begging the question
Fact
Smoke screen
7. Generalization: Assumes that an individual must have a characteristic because the group to which he or she belongs supposedly has that characteristic
Post hoc ergo propter hoc
Correlation as cause
Vagueness
Division
8. Information based on personal interpretation of facts
Single cause
Numbers
Nonsequiter
Opinion
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.
Equivocation
Fact
Hasty generalization
Anecdote
10. Appeal to reason
Equivocation
Logos
Cause-effect relationships
Nonsequiter
11. Fallacy that asserts that given two positions - there exists a compromise between them which must be correct.
Red herring
Hasty generalization
Appeal to the golden mean
Pathos
12. Analogy or comparison that is not logically consistent
False analogy
Nonsequiter
Anecdote
Smoke screen
13. Prejudging an individual based on ideas one has about the group the individual belongs to
Stereotyping
Post hoc ergo propter hoc
Ad hominem
Single cause
14. 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!'
False scenario
Deductive Reasoning
Statistic
Smoke screen
15. How large is the sample size? How representative is the sample?
Dog whistle
Appeal to the golden mean
Values
Evaluating Reasoning by Generalization
16. Have all reasonable alternatives been considered/eliminated? Does this author attack the other views in a fair way?
Evaluating Reasoning by Comparison
Statistic
Evaluating Reasoning by Debate
Begging the question
17. 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'
Equivocation
Undistributed Middle
Either-or Reasoning
Cause-effect relationships
18. Citing an expert on one subject as expert on another
Ad populum
Slippery Slope
False authority
Smoke screen
19. Obscuring or denying the complexity of an issue
Oversimplification
Vagueness
Begging the question
Values
20. Reasoning by Proof: absence of evidence is not evidence; he didn't say that... so it must be false
Numbers
Negative Proof
Single cause
Prevalent Proof
21. Appeal based on the credibility of the author
Ethos
Slippery slope
Numbers
Either -or
22. 'it does not follow' drawing a conclusion or making a transition that is not a logical result of the facts
Vagueness
Red herring
Nonsequiter
Evaluating Reasoning by Generalization
23. 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?
Irrelevant Proof
Slippery slope
Correlation as cause
Evaluating Cause and Effect Reasoning
24. Reasoning by Proof: an argument that because someone worked hard at something - their conclusions must be right
Logos
Numbers
Composition
Cause-effect relationships
25. Drawing conclusions based on insufficient or unrepresentative evidence; using all instances when only some apply
Slippery slope
Ethos
Correlation as cause
Hasty generalization
26. Statements that are intentionally vague so that the audience may supply its own interpretations
Ethos
Vagueness
Correlation as cause
Evaluating Cause and Effect Reasoning
27. 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.
Prevalent Proof
Hasty generalization
Straw man
Genetic Fallacy
28. 'Against the man' attacking the person or group to which you are opposed rather than addressing the issue
Smoke screen
Special pleading
Ad hominem
Genetic Fallacy
29. Generalization: drawing conclusions based on insufficient or unrepresentative evidence
Hasty generalization
Equivocation
Anecdote
Begging the question
30. 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.
False authority
Correlation as cause
Dog whistle
Pathos
31. 'After this therefore because of this' implying that because on event follows another - the first caused the second
Division
Post hoc ergo propter hoc
Ad misericordia
Hasty generalization
32. Does the evidence prove the point being argued? Is this authority an expert on this particular topic?
Nonsequiter
Evaluating Reasoning by Proof/Authority
Equivocation
False scenario
33. Any diversion intended to distract attention from the main issue
Equivocation
Ethos
Begging the question
Red Herring
34. 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
Evaluating Reasoning by Generalization
Circular Reasoning
Correlation as cause
Special pleading
35. Generalization: an argument that ignores all unfavorable evidence
Prevalent Proof
Oversimplification
Single cause
Special pleading
36. Reasoning by Proof: the evidence offered does not really support the claim. Non Sequitur (It does not follow)
Evaluating Reasoning by Generalization
Circular Reasoning
Evaluating Cause and Effect Reasoning
Irrelevant Proof
37. Appeal to the the pity - sympathy or 'misery' of the audience
Special pleading
Ad misericordia
Prevalent Proof
Oversimplification
38. Stating the only two interpretations of actions are alternatives - ignoring any compromise or moderate course
False analogy
Special pleading
Either-or Reasoning
Negative Proof
39. Everybody knows fallacy. Asserts that some idea is common knowledge - so it must be true.
Prevalent Proof
Dog whistle
Genetic Fallacy
Statistic
40. Introducing an irrelevant point to divert readers' attention from the main issue being discussed
Undistributed Middle
Red herring
Pathos
Straw man
41. Common knowledge or beliefs readers accept as true
Values
Genetic Fallacy
Vagueness
Pathos
42. Information gained from personal experience representing a general pattern
Evaluating Cause and Effect Reasoning
Oversimplification
Anecdote
Evaluating Reasoning by Generalization
43. A fallacy that assumes that taking a first step will lead to subsequent steps that cannot be prevented
Appeal to Authority
Correlation as cause
Opinion
Slippery Slope
44. Generalization: Assumes that members of a group must have a characteristic because one or more of its members has that characteristic.
Circular Reasoning
Evaluating Reasoning by Comparison
Composition
Hasty generalization
45. Reasoning by Debate: A fallacy that forces listeners to choose between two alternatives when more than two alternatives exist
Either-or Reasoning
Either -or
Ad misericordia
Logos
46. 'To the authority' appeal based on the authority of a source
Ad hominem
Ethos
Equivocation
Ad vericundium
47. How similar or how different are the cases being compared? How many point of comparison is the arguer using?
Anecdote
Cause-effect relationships
Evaluating Reasoning by Comparison
Prevalent Proof
48. Appeal to the reader's emotions
Straw man
Pathos
Ad vericundium
Values
49. 'To the people' appeal to the prejudices of the audience - or claiming that (or a majority) supports your opinion
Ad populum
Circular Reasoning
Ethos
Ad vericundium
50. Writer encourages readers to accept a conclusion without any support
Begging the question
False authority
Nonsequiter
Deductive Reasoning