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