Name the faulty reasoning
Grade 9 Reading Worksheet - Building Confidence
Circle the best answer.
Read this first
Letters on a Dog Corner for Marsh Field (two letters)
Text A, a letter from Ms. Ingrid Paulsen: [1] For two years, dog owners in Rosedale have asked the parks board to fence the empty northeast corner of Marsh Field so that dogs can run off the leash. [2] The corner is about half an acre, and the board's own count shows that almost no one uses it, because it floods each spring and has no paths. [3] A fence would cost about $9,000, which the Rosedale Kennel Club has offered to raise through a spring dog wash. [4] Right now, loose dogs run on the soccer fields early in the morning, and the groundskeeper has filled more than forty holes since March. [5] A fenced corner would give those dogs somewhere else to go and would keep the fields smooth for players. [6] Two nearby towns built fenced dog areas last year, and the board could ask them how often the fences have been used.
Text B, a letter from Mr. Victor Hale: [7] Ms. Paulsen wants to hand Marsh Field over to dogs, so that families can no longer use any of it. [8] Besides, Ms. Paulsen moved to Rosedale three years ago, so she can hardly know what this town needs. [9] If we fence a corner for dogs this year, cat owners will want a corner next year, then bird watchers will want one, and soon there will be no open field left at all. [10] I agree that the holes in the soccer fields are a real problem, and the groundskeeper deserves help. [11] A better first step would be to post leash signs at the fields and to ask the town to report how often they are ignored. [12] The parks board should vote against the fence at its meeting on April 9.
Ari fills the flaw column for sentence 9, in Mr. Hale's letter. Which fallacy does sentence 9 commit?
- Hasty generalization: it builds a rule for the town from one dog owner's request.
- False choice: it says the board must pick dogs or families, with no third option.
- Reasonable: it predicts what other groups are likely to ask for once a fence is built.
- Slippery slope: it says one fenced corner will set off a chain of bigger demands.
Bo is looking for an ad hominem, a sentence that attacks a writer instead of the writer's plan. Which sentence commits it?
- Sentence 11: it says leash signs would be a better first step.
- Sentence 8: it says how long Ms. Paulsen has lived in Rosedale.
- Sentence 7: it says Ms. Paulsen wants to hand the whole of Marsh Field to dogs.
- Sentence 9: it says cat owners and bird watchers will want corners next.
Esme checks sentence 7 in the matrix. Is sentence 7 a reasonable point, or a fallacy?
- Reasonable: it states a fair worry about how families and dogs would share the field.
- Red herring: it moves away from the fence to talk about families instead.
- Straw man: it answers a plan to give dogs the whole field, not one corner.
- Ad hominem: it attacks Ms. Paulsen herself instead of the plan she has offered.
The Tool Shelf at Quarry Hill Library (meeting transcript)
Ms. Rosa Delacroix, head librarian: [1] Our library proposes a tool shelf, where card holders could borrow drills, ladders and garden tools for one week at a time. [2] The library in nearby Tamsin has lent tools since 2019, and its records show that 96 percent of them came back on time and in working order. [3] A starting set of sixty tools would cost about $4,000, which a grant from the Quarry Hill Garden Club would cover. [4] Many residents live in apartments and have no room to store a ladder that they use twice a year.
Mr. Walter Penn, a resident: [5] A library lending drills is like a bakery lending out its ovens, and no bakery would ever do that, so no library should either. [6] My neighbor once borrowed my hedge trimmer and returned it with a bent blade, so lent tools clearly come back damaged. [7] And while we are on the subject of the library, its parking lot has needed fresh paint for years.
Ms. Delacroix: [8] The Tamsin records cover more than three thousand checkouts, which is a far larger sample than one hedge trimmer. [9] The parking lot is worth fixing, but it is a separate question from whether a tool shelf would work.
Mr. Penn: [10] Either the library spends its money on books, or it turns into a hardware store, and I want a library.
Ms. Delacroix: [11] The garden club's grant can be spent on the tool shelf alone, so the book budget would not change. [12] The board will vote on the shelf in May, after a month in which residents may send written comments.
Jun fills the flaw column for sentence 5, Mr. Penn's first point. Which fallacy does sentence 5 commit?
- Reasonable: it shows that the shelf would ask a library to do an unusual job.
- Red herring: it turns away from the tool shelf to talk about bakeries and ovens.
- Hasty generalization: it judges lending in general from a single bakery that refused to lend.
- False analogy: it likens a library to a bakery, though lending is what libraries do.
Kira is looking for a false choice, a sentence that offers two options as if there were no others. Which sentence is it?
- Sentence 10: it says the library must buy books or become a hardware store.
- Sentence 6: it says lent tools come back damaged because of one hedge trimmer.
- Sentence 5: it says a library lending drills is like a bakery lending ovens.
- Sentence 9: it says the parking lot and the tool shelf are separate questions.
Luz checks sentence 8, Ms. Delacroix's answer, in the matrix. Is sentence 8 a reasonable point, or a fallacy?
- Hasty generalization: it builds a rule for Quarry Hill from the records of one town.
- Ad hominem: it attacks Mr. Penn instead of answering what he said about tools.
- Reasonable: it weighs three thousand checkouts against one borrowed hedge trimmer.
- Incorrect premise: it starts from Tamsin records that the meeting shows are wrong.
Lunch in the Tamsin High Library (student council minutes)
[1] At its October meeting, the Tamsin High student council debated whether the school library should stay open during lunch, which it has not done since the building opened. [2] Esme spoke first and reported that the sign-in sheet for the after-school hour shows about thirty students a day, most of them finishing homework. [3] Esme argued that a lunch hour would give students who ride the early bus a chance to do the same work, since they cannot stay after school. [4] Noah answered that almost no one uses the library, so opening it at lunch would waste the librarian's time.
[5] Noah added that Bo had tried to study there one afternoon last spring and found it noisy, so the library would surely be too noisy at lunch. [6] Esme replied that nearly every high school in the county already opens its library at lunch, so Tamsin should do the same. [7] Ms. Arbogast, the librarian, said that she could open the library at lunch two days a week if a parent volunteer helped at the desk. [8] Noah said that either the library opens at lunch every day or it should not open at lunch at all, because a part-time plan would confuse people.
[9] Esme pointed out that the gym already opens at lunch on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and the gym's sign-out sheets show steady use on both days. [10] The council voted nine to three to ask the principal for a two-day trial in November. [11] Ms. Arbogast agreed to count visitors during the trial and to report the numbers to the council in December. [12] Pia, the council secretary, will post the results on the bulletin board outside the main office.
Milo fills the flaw column for sentence 4 of the minutes. Which fallacy does sentence 4 commit?
- Straw man: it restates Esme's plan as a much bigger plan than Esme offered.
- Incorrect premise: it starts from a belief that the sign-in sheet shows is false.
- Reasonable: it weighs the librarian's time against how much the library is used.
- Hasty generalization: it judges the library from a single student's visit last spring.
Letters on Backyard Hens in Vale (two letters)
Text A, a letter from Mr. Desmond Forde: [1] Vale's rules now forbid hens anywhere in town, although several nearby towns allow a few backyard birds under simple rules. [2] I am asking the town to allow up to four hens per yard, with no roosters, since roosters are the birds that crow at dawn. [3] In Rosedale, which adopted this rule in 2021, the town clerk reports four noise complaints about hens in three years, out of about two hundred coops. [4] Hens turn vegetable scraps into rich bedding for compost, and the families who keep them collect fresh eggs each week. [5] A yearly permit would let the town inspect each coop and remove the birds from any yard that breaks the rules.
Text B, a letter from Ms. Harriet Lowe: [6] If Vale allows hens, next will come goats, then pigs, and before long our quiet streets will smell like a farmyard. [7] My sister kept hens for one summer and they escaped twice, so backyard hens will be running loose all over Vale. [8] Mr. Forde also lets his hedge grow over the sidewalk, which tells you how little he cares about his neighbors. [9] Keeping hens in a backyard is like keeping a horse in a living room, because some animals simply belong on farms. [10] I do share Mr. Forde's view that rules should be simple, and a yearly permit would be easy to understand. [11] If the town does allow hens, the permit should require a fence and a covered coop. [12] Until then, I urge the town board to keep the present rule.
Noah fills the flaw column for sentence 8, in Ms. Lowe's letter. Which fallacy does sentence 8 commit?
- Bandwagon: it says the neighbors agree that hens would be a mistake.
- Ad hominem: it points to Mr. Forde's hedge instead of answering his plan.
- Straw man: it twists Mr. Forde's plan into a plan for hens on sidewalks.
- Red herring: it leaves the hen plan to discuss sidewalks across the town.
Pia is looking for a hasty generalization, a rule drawn from one or two cases. Which sentence is it?
- Sentence 9: it compares hens in a yard to a horse in a room.
- Sentence 3: it reports noise complaints from the town of Rosedale.
- Sentence 6: it says goats and pigs will follow if hens are allowed.
- Sentence 7: it judges the hens of Vale by one summer of escapes.
Zee checks sentence 9 in the matrix. Is sentence 9 a reasonable point, or a fallacy?
- False choice: it makes Vale choose between farms and homes with nothing between.
- Ad hominem: it attacks Mr. Forde by suggesting that he belongs on a farm.
- Reasonable: it reminds readers that some animals are better suited to farms.
- False analogy: it likens a fenced yard of hens to a large horse kept indoors.