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